The so-hip 5/4 groove that kicks off this blast from the jazz past should ring a few bells out there. That flicker of recognition turns into Beavis and Butthead’s fading lightbulb once Paul Desmond’s silky alto sax enters the picture. “Take Ten,” from 1974, is, of course, a rework of the all-time jazz classic “Take Five,” which Desmond recorded in 1959 with The Dave Brubeck Quartet. The original version of “Take Ten” came out in 1963 on the album of the same name. Instead of Brubeck’s classically influenced piano accompaniment, “Take Ten” featured the smooth guitar work of Jim Hall.

The 1974 version, which appeared on Desmond’s “Skylark” album for CTI Recordings, flips things even further, featuring the almost psychedelic guitar sounds of Gabor Szabo, whose droning, metallic tone recalls John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service. Desmond is his usual epitome of West Coast cool; he weathered the fervent innovations of John Coltrane and Miles Davis to maintain that lazy tone of his, where you can almost hear his embouchere smacking the reed.

I ripped this particular track off “CTI: The Master Collection,” a two-disc set from 2002 that highlights a number of artists off the label that both provided work for veteran performers (Freddie Hubbard, Desmond, Chet Baker) during the jazz-averse ’70s, and set the blueprint for what unfortunately would become “smooth jazz” with a host of open-minded younger artists (George Benson, Deodato, Patti Austin). If you like your jazz soulful, with a touch of funk and maybe some nice orchestral flourishes, CTI is your bag.

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