Val Bennett

roots reggae // jazz standard cover

It’s been unseasonably warm in the Northeast and the dry air necessitates humidifiers which then inevitably lead me to mimicking some deep toking. All in all, the perfect ambiance to absorb some new new reggae and dub CDs my roommate Adam just acquired. I heard this tune snaking out of his room just an hour ago. Oddly enough, it’s not from his CDs, but rather playing from the theme of the 80’s series “The Secret Life Of Machines” (recommended!). This is basically a roots reggae cover of the Dave Brubek Quartet classic “Take Five”. While Brubek’s name is usually attached to the tune, it’s genius was actually conceived by writer Paul Desmond, who was one of my first posts on Aurgasm.

Take it easy, take it slow, take five.
Val Bennett – The Russians Are Coming
buy this cd

Posted by Paul Irish on Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 under jazz, reggae.

12 Responses to “Val Bennett”

  1. John said on January 10th at 3:30 am :

    Simply beautiful. Thanks

  2. k. said on January 11th at 1:17 pm :

    this is awesome paul good look.

  3. DJ durutti said on January 11th at 10:39 pm :

    sublime

    thanks Paul

  4. Scott said on January 12th at 8:32 am :

    I used to watch Secret Life of Machines in the early 90’s on TLC. This theme song led me on a year quest to find someone in mid-Michigan who could actually tell me what song this was. I finally heard the original Dave Brubeck tune in a Barnes&Noble in Kalamazoo. Do this day I’ve wondered about the reggae version.

    Your post today fulfilled many years of mystery and a adolescent memory. Thank you.

  5. Dustin Senos said on January 16th at 1:26 am :

    I can’t say I have anything as rich as Scott to say. But I did enjoy the tune!

    Dustin

  6. no1uno said on January 16th at 10:04 am :

    I like this version too – and was reminded of Tito Puente – Take Five from Mambo Diablo. Check it out for something a more upbeat if you like. That whole album is phenomenal if you like latin jazz.

  7. Anonymous said on January 20th at 3:01 am :

    Masterpiece! Frankly, this roots reggae version is almost better than the original. Thanks.

    Been hooked to your blog for almost a year now, and I discovered some wonderful new music.

    Javejavor
    http://javejavor.blogspot.com

  8. Colin said on January 25th at 4:34 am :

    Cracking tune – thanks.

  9. Paul Irish said on January 29th at 10:39 am :

    Scott- I’m late at publicly replying, but I wanted to say your comment above is probably one of the coolest stories my blog has made. I’m glad to help solve that mystery. Cheers!

  10. Mark Gorney said on February 9th at 1:36 pm :

    I was surprised to see this and think it’s great that you put the original 45 but this is technically rocksteady as opposed to reggae. A niggling point perhaps but I’m gonna make it anyway.

    The track was cut in 1967 and is a Bunny Lee production, the same guy that produced most of Johnny Clarke’s 1970s hits like “Move Out of Babylon.”

    Val Bennett had a mouth full of gold teeth and at one point drove a hearse.

    Keep up the good work

    Mark

  11. Bellota said on February 18th at 8:50 pm :

    Qué pasada!!! Maravilloso, estoy flotando.
    Gracias!

  12. five! at Native Berlin said on March 7th at 7:27 pm :

    […] “¦ and there goes my nightly sound “¦ brubek to the roots. […]

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