yoni wrote:Hi gilbert!
The Mid Eastern rhythm called Samai, which is in 10/4, might work in "Take Five", since 10 is just 5 x 2. There are other Mid Eastern rhythms in 5/4 that may work also; giving them a swingy kind of feel might fit them well with Brubeck's "Take Five".
Hmmm, I must try this...
All the best,
yoni
zaragemca wrote:making it simple 10/8, is a subdivision of 5/4 time signature.
Berimbau wrote:Dear Yoni,
I also play darabuka and really enjoy Middle Eastern music and culture as much as Afro-Cuban. I'm not sure that Brubeck's ethnicity had anything to do with his compositional use of odd time signatures in the Time Out recording. However, you are certainly correct in pointing out the historical links and cultural confluences between Arabs and Jews. I suppose that's what makes the Middle Eastern conflict even more tragic. Brother against brother.
Anyway, in 1958 the Brubeck Quartet completed a U.S. State Department tour of fourteen countries, including India and Turkey, and that's probably where Brubeck picked up on the Turkish Karsilama rhythm he employed for Blue Rondo A La Turk. Actually it was his alto saxophonist Paul Desmond who was the composer of Take Five, and I assume a similar origin for the 5/4 rhythm Desmond employed in his own composition.
How to play that thing? Well, Glen Velez and Simon Shaheen each taught me different variations of the 10/8 Samai rhythm. I don't think that either of them works for Take Five. But back in the day my jazz band used to play Take Five quite a bit, and I started using a syncopated 5/4 conga pattern that locked in with the piano player's left hand figure. Later on we rearranged it into a kind of 5/4 samba groove, and I switched to playing tamborim using the Rio style of rotating the drum to cop the pianist's groove. Great music, great times.
Shallom/Salem,
Berimbau
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