It's Friday and time to Take Five ... links that is:

• What about an Undersecretary of Jazz? Quincy Jones has been trying for years to get Cabinet level Secretary of Culture. Somewhere north of 75,000 have signed the petition.
• Evan Iverson of the Bad Plus has a great interview with Wynton Marsalis on Do The Math. Iverson used the interview as "an opportunity to learn about his current music, namely his most recent large-scale work, Congo Square, an unusually successful combination of conventional big band and the West African group Odadaa! led by Yacub Addy. Frankly, I came away enlightened, impressed, and motivated. I can now see how Wynton has obtained funding and respect for jazz at an unprecedented level: he is one of the most charismatic men I’ve ever met." It's a two parter post (Part 1 and Part 2), with a coda looking at Marsalis's influence on jazz in the U.S. and the controversy surrounding it.
• Jazz Lives is the blog of Michael Steinman, who describes himself as an "unashamed jazz addict". Steinman writes for Cadence, CODA, Jazz Improv, and All About Jazz. He is the New York correspondent for The Mississippi Rag and writes liner notes for a number of jazz labels, including Arbors, Nagel-Heyer, Stomp Off, NifNuf, Jazzology, Audiophile, LaLa, Azica, Little Simmy, Amber Lake, and GelberMusic.
• Check out Jazz Video Guy a video podcasts by Brett Primack. The most recent offering is the Phil Silvers show from the 50s about a jazzer getting drafted.
• ...And speaking of video, here's one of e.s.t., the Esbjörn Svensson Trio, playing When God Created The Coffeebreak live at Jazz à Juan Les Pins festival in France in July 2003. Svensson died last year in a diving accident.

So take five and explore. Let me know what you think in the comments ....There will be five more next week.