Take Five: For Cello

Here is the jazz classic “Take Five” transcribed and arranged for cello.

While this classic jazz number is strongly associated with Dave Brubeck, it was actually written by two lesser-known members of his group (quartet): Paul Desmond (1924-1977), the saxophonist, who came up with the melody, and Joe Morello, the drummer, who came up with the backing rhythm (drum groove). Interestingly, Take Five was part of a recording project, inspired by a trip to India and the Middle East, dedicated to pieces in unconventional time signatures. The record that resulted, called “Time Out” was the first-ever jazz record to sell more than one million copies. That was obviously a bit of very fertile cross-cultural pollination!

In the published versions, it is normally written out “square” in 5/4 time but it should definitely be played in 15/8 time, with every pair of 8th notes played as a lilting triplet:

And here below is an audio play-along accompaniment which is a little slow perhaps: