Jazz master Dave Brubeck passed away earlier today in Connecticut. Dave, now 91, was an extremely talented and creative jazz musician now widely for his work. In short, I’m personally always amazed at Dave’s ability to create tunes that carried the improvisation, range and depth of jazz with pop sensibility that allowed for such quick accessibility to his work. I mean, play “Take Five” (beneath) for 100 people and tell me 98.4 of them don’t start some sort of a foot-jerk or neck-twist. If you’d like a good taste of Brubeck, check out his 1959 album Time Out. The mashup containing the album’s “Take Five” and Radiohead’s “15 Step” is worth listening to, as well.

Thank you, Mr. Brubeck, for all you marvelous contributions to jazz and safe travels.