《Take Five》是一支為爵士樂做出劃時代貢獻的樂曲，也是爵士曆史上最有名的樂曲之一。 是否覺得Take Five這兩個單詞看上去很眼熟？ 因為現在全世界以Take Five命名的咖啡廳、酒吧、店鋪或是樂團太多，所以才會給人這種感覺。
上世紀五十年代末，Dave Brubeck Quartet組合中的靈魂人物中音薩克斯手Paul Desmond寫了這一首名叫Take Five的四重奏樂曲，最開始時這首爵士樂以單曲的形式發行，由於采用了極為罕見的5/4拍，這在當時的爵士音樂界引起了強烈震動，並受到廣泛批評，但在符合大眾口味的金曲排行榜上卻可以和彼時如日中天的貓王的歌曲抗衡。
以後的時間證明了，這種複雜節奏改變了當時人們陳舊、萎靡和一成不變的聽力習慣，同時在探索爵士節奏的可能性上作出了深遠影響。21世紀福克斯公司也曾經將此曲用做電影題頭。
由於Paul Desmond在爵士曆史上的地位與名氣都遠遠不如Dave Brubeck，《Take Five》的曲作者經常被誤以為是Dave Brubeck。而實際上由Dave Brubeck、Paul Desmond、Joe Morello、Eugene Wright組成的四重奏在1959年發行的專輯《Time Out》裏，Dave Brubeck的確是除《Take Five》之外的所有樂曲的作者。 這張專輯中八分之九拍、四分之五拍、四分之六拍等諸多非常規爵士樂節拍也有出現，但《Take Five》在爵士樂史上石破天驚的意義顯然非專輯中其他樂曲可以比擬，在後來發行的絕大多數關於Dave Brubeck Quartet的精選專輯中，幾乎100%都會收錄。
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Take Five is a jazz piece written by Paul Desmond and performed by The Dave Brubeck Quartet on their 1959 album Time Out. This piece became one of the group's best-known records, famous for its distinctive, catchy saxophone melody and use of the unusual quintuple (5/4) time, from which its name is derived.
The inspiration for this style of music came during a tour of Eurasia and Brubeck observed in Turkey a group of street musicians performing a traditional Turkish folk song that was played in 9/8 time, a rare meter for Western music. After learning about the form from symphony musicians, Brubeck was inspired to create an album that deviated from the usual 4/4 time of Jazz and experimented in the more exotic such styles he experienced abroad.
While "Take Five" was not the first jazz composition to use this meter, it was one of the first in the United States to achieve mainstream significance, reaching #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on Billboard's, the precursor to today's Adult Contemporary charts, in 1961, two years after its initial release.
"Take Five" was re-recorded and performed live multiple times by The Dave Brubeck Quartet throughout the group's career. In addition, there have been many covers of the piece. Some versions also feature lyrics, including a 1961 recording with lyrics written by Dave Brubeck and his wife Iola, sung by Carmen McRae. Al Jarreau performed an unusual scat version of the song in Germany in 1976.
"Take Five" has been included in countless movies and television soundtracks, and still receives significant radio play. It was for several years during the early 60s the theme music for the NBC "Today" program, the opening bars played half a dozen times and more each day.
Upon his death in 1977, Paul Desmond left the rights to royalties for performances and compositions, including "Take Five", to the American Red Cross, which has since received combined royalties of approximately $100,000 per year.
