The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five

This classic piece from The Dave Brubeck Quartet's 1959 album Time Out has been called the greatest selling jazz single of all-time. The song was composed by the group's saxophonist Paul Desmond, and it was revolutionary at the time because it was played in an unusual 5/4 time - hence the name of the song. This song was one of the first significant U.S. jazz songs to use this quintuple meter, straying from the usual 4/4 time that musicians used. After a legacy of chain-smoking, the successful and busy Paul Desmond died of lung cancer in 1977. When he died, Desmond left the rights and royalties for Take Five to the American Red Cross.