Paul Desmond

Dave Brubeck (l.) And Paul Desmond (Photo: Carl van Vechten )

Paul Desmond (born November 25, 1924 in San Francisco , California , † May 30, 1977 in New York City ; actually Paul Emil Breitenfeld ) was an American cool jazz saxophonist.

life and work

He became known through the Dave Brubeck Quartet (he wrote its biggest hit Take Five ), in which he played from its formation in 1951 to 1967. It had a clear, light, flowing sound that many tried in vain to imitate. He loved gentle ballads and sometimes slipped into dreamy solos, but always had a clear line. The interaction of his light, airy style with Brubeck's heavy, polytonal piano playing contributed much to the success of the classic Dave Brubeck Quartet .

Desmond also worked with Gerry Mulligan and Jim Hall , among others . In 1967, after leaving Brubeck's quartet, he paused for a while and later appeared at times in reunions with Brubeck, Mulligan, Hall, Ed Bickert and others; In 1971 he played a Christmas concert with the Modern Jazz Quartet . His ability to improvise counterpart is perhaps best heard on the two albums he recorded with Gerry Mulligan ( Mulligan-Desmond Quartet and Two of a Mind ). In 1977 he was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame .

Aside from playing, he was known for his witty manner, as evidenced by the liner notes of his solo albums and the memories of others. For a couple of years it was rumored that he was writing an autobiography, but it never appeared. After he was diagnosed with lung cancer, he ironically expressed his satisfaction with the condition of his liver: “Pristine, one of the great livers of our time. Awash in Dewar's and full of health. ”(“ Immaculate, one of the greatest livers of our time. Flooded with Dewar's [Scottish whiskey] and in excellent health. ”) He gave his last concert with Brubeck in February 1977 in New York City. Little did the audience know that he was terminally ill. Desmond died of lung cancer that same year and bequeathed his entire legacy, including the huge royalties for Take Five, to the Red Cross .

Quote

"It was the rhythm of the machine that suggested it to me, and I really only wrote it to get back the money that I lost there."

- Paul Desmond

Discography

year	album	leader	Label
1950	The Dave Brubeck Octet	Dave Brubeck	Fantasy Records
1951	Brubeck / Desmond	Dave Brubeck	Fantasy Records
1951	Jazz At Storyville	Dave Brubeck	Fantasy Records
1951	Modern Complex Dialogues	Dave Brubeck	Alto Records
1951	How Long, Baby How Long, Pt. 1 & 2	Jack Sheedy	Coronet Records
1951	The Man I Love c / w Down In Honkytonk Town	Jack Sheedy	Coronet
1952	Jazz At the Blackhawk	Dave Brubeck	Fantasy
1952	The Dave Brubeck Quartet	Dave Brubeck	Fantasy
1953	Jazz at Oberlin	Dave Brubeck	Fantasy
1953	Jazz at the College of the Pacific	Dave Brubeck	Fantasy
1954	Dave Brubeck At Storyville 1954	Dave Brubeck	Columbia Records
1954	Jazz Goes to College	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1954	Brubeck Time	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1954	Gerry Mulligan / Paul Desmond	Gerry Mulligan & Paul Desmond	Fantasy
1955	Jazz: Red Hot and Cool	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1955	Chet Baker Quartet Plus: The Newport Years, Vol. 1	Chet Baker	Philology Records
1956	The Paul Desmond Quartet With Don Elliott	Paul Desmond	Fantasy
1956-57	Dave Brubeck Quartet Live In 1956–57 Featuring Paul Desmond	Dave Brubeck	Jazz band
1956	Live From Basin Street	Dave Brubeck	Jazz band
1956	Jazz Impressions Of USA	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1957	Reunion	Dave Brubeck with Dave Van Kriedt	Fantasy
1957	Jazz Goes To Junior College	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1957	Dave Digs Disney	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1957	Blues in Time	Gerry Mulligan & Paul Desmond	Verve Records
1958	In Europe	Dave Brubeck Quartet	Columbia
1958	Newport 1958	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1958	Jazz Impressions Of Eurasia	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1959	Gone With the Wind	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1959	Time out	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1959	St. Louis Blues	Dave Brubeck	Moon Records
1959	First place again!	Paul Desmond	Warner Bros. Records
1960	Southern Scene	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1960	Brubeck and Rushing	Dave Brubeck w / Jimmy Rushing	Columbia
1960	Bernstein Plays Brubeck Plays Bernstein	Dave Brubeck with Leonard Bernstein	Columbia Records
1960	Tonight Only with Carmen McRae	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1961	Time Further Out	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
61, 63, 64	The Complete Recordings Of The Paul Desmond Quartet With Jim Hall	Paul Desmond	Mosaic Records
1961	Take Five With Carmen McRae	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1961	Desmond Blue with Jim Hall	Paul Desmond	RCA Victor
1962	Countdown - Time In Outer Space	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1962	Bossa Nova USA	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1962	Brandenburg Gate Revisited	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1962	Late lament	Paul Desmond	RCA / Bluebird Records
1962	Paul Desmond / Gerry Mulligan - Two Of A Mind	Desmond & Mulligan	RCA Victor
1962	Brubeck In Amsterdam	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1963	The Dave Brubeck Quartet At Carnegie Hall	Dave Brubeck Quartet	Columbia
1963	Take Ten with Jim Hall	Paul Desmond	RCA Victor
63, 64, 65	Easy living	Paul Desmond	RCA Victor
1963	Glad To Be Unhappy	Paul Desmond	RCA Victor
1963	Time changes	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1964	Jazz Impressions of Japan	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1964	Jazz Impressions of New York	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1964	In concert 1964	Dave Brubeck	Jazz connoisseur
1964	Bossa Antigua	Paul Desmond	RCA Victor
1964	Dave Brubeck In Berlin	Dave Brubeck	CBS Records
1965	The Canadian Concert Of Dave Brubeck	Dave Brubeck	Can-Am Records
1965	Angel eyes	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1965	My Favorite Things	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1965	Time in	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1966	Anything Goes!	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1966	The Quartet	Dave Brubeck	Europe jazz
1966	Jackpot!	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1967	Bravo! Brubeck!	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1967	Buried Treasures	Dave Brubeck	Columbia / Legacy
1967	Take Five Live	Dave Brubeck	Jazz Music Yesterday
1967	The Last Time We Saw Paris	Dave Brubeck	Columbia
1968	Summertime	Paul Desmond	A&M Records
1969	From The Hot Afternoon	Paul Desmond	AT THE
1969	From The Hot Afternoon	Paul Desmond	verve
1969	Bridge Over Troubled Water	Paul Desmond	AT THE
1971	The Only Recorded Performance Of Paul Desmond With The Modern Jazz Quartet	Paul Desmond	Finesse Records
1972	We're All Together Again For The First Time	Dave Brubeck / Gerry Mulligan / Paul Desmond	Atlantic Records
1973	Skylark	Paul Desmond	CTI Records
1973	Giant Box ("Song to a Seagull", "Vocalise")	Don Sebesky	CTI
1974	She Was Too Good To Me	Chet Baker	CTI
1974	Pure Desmond	Paul Desmond	CTI
1975	Like Someone In Love	Paul Desmond	Telarc Records
1975	Concierto	Jim Hall	CTI
1975	1975: The Duets	Dave Brubeck / Paul Desmond	Horizon Records
1975	The Paul Desmond Quartet Live	Paul Desmond	Horizon
1976	25th Anniversary Reunion	Dave Brubeck	Horizon
1977	You Can't Go Home Again	Chet Baker	Horizon
1977	The Best Thing For You	Chet Baker	AT THE

collection

The Complete Recordings of the Paul Desmond Quartet with Jim Hall (1959-1965) - ( Mosaic - 1987) - 6 LPs with Connie Kay dm and the bassists: Percy Heath , George Duvivier , Gene Cherico and Eugene Wright

literature

Doug Ramsey : Take Five - the public and private lives of Paul Desmond (preface by Dave and Iola Brubeck), Parkside Publications, Seattle 2005.

film records

Dave Brubeck Live in '64 & '66 , Jazz Icons 2007, DVD 119005. Contains an English booklet, five recordings from 1964 from Belgium, five recordings from 1966 from Germany. Black and white film with very good sound quality.
Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond Take Five Salt Peanuts , DVD 4417. 50 minutes mono recording. Five recordings from 1961, one recording from 1975 from the Monterey open-air stage with aircraft noise in the background, three bonus tracks without Brubeck and Desmond.

Individual evidence

^ Paul Desmond Discography. www.jazzdisco.org, accessed December 8, 2009 .
^ Paul Desmond: 'The Sound of a Dry Martini'. npr.org, accessed December 8, 2009 .
↑ Quoted from H. Broder , Jewish calendar 2009–2010 , May 31, 2010/18. Siwan 5770. Paul Desmond refers to a slot machine in Reno, which is said to have inspired him to his biggest hit "Take Five"

Web links

Commons : Paul Desmond - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Literature by and about Paul Desmond in the catalog of the German National Library
Detailed discography by Paul Desmond
Portrait of Paul Desmond ( Memento from June 12, 2001 in the Internet Archive )

personal data
SURNAME	Desmond, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Breitenfeld, Paul Emil (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American cool jazz saxophonist
DATE OF BIRTH	November 25, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH	San Francisco , California
DATE OF DEATH	May 30, 1977
Place of death	New York City , New York

[1] Paul Desmond Discography. www.jazzdisco.org, accessed December 8, 2009 .

[2] Paul Desmond: 'The Sound of a Dry Martini'. npr.org, accessed December 8, 2009 .

[3] Quoted from H. Broder , Jewish calendar 2009–2010 , May 31, 2010/18. Siwan 5770. Paul Desmond refers to a slot machine in Reno, which is said to have inspired him to his biggest hit "Take Five"