Time Out

The album was released in 1959 and soon proved that experimentation could be successful. It reached number two on the Billboard album chart and became the first jazz album to sell a million copies. From it came "Take Five", a piece not written by Dave Brubeck, but by Paul Desmond, which also broke records by being the first jazz single to exceed a million sales. By 1963, Time Out had already sold half a million units, and in 2011, it received double platinum certification for surpassing two million copies. The album's value was further recognized with its induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009 and its selection by the Library of Congress of the United States for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2005, for its cultural and historical importance.

Within the album, "Blue Rondo à la Turk", which takes its name from a reference to Mozart, begins with that peculiar 9/8 structure inspired by Balkan rhythms, although the solo sections move in 4/4. "Take Five", as its name suggests, stays in a constant 5/4, and according to Desmond, his original intention was for it to serve as a vehicle for a drum solo by Joe Morello. Other pieces like "Three to Get Ready" play with waltz time and 4/4, while "Kathy's Waltz", named after Brubeck's daughter, despite a misspelling in the title, transitions between 4/4 and a double waltz. "Everybody's Jumpin'" moves in a flexible 6/4, which is then more clearly defined in "Pick Up Sticks". It has been suggested that "Kathy's Waltz" may have influenced the melodic ending of the Beatles' "All My Loving".