A decade ago ENJA president Matthias Winckelmann compiled the first "Ballads" album which is a classic today. At that time nobody could foresee the huge international success of the "Ballads" series that sold far more than 100,000 copies worldwide. The new volume, the fifth in the series, appropriately includes an astonishing version of "Take Five", one of the most legendary jazz standards, named for its unusual five-four measure. "Ballads 5 - Take Five" focus on brand new and upcoming releases by such as Trio Elf, veteran trumpeter Dusko Goykovich, singer Céline Rudolph, pianist Florian Weber's Trio Minsarah and even Frank Tusa's "Father Time" band of 1975 that was just made available on CD for the first time. The CD program's encore offers the undisputed father of the jazz ballad, Coleman Hawkins, in a historic 1966 recording of his best-known ballad vehicle, "Body And Soul".