http://youtube.com/watch?v=tCjFIenlGYo&mode=related&search=

Came across this yesterday! I don't know much about jazz but what do you think about it?

Matt

A classic.

Its a biggie.. well known like Monk's Round Midnight..both Jazz classics

Paul Desmond wrote it, but it came from Brubeck's studies with Darius Milhaud, who encouraged him to try new sounds and rhythms. Dave Brubeck still plays it all the time, and every time I have heard him play it, he plays it differently. He will be here again in April, with the quartet and with a big band. I am always impressed by the powerful intellect of his playing, as well as his warmth and personal charm.

That was great! Thanks for posting it. Does anyone have the sheet music to the piano portion of Take Five? I'm sure I could find a willing saxophonist to duet with if I learned it.

Nancy

There are several modestly-priced arrangements available, including alto sax and piano. It is published by Alfred. Yes, it is copyrighted.

This looks like the intro(zoom it))http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/store/smp_inside.html?cart=21012599114&item=1346391&page=00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Tn27IcAapPI

Brubeck and "Take Five"...it just doesn't get any better than that.

Oh sure it does. It gets alot better. Did you hear George Benson's version on You tube?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Tn27IcAapPI

Always nice to hear a technical wizard in tasteful mode.

Virtuosic, I just listened to Benson. Now back to my original statement: Dave Brubeck and "Take Five." It just doesn't get any better than that!

I absolutely agree with this statement.

But, here we have that darn pesky 'personal taste' thing rearing it's head again

Roger, this isn't a "personal taste" thing; it's a FACT! lol

That made my day! Just picked myself off the floor! I can't get enough of this gracious and elegant jazz. Does anyone know why it was called Take 5? I have three different piano arrangements of it including one based on George Benson's. Also Toots Thielemans made a notable version. After quoting the signature melody you can do almost anything you want with it as long as you maintain that finger snapping five four.

The big question is when playing Take 5 SOLO PIANO how each of you handles the left hand chord and rhythm.

I play it as a modified 5/4 stride piano

Left hand plays:

Root Chord Root Chord ; Root Root(8va)

Right hand plays:

melody

I always thought it was because of the 5/4 time signature

So in your learned opinion, the relatively stone-fingered Brubeck is the ultimate, unparalleled jazz musician of all time, without peer? Benson and other consummate musicians of negligible importance in comparison? This is all quite an interesting concept, one I've never heard of before, and something that I would have to challenge. How did you arrive at this belief? Have you heard any other jazz pianists? Have you listened to much jazz?

Here's some suggested listening for Brubeck comparisons:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlUzK4Ua1iY&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBIyri8E8II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzj6Q61h3oA

Virtuosic, the answer to your question is yes, I have listened to many jazz pianists. In my opinion, Brubeck is the master and no other ones come close. Granted, this is a statement of opinion, and I have stated mine. Does that make me ALL or just half bad? When I stated it was "fact", I was only trying to get a rise out of someone; it obviously worked. Thank you for the other listening suggestions. Brubeck is still #1...yes, my opinion.

can anyone on here play "Strange Meadow Lark"?
the first minute and 15 seconds alone is amazing.

Brubeck is goodness. i don't know about no one coming close to him, as its Dave that doesn't come close to others, but he's one of the best jazz pianists, definitely. i appreciate his melodicism more than anything.

You actually listened to Oscar Peterson's Youtube video of Sweet Georgia Brown and still feel that the stone fingered Brubeck blows Oscar away? :rolleyes: Dave couldn't even think a one bar stream of improvisatory eight, trip eight, and sixteenth notes at quarter = 400+ let alone construct and cleanly execute lengthy, slick, bebop stretches with full stride accompaniament for entire choruses. In my humble opinion, the idea of Peterson being pianistically inferior to Brubeck is Bizarro World logic, sort of like stating that a seven year old beginner with 2 weeks worth of piano lessons under his belt is a far better pianist than Cziffra or Horowitz, but what do I know?

.

He can't swing and sounds stiff and tedious because he can't execute technically at the piano. A spinal accident from a water accident 50 years ago locked up his hands. You can only swing to a certain extent when relegated to only being able to pound block chords, most of which contain "accidental", unintended notes, with your fingers hopelessly locked in one position.

Take Five put Brubeck on the map, his claim to fame, aside from persistance. The song caught on. Jazz people liked it, non-Jazz people liked it. No Take, no Five, no fame.

Talented, couth, dignified, intelligent, soft-spoken...Dave Brubeck is a total package. Oh, did I mention his unparalled style? IMO he's Master #1 and 2 and 3.

First, Brubeck always sounds good. That said I think Virtuosic has a point - none of the Jazz pianists I know use him as a role model (for their playing). People like Bill Evans, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson as Virtuosic mentioned are more often in this place. Yet keep in mind people change and tastes change. I said things about music and musicians that I now feel silly about because I had not listened to and studied the music enough. I now reserve "He's the Greatest" for Muhamad Ali! In music and Jazz in Particular I say "I like that, or him/her". Sometimes I like it a lot.

Let someone rave Virtuosic, they may in the fullness of time come to change their opinion as they listen more and learn more. Of course, they could REALLY like Brubeck and may only like him more. I don't mind people liking Brubeck - I can't deal with people that like Kenny G!

I've never really liked Brubeck's feel...really stiff and at times forced. I love playing some of his tunes though. "In Your Own Sweet Way" is great fun to play.

That Benson video is incredible. He kind of stumbles over the first phrase in the "b" section on the head, but man he is smokin' on his solo!

One thing I do at the piano is to mimic other notable pianists, playing within their style. Their cliche runs and unique stylistic fluorishes. Tyner, Cecil Taylor, Hancock, Jarrett, Corea, Monk, Tristano, Peterson, Tatum, Hines, etc., all the greats having recognizable differences to a keen student of jazz piano. I sometime do it as an exercise, much like one might improvise variations on a theme in different compositional forms. Sometimes I do it for other musicians just for amusement. About 30 years ago, a friend of mine had an old pair of Con Edison 15 KiloVolt, protective lineman gloves. They looked somewhere between these:

http://www.probuy.net/shops/probuytest/images/products/LINEMAN.jpg

but because they were "old fashioned", from the year 1, they were even clunkier, more like a hockey goal-keeper's gloves! I put them on and started playing the piano. After a few moments, I immediately thought "Brubeck" and launched into "Take 5", pounding it out a la Brubeck with whatever soloing I could manage with the thumb and pinky alone, as the rigid gloves almost completely restricted accurate pianistic motion of the 2-3-4 fingers. Still having too much technique to properly capture Brubeck's feel, I placed a tablecloth over the keys and that completed the illusion perfectly! Absolutely true story.

Ho hummmm...excuse me; I think this is where I came in.

"O wad some Power the giftie gie us to see oursels as ithers see us!"

What's interesting is that you took it upon yourself to rate me with 1 star because my opinion of Brubeck not being the greatest musician in musical history doesn't coincide with your delusional opinions foisted as facts. That's far more interesting to me than Brubeck, and certainly even more telling about you as an incredibly petty person than Brubeck's obvious woeful lack of pianism or musicianship. The rampant, constant criticism that he's received from jazz pianists and other jazz musicians over the years is well deserved and the comments about forced and stiff, dead accurate. In other words, Brubeck is nothing more than a hack. And that's a fact.

I just gave you one star, same as you gave me, not just coincidentally for your opinion of Brubeck, but also as a token of your pettiness. I'll keep my opinions to myself from now on, and anything else of value for that matter pertaining to piano or jazz, and just listen to you pontificate, making wild and unsubstantiated claims with no basis in fact, unchallenged, which I imagine will be a welcome relief to your ruffled ego.

no. please continue to do so.
just restrain yourself when you chance upon absurdity.