I readily admit that I tend to follow things through not just until the bitter end, but until I'm convinced that it's a bitter dead-end. But my interest hadn't only been who had recorded Take Five in 4/4, but why, or at least what justified doing so. I can understand taking a standard 4/4 piece and seeing what it sounds like in 5/4, but since the vast majority of popular music and jazz is in 4/4, converting something in the opposite direction would seem far from necessary. If you want to know what something sounds like in 4/4 - turn on the radio.

Finding the piece itself (and learning that numerous others have recorded Take Five in 4/4) was the easy part. Understanding why continues to present a challenge. I'm sure that it's not a case of musicians not being able to play 5/4 time, of being limited musically such that if they want to play the piece they have to make it easier on themselves. The explanation from the Ska Jazz Ensemble makes a certain amount of sense - people are dancing, what difference does it make. And I guess that I'll simply have to accept a generalization of that explanation - something like, "why don't we play this in 4/4? it might be fun" - and leave it at that.