Brooks Secondary School students Steve Carson and Duncan McDonald are taking five, a short break, while they wait to rehearse in the high-school’s band room. The teenagers have just eaten some homemade squares and are on a sugar rush.
Carson and McDonald are members of a Brooks jazz band called Take 5, a notable name in the annals of jazz, which was not immediately apparent to the students when they were deciding what to call themselves.
“All of us brainstormed,” said McDonald.
It came down to two choices; Take 5 and Hannah Is the Smart One. Pianist Hannah Schweitzer, admitted Carson and McDonald, is indeed the smart one in the band. Take 5 won out in the end, but none of them knew the connection between the name chosen and the music they play.
“We knew it was a song but we didn’t know who it was by,” said McDonald. They do now. “Take 5” is not just any song, but one of the most important in jazz history, with its syncopated, five-four time signature written by Paul Desmond and made famous by the great jazz master Dave Bruebeck and his quartet in 1959.
Take 5’s five members are Steve on saxophone, McDonald on trombone, Steve’s brother Eli on drums, Hannah Schweitzer on piano and Cullen Buholzer on bass.
Ranging in age from 14 to 16, the group has been together for five months. Thursday, March 10, they get a big break, playing a five-song set to open for the Calgary-based Foothills Brass Quintet’s stop on their current 30-day tour, Bourbon Street to Broadway, at Brooks’ Max Cameron Theatre.
One thing is certain; Take 5 won’t need sugar to get them up for the show.
“They’re renowned and we want to make an impression on them,” said Steve.
Derrick Milton, who has played trumpet with Foothills Brass since 2012, remembers his start being very similar to that of Take 5.
“I was probably about the same age,” said Milton. “I started my first brass quintet when I was in grade 10.”
School bands like Take 5 give Milton “hope for the future, because I get a little tired of the 97 per cent of the musical market that seems to only know a rather narrow spectrum of the musical pallet,” he said.
In an age and influence of DJs, YouTube stars and hip-hop, McDonald and Carson said jazz is the best because its open to personal expression.
“You can present yourself,” said McDonald. “You can show yourself.”
“I think it’s just free,” said Carson. “You can do whatever you want.”
That answer gets a “not quite true” from Milton.
“In many ways, there is a lot more structure to jazz than there is to pop music. The patterns are so much more complex in jazz and there’s so much more to listen to,” he said. “The average pop tune is, quite frankly, dull. I think a lot of times, once kids get a taste for something other than this mainstream pop market, they realize there is a lot more out there than a four-chord tune.”
For Take 5, the Thursday night show is more than just any concert, according to Steve and Eli’s father Roy Carson, the band’s mentor and teacher.
“They take a lot of pride in their performances. They don’t go up and do a sloppy job with anything, no matter what it is, even if it’s playing in the cafeteria or if they’re playing in front of a paid crowd. But this one is important because of the atmosphere,” said Roy. “We’ve paid our bucks, so let’s hear what you got.”
Take 5 play 7:30 pm Thursday, March 10, with Foothills Brass Quintet. Tickets are $29 for adults, $27 for seniors and $12 for youth. For more info go to maxcamerontheatre.ca.
