Paul Desmond, Dave Brubeck and "Take Five": The jazz song as a vehicle for commercial success

 

In the 1950s, AM radio stations, with their music, news, weather, and advertising formats, were popping up in increasing numbers. Many of these stations were playing and promoting the new R&B and "rock and roll" sounds because that's what the Post-War kids were interested in. As the population base shifted (with the Post-War "Baby Boom"), the demographics of record sales were shifting to a younger population base--this despite the shift in pop culture toward the "new" visual form of entertainment: television.

     At the same time, the face and sound of jazz was shifting: away from the ubiquitous big bands swingin' dance hall tunes. A more sophisticated, cerebral style of jazz was rising and evolving--with smaller combos of drums, bass, piano, and a horn (or two) taking over as the artists' more preferred performative milieu. With this more serious, more introspective outpouring of music, the popularity of jazz music was beginning to fade in terms of radio play and record sales percentages. The new popular musics were based more and more on catchy melodies and lyrical hooks--especially in the growing medium of the hit (Broadway) stage musicals and their Hollywood film versions. This made the frequency of instrumental "hits" a dying breed--unless one were a classical or jazz music afficionado. However, there still occurred the occasional fresh injection of pep and joy (or sadness and emotion) coming from some novelty instrumental song. "Take Five" was one such phenomenon. But what made "Take Five" such a remarkable event--more than its memorable, singable melody--was its danceable odd-metered rhythm pattern. 

"Another more recent breakthrough was made with Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" showing that it is possible to play jazz in 5/4 and that a large segment of the population is interested in hearing music in other than 4/4 or 3/4." -- Steven Cerra, "The Evolution of the Don Ellis Orchestra, Part 1, from the JazzProfiles blogspot, May 28, 2019

As Don Ellis remarks, the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Paul Desmond-penned song--jazz music's all-time highest selling song--opened doors for jazz musicians (and their record labels) to actually consciously try to target listener-consumers in the hopes (and plans) for their own financial gain(s).