Jazz In Take Five And C-Jam Blues By Duke Ellington

Jazz is one of the greatest music genres of all time. There are 3 main types of jazz that we have studied this year – bebop, swing and cool jazz. While today jazz may not be mainstream music that is heard on the radio, there was a time between 1930 and 1955 where it was. In this research project I am going to be comparing the famous jazz compositions, “Take Five” by Dave Brubeck and “C-Jam Blues” by Duke Ellington. Both pieces were chart-topping and achieved incredible mainstream success, with “Take Five” becoming the biggest selling jazz single ever (Sarabia, 2000). Over the next few pages I will be analysing each song in detail as well as looking at how these songs helped to define jazz.

Take Five
Take Five was written by Dave Brubeck in
Cool Jazz is a form of jazz that is different to other jazz. There are many differences between cool jazz and other types of jazz. Cool Jazz had a dark and classical tone, whereas Bebop jazz was a very bright tone. This is evident in Dave Brubeck’s Take Five where the classical tone of the alto saxophone and piano are evident. Cool jazz also had a much quieter and softer feel to it. It is much more suited to relaxing background music at a party than Bebop is. Bebop is much more lively and upbeat. Take Five is a perfect example of Cool Jazz. The two chord piano riff supports the soothing alto saxophone and creates a soft and relaxed mood. One of the biggest differences between Take Five, which is Cool Jazz, and C-Jam Blues, which is Swing Jazz, is that Take Five had a set score and each musician had a written out part and C-Jam Blues didn’t. In C-Jam Blues, the only thing that was written for the musicians was a chord structure. Therefore most C-Jam Blues was improvised on the spot, whereas in Take Five, the music was written out. There were still improvised solos in cool jazz, but unlike other jazz, the improvised solos were not seen as more important than the rest of the song. In Take Five, the alto saxophone plays a melody that is written out. There were also improvised solos, although the solos are not the most important section of the piece. The saxophone melody and piano riffs are the most
When jazz orchestras dominated pop charts and when influential clarinettists were household names. This was the swing era.” (Scott Yanow, 2003)
C-Jam Blues was one of these pieces and was composed and performed in 1942 by Duke Ellington. C-Jam Blues falls under the swing era of jazz and it became one of the pieces that helped to define swing jazz and jazz in the 1940s. As is suggested by the name of the song, C-Jam Blues was written in the key of C-Major. There is a large part of composition that is improvised, which was common in Swing Jazz. The head of the song is the only written part of the piece. This was also common in Bebop Jazz. Musicians follow a 12-bar blues form that has a major tonality throughout the