In 1994, when Nissan launched its mid luxury Infinity J30, it needed the car to be associated with a discerning customer that not only had a taste for luxury but was also quietly hip. There were few artists in the 1990s that could match both criteria, so the automaker chose a musician who was not only noted to be intelligent but whose music was appreciated across the decades. That man was Dave Brubeck.
With his horn-rimmed glasses, lvy League suits and piano, Brubeck looked like a professor who spent his time researching the hidden meaning in musical time signatures.
But a generation ago, Brubeck has asked the world to ‘take five’ (a five-minute single from his album that was aptly nemwd Time Out) as he embarked on a musical adventure that improvised its step with each beat.
That a person who looked like a Prenceton professor could punch a soft note repeatedly, but never predictably, between the bass, drums and cello while his audience sipped martinis meant that Brubeck knew how to get an otherwise uptight audience to sit back, relax and loosen their ties. As the Telegraph stated,” it was Dave, never David.”
Brubeck’s Take five, however, never managed to impart its success on the J30 wasn’t a good car. It had a V6 engine, bold design and came with all the refinements that a customer could expect for $34,000 – a whopping amount back then. But in its four year run from 1994-1998, the J30 found itself victims to its own bold styling with views ranging from it being called too dramatic or a melted version of a jaguar.
Instead, Take five introduced Brubeck to whole new generation in the 1990s and since the jazz legend’s death last week, the ad with take five playing in the background has been seeing renewed interest. And while the car in the ad now looks remarkably dated, Brubeck’s music continues to be noted for its timelessness.
By Shayan Shakeel