
As a child growing up in southeastern Virginia, I got to tag along with my father on a few journalistic adventures. He was the Program Director of a small radio station in Chesapeake, and it served as a vocational school where students could learn how to run a broadcast studio. Whenever a performing artist was touring through the area to play with the local symphony or headline a jazz festival, my dad could always pull some strings and land an interview, often giving the students access to these performers. Doc Severinsen, John Browning, Richard Stoltzman, John Wallace, and Aaron Copland all come to mind. I was a young student broadcaster when my dad interviewed Dave Brubeck in the late 1980s. For most of those interviews, we would meet the artist at their hotel or concert hall, but Brubeck was so humble and unassuming that he drove to our studio for an on-air conversation. That was when I first heard “Take Five.”
While I don’t remember as much as I wish from my dad’s interview with Brubeck, I still remember the signature thick tortoise-rimmed glasses the legendary pianist wore. This trademark was not intentional, but necessary. Brubeck was born cross-eyed, and had vision problems that made it difficult for him to read. He enrolled at Mills College in 1946 after a stint in the Second World War to study with Darius Milhaud, but he couldn’t read music. His dyslexia, which he referred to as “my problem,” proved to be a motivating factor for him, as he never used it as an excuse and he developed an incredible ear for capturing harmonies and melodies. Prior to his Mills College experience in 1942, he was almost not allowed to finish at the University of the Pacific because of his dyslexia. The dean only allowed him to graduate on the condition that Brubeck never teach. This did not slow him down, as Brubeck would go on to mentor a great number of aspiring students.
As with many songs, “Take Five” has a story that is more encompassing than just the notes on the page or the sounds from a recording. It talks about overcoming obstacles, articulating a creative vision, and seizing upon spontaneity. If legacy has a time signature, it would probably be 5/4.
If you enjoyed reading about “Take Five,” please consider some other resources available. You can read a previous post about our jazz collection. Also, consider perusing the Gerry Mulligan Collection for other photographs of Brubeck contemporaries. Finally, relax and enjoy a wonderful performance from 2003 by the Dave Brubeck Quartet from the Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress (retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200003793/). Finally, be sure to enjoy some of the holdings listed below from the NLS Music Section. To borrow any of the following braille and large print music or recorded materials, you may access BARD or request a copy by contacting the Music Section by phone at 1-800-424-8567, option 2, or e-mail [email protected].
Digital Talking Books
Bill Brown teaches how to play “Take Five” on three instruments:
Flute (DBM03554)
Guitar (DBM02671)
Bass guitar (DBM03351)
Hankin, Aaron. Tapestry of the Times. Episode 18. This episode includes a version of “Take Five” played on the Middle Eastern oud. (DBM04031)
Irwin, Bill. A Light History of Jazz Piano [sound recording] : and a Short History of the Piano. Irwin plays hundreds of recordings of jazz pianists and other notable performers. (DBM03681)
Jazz Joins the Classics: French Composer Darius Milhaud Discusses his Experiments with Jazz. Dave Brubeck explains how composer Darius Milhaud used jazz for the first time in classical compsitions. (DBM00133)
Braille Music
Giants of Jazz Piano. Piano solos as performed by Dave Brubeck, Art Tatum, George Shearing, Duke Ellington, Marian McPartland, Matt Dennis, David Benoit, and Bill Evans. Includes Brubeck’s “Blue Rondo a la Turk.” Bar over bar format with chord symbols. (BRM35937)
Long, Jack. The Real Book of Jazz. Including “Take Five”, 194 jazz standards in melody line arrangements by Jack Long, with chord symbols and lyrics. Line by line and single line formats, with chord symbols. (BRM36832)
Milhaud, Darius. Scaramouche. For two pianos in bar over bar format. (BRM24677)
Large Print
Blues, Boogie, and Jazz [music (large print)]. Unaccompanied melodies with lyrics and chord symbols; includes “Take Five”. (LPM00341)
Comments (6)
Marvelous resource. Thank you!
Hi Margaret! Thank you so much for your kind words!
Thanks for this excellent post. I actually have the CD entitled “Time Out”, and it is now in my music library on my MacBook Air. It is truly a wonderful album. I did not know that Dave had dyslexia, but you wouldn’t know it given his great music. I’m definitely going to grab myself a copy of that book. BARD is truly an awesome resource, and I hope it sticks around for years to come!
Hi Jake–thank you for taking the time to read this post, and we greatly appreciate your feedback!
Thank you for this information about Dave Brubeck and his music.
Thank you! We are so glad that you enjoyed reading about Dave Brubeck!