Take Five - Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck (Dave Brubeck) is a pianist and American Jazz composer who was born on the 6th December 1920 at Concord in California and died the 5th December 2012 in Norwalk, Connecticut. He stood up for civil rights and even cancelled an entire jazz tour of the US South when promoters insisted he replace Eugene Wright with a white man.
I was introduced to this piece during my childhood and loved the strange syncopated rhythm – a far cry from the pieces I was learning at the time!
"Take Five" is written in the key of E♭ minor in (ABA) form and in the unusual time of 5/4. The five beats in the bar are split into 3 +2 so the main accents and chord changes are on the first and fourth beats of the bar.
