#YOU TUBE DAVE BRUBECK TAKE FIVE FULL#

He told Gene Lees in Friends Along the Way that when he joined the union in Chicago he was called into president James Petrillo’s office. He began on tuba before switching to the trombone when he was 12. Milt Bernhart was born in the small town of Valparaiso in Indiana on. Just as an aside, Quincy Jones once said, “Nelson wrote some of the greatest arrangements for vocalists I’ve ever heard”.

Riddle was paid $150.00 (worth about $1,400.00 today) and in 2000 Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. At the end of the performance Sinatra invited him into the control-booth to listen to the playback, which was the greatest compliment he could give to the instrumentalist.

#YOU TUBE DAVE BRUBECK TAKE FIVE FULL#

Milt then launches into a swaggering eight-bar statement gloriously full of buoyant joie de vivre to claim his little piece of jazz history. Roberts’ part is particularly noteworthy as the tension is increased throughout the 12-bar vamp which was inspired by Bill Russo’s “23 Degrees North, 82 Degrees West”, recorded by Stan Kenton in 1952 – which included George Roberts. Milt launches into a swaggering eight-bar statement gloriously full of buoyant joie de vivre to claim his little piece of jazz historyĪ noteworthy feature of the arrangement after Sinatra’s first chorus is the ostinato or montuno by the trombone section – Jimmy Priddy, Juan Tizol, Milt Bernhart and George Roberts on bass trombone. They obviously knew they had just witnessed something very special. Pianist Lou Levy called it, “One of the outstanding vocal arrangements” and at its conclusion the audience in the studio together with the orchestra applauded the principals – singer, arranger and trombone soloist. It is rumoured to have needed about 17 takes including a number of false starts until everyone was satisfied. The singer often referred to it as “Nelson’s Shining Hour” although his evocative “Folks Who Live on the Hill” chart for Peggy Lee in 1957 runs it pretty close. The occasion was the sessions Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! – Frank Sinatra’s masterpiece – and the tune was Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, arranged by Nelson Riddle.

There is another that should be added to that exclusive little company because on 12 January 1956 in the Capitol studios on Hollywood’s Melrose Avenue, Milt Bernhart recorded one of the most famous trombone solos of all time. Bobby Hackett on Glenn Miller’s “String of Pearls”, Stan Getz with Astrud Gilberto on “The Girl From Ipanema”, Paul Desmond on “Take Five” and Phil Woods on Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are” all come to mind in that regard. Just occasionally a jazz solo becomes so well known that it transcends boundaries and becomes absorbed into the mainstream of popular music.

You tube dave brubeck take five