“Audrey” was the first track on Brubeck Time, the Brubeck quartet’s initial album for Columbia Records in 1954. Don Thompson has returned to his original analog tapes and mixed them anew for maximum fidelity. Now Mosaic has gathered all of the material approved by Desmond and the group (three hours of released material and five hours of unreleased material) into a 7-CD boxed set of The Complete Paul Desmond Toronto Sessions. More albums were planned, but they never saw the light of day. They are a revelation with Desmond playing more independently and taking chances that he might not have with chordal accompaniment. The results of those nights are heard here on the fourth disc of the set. Valve trombonist Rob McConnell was brought in to complete the quartet. On the last two nights of the Toronto sessions, Ed Bickert was called away due to the death of his father. Speaking of comfort zone, Desmond has recorded without a chordal instrument only three times in his career – on his 1953 Fantasy session with Don Elliott and on two collaborations with Gerry Mulligan in 19. The repertoire consisted of standards, Brazilian songs, jazz classics and originals that the alto saxophonist loved to play throughout his career, challenging himself to breathe new life into material in his comfort zone. With a rhythm section that suited his every need, a renewed Paul Desmond delivered some of the best performances of his career. These recordings are an embarrassment of riches. A week in March and two weeks in October yielded enough exceptional music that producer John Snyder compiled a stunning double album for A & M Horizon entitled “The Paul Desmond Quartet Live.” Desmond was energized and the quartet became a strong unit with its own personality in no time at all. Thankfully, Don Thompson had the presence of mind to start recording the band at the club on his quarter-track tape recorder. Chords, for instance…when I work with Ed, I find myself turning around several times a night to count the strings on his guitar.” He later wrote of “the giddy euphoria of playing a club again after years of concerts.” Of the inspirational sidemen on the date, he said, “Jerry is a charter member of a unique and endangered species – a drummer who is happiest while devoting his sensitive and intelligent playing to whatever is happening at the moment…Don is of course, a walking miracle…he writes charts like an angel…he plays the right changes…his solos are dependably unbelievable. Desmond connected with this rhythm section immediately and a strong musical bond developed on the bandstand that yanked Desmond out of his doldrums. Bassist Don Thompson and drummer Jerry Fuller completed the band. But an offer to play the Bourbon Street Jazz Club with Bickert in March 1975 proved irresistible. He didn’t need the money and he was physically spent. The last album in this run was the aptly-named “Pure Desmond” with a quartet that included Canadian guitarist Ed Bickert, who was recommended to Paul by Jim Hall.ĭesmond was accepting few live gigs during this period beyond reunion tours with Brubeck. He recorded a number of commercially-oriented albums for A & M and CTI, produced by Creed Taylor, between 1968 and ’74. When the Brubeck quartet disbanded in 1967, Desmond began a phase of semi-retirement. The unprecedented success of the Brubeck quartet with 17 years of constant club dates, concerts and sound checks, accompanied by a succession of airports, cab rides, hotels and food-on-the run took its toll on the members of the group.ĭesmond’s only professional activities outside the Brubeck orbit were several recorded encounters with Gerry Mulligan and the recording quartet that he led from 1959 to 1965 with guitarist Jim Hall and drummer Connie Kay on a succession of albums for Warner Bros. Five Hours of Unreleased Material!įrom 1950 to 1967, he was the famous alter ego to Dave Brubeck’s equally challenging but always robust piano inventions. Paul Desmond delivered some of the best performances of his career. With a rhythm section that suited his every need,
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |