Take Five

Recorded on July 1, 1959 at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City, the session featured the Dave Brubeck Quartet — Paul Desmond on alto saxophone, Eugene Wright on bass, and Joe Morello on drums — with Desmond composing the piece and Morello's 5/4 drum pattern anchoring the entire performance. Released on the album 'Time Out' on Columbia Records in 1959 and issued as a single, 'Take Five' became the first jazz single to sell over one million copies, bringing an unusual time signature into the mainstream and demonstrating that jazz audiences would embrace formal experimentation. 'Take Five' is among the most recognisable instrumental recordings in the history of popular music, covered and sampled across virtually every genre, and its 5/4 time signature has become a gateway concept for music education globally.