Friends!!!

Grandpa Frog, who is a member of the GoMagic group on the OGS, is hosting the July (2024) "Jazz standards - Take Five" tournament with the help of GoMagic.

Two bars of accompaniment are enough, and you can guess that Take Five is about to be played. This was the first jazz theme written in 5/4, and it was included on the 1959 album Time Out. Let me remind you that Dave Brubeck specifically created pieces in tricky sizes - 9/8, 6/4, 7/4 or used variable sizes (two bars by three, two bars by two). And in this experiment, the most popular theme was 5/4.

        The Dave Brubeck Quartet.

Of course “five” is in the title for a reason, but actually Take Five means “five minute break”. The fact that such a theme could become a hit and that it became a household name at musical gatherings is amazing, but if you think about it, isn't that proof that jazz is no longer a music for dancing? It's no coincidence that the Brubeck Quartet achieved its greatest popularity among American intellectuals, and its concerts were most often a success with student audiences.

        Dave Brubeck

Later, arrangements for big bands emerged, and vocal versions also appeared. Of these, the most successful, in the opinion of jazz lovers, is Al Jarreau's 1977 recording (Over the Ranibow album). But I recommend listening to the original Brubeck Quartet recording. Joe Morello on drums, Gene Wright on double bass, and Desmond on saxophone.

Original Brubeck Quartet recording

Paul Desmond (1924-1977) was an alto saxophonist, one of the brightest representatives of cool jazz, popular in the early fifties on the West Coast of the United States.

In 1951-1967 he played in the Brubeck Quartet, his improvisations were characterized by striking melody and impeccable logic of development." I don't know why my sax produces such a sound, such a tone," Desmond admitted, "Sometimes I think I'm playing illegally. The Take Five theme brought the saxophonist amazing success and huge royalties, which, incidentally, he donated to the Red Cross.In 1951-1967 he played in the Brubeck Quartet, his improvisations were characterized by striking melody and impeccable logic of development." I don't know why my sax produces such a sound, such a tone," Desmond admitted, "Sometimes I think I'm playing illegally. The Take Five theme brought the saxophonist amazing success and huge royalties, which, incidentally, he donated to the Red Cross.

Al Jarreau's 1977 recording

After leaving the quartet, Paul Desmond recorded three great albums - Summertime, Skylark and Like Someone In Love.

A couple of vocal versions of this wonderful composition.

Abi Flynn's vocal version of Take Five.

Carmen McRay's vocal version of Take Five.

And now about pleasant things, about prizes! First of all, each participant of this unofficial tournament will receive an unofficial prize - a Chinese Go book in electronic form. The link to the book will be posted in the tournament chat for a few days after the tournament starts. Since the chat room is periodically cleared of messages, the link will be removed after some time. If you haven't had a chance to download the book, post in the tournament chat and I'll post the link again.

Second, GoMagic.org has generously sponsored prizes for participants of the unofficial tournaments that I host.These prizes come in the form of coupons, which can be used towards the purchase of GoMagic courses and memberships. In each group of our the third round, participants ranking 1st and 2nd will be awarded these valuable prizes.As the host, I will personally deliver the coupons to the winners via private message on OGS

Something about the regulations. Please note that each move adds 1 day to the time, but no more than 3 days. Time is suspended for the weekend. This means that you have to make one move per day.

    Regards,
    Grandpa Frog.

P.S. James Bond will return in the movie "From Russia with love"~~

Tournaments Go Magic will continue in August with the "Bayun the cat" tournament.