The Dave Brubeck Quartet turned odd time signatures into cold martinis and afternoon cigarettes, proving that 5/4 could swing harder than any standard blues. Paul Desmond's Take Five became the impossible: a jazz instrumental that sold like pop while maintaining its cool, detached sophistication.

Recorded in Columbia's cavernous 30th Street Studio, Time Out made complexity sound effortless, each polyrhythmic twist feeling as natural as breathing. It went platinum when jazz albums barely went gold, soundtracking cocktail parties and intellectual pretensions alike without breaking a sweat.