《Take Five》是一支为爵士乐做出划时代贡献的乐曲，也是爵士历史上最有名的乐曲之一。是否觉得Take Five这两个单词看上去似乎眼熟了？因为现在全世界以Take Five命名的咖啡厅、酒吧、店铺或是乐团太多了，所以才会使人有这种感觉。 上世纪五十年代末，Dave Brubeck Quartet组合中的灵魂人物中音萨克斯手Paul Desmond写了这一首名叫Take Five的四重奏乐曲，最开始时这首爵士乐以单曲的形式发行，由于采用了极为罕见的5/4拍，这在当时的爵士音乐界引起了强烈震动，并受到广泛批评，但在符合大众口味的金曲排行榜上却可以和彼时如日中天的猫王的歌曲抗衡。 以后的时间证明了，这种复杂节奏改变了当时人们陈旧、萎靡和一成不变的听力习惯，同时在探索爵士节奏的可能性上作出了深远影响。21世纪福克斯公司也曾经将此曲用做电影题头。 由于Paul Desmond在爵士历史上的地位与名气都远远不如Dave Brubeck，《Take Five》的曲作者经常被误以为是Dave Brubeck。而实际上由Dave Brubeck、Paul Desmond、Joe Morello、Eugene Wright组成的四重奏组合在1959年发行的专辑《Time Out》里，Dave Brubeck的确是除《Take Five》之外的所有乐曲的作者，这张专辑中八分之九拍、四分之五拍、四分之六拍等诸多非常规爵士乐节拍也有出现，但《Take Five》在爵士乐史上石破天惊的意义显然非专辑中其他乐曲可以比拟，在后来发行的绝大多数关于Dave Brubeck Quartet的精选专辑中，几乎100%都会收录。

莎拉·露意絲·沃恩，是美國爵士歌手，被Scott Yanow形容為具有「20世紀最美妙的聲音」。 沃恩是一個3次葛萊美獎得主。國家藝術基金會於1989年賦予她爵士樂的最高榮譽，爵士樂大師獎 。 沃恩被公認為20世紀最重要的爵士樂歌手之一，與艾拉·費茲潔拉和比莉·哈樂黛齊名。

So dubbed because these three sessions -- two from early 1949, one from March 1950 -- are where the sound known as cool jazz essentially formed, The Birth of the Cool remains one of the defining, pivotal moments in jazz. This is where the elasticity of bop was married with skillful, big-band arrangements and a relaxed, subdued mood that made it all seem easy, even at its most intricate. After all, there's a reason why this music was called cool; it has a hip, detached elegance, never getting too hot, even as the rhythms skip and jump. Indeed, the most remarkable thing about these sessions -- arranged by Gil Evansand featuring such heavy-hitters as Kai Winding, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, and Max Roach-- is that they sound intimate, as the nonet never pushes too hard, never sounds like the work of nine musicians. Furthermore, the group keeps things short and concise (probably the result of the running time of singles, but the results are the same), which keeps the focus on the tones and tunes. The virtuosity led to relaxing, stylish mood music as the end result -- the very thing that came to define West Coast or "cool" jazz -- but this music is so inventive, it remains alluring even after its influence has been thoroughly absorbed into the mainstream