Dan Estrem & John Holmquist - Take Five

Dan Estrem, a guitarist from Minnesota, and fellow American guitarist John Holmquist have done most of their work in the classical field. However, the pair collaborated on five CD's of jazz standards for the ProJazz label, beginning c.1987.

Most of these fine jazz albums have long been out of print. I believe that Take Five (1987) was the first to be released, although discographical information on these CD's is sparse to say the least. Among the standards arranged for two guitars was the title tune, which was of course a massive hit for Dave Brubeck. The MP3 is from a cassette version of the album.

Take Five



If you like what you hear you're in luck. Used copies of Take Five are plentiful in the Amazon Marketplace, with some going for less than a dollar. Amazon also has cheap copies of several other jazz CDs from Estrem and Holmquist -- I Get a Kick Out of You (music of Cole Porter), Love You Madly (Duke Ellington) and Bossa.

None of the pair's albums are downloadable, but some of John Holmquist's classical work is available from iTunes and elsewhere.