In the early ’90s, I heard ”Take Five” in a dream—a guy was playing the Paul Desmond part on a trumpet at the wedding of a friend of mine in this dream—though, I didn’t know the name of the tune yet—but it’s what got me into jazz.
I told the art director at
Cracked Magazine about the tune in the dream and hummed a few bars. He said, “That sounds like ‘Take Five’ by Dave Brubeck.” I bought the album after that, and subsequently picked up a copy of
The Penguin Guide to Jazz and ended up taking a deep dive into the exploration of jazz on CD and LP. I later met Dave and Iola Brubeck after a show at the Blue Note in New York. They very generously signed CDs and LPs for me. Brubeck and Paul Desmond are big faves and deeply represented in my jazz collection.