From the archives

Ironically, the signature tune of this year’s Dave Brubeck centenary is bound to be a piece the pianist-composer didn’t write. ‘Take Five’ was actually composed by his long-time altoist Paul Desmond, albeit with Brubeck’s guiding hand, though it becamewhich lifted jazz out of its four-to-the-bar rut into multiple time signatures and made Brubeck a global star. However, as a trio of compilations on the Avid label makes clear, Brubeck’s reputation was already well established before appeared. Through the ’50s, the Brubeck quartet was hot property, a top attraction on the American college concert circuit and in the jazz record charts.