Yet he was brave enough on this occasion to perform his landmark composition "Take Five as a piano duet with Dave, singing Iola Brubeck's lyrics with gusto as the album comes to a close. Though Desmond owned a grand piano that he willed to Bradley's (his favorite Manhattan night club), he rarely played piano in public. Brubeck, who was frequently criticized for being heavy-handed, is the consummate musical partner throughout this session, staying in the background aside from his brief, lyrical solos, though he can't restrain his soft laughter reacting to some of Desmond's best puns. Desmond also plays a bit of alto sax, in addition to making rare appearances on clarinet, tenor sax and even soprano sax, the latter an instrument that hardly anyone knew that he played. The inclusion of more than a few of his atrocious puns is less of a mystery, even if one of his asides, ("If you hate my puns, it Cerf's you right ) inserted into "My Funny Valentine, is not up to his usual standard of punishment. The first thing that will surprise listeners is Desmond's deep baritone voice, since he was rarely, if ever, heard speaking on any live recording. So the alto saxophonist sang for the first and only time on any record, something that he intended for her ears only, with Brubeck as his sole accompanist. Desmond, who at the time was seeing a young lady in her early twenties, wanted to make a special recording just for her. It was recorded during the making of the album 1975: The Duets with Dave Brubeck. But even Ramsey didn't learn of this previously unknown session until a few months ago. Never before had Desmond's alto been recorded so ravishingly - Rudy Van Gelder's engineering gives it a new golden-mellow glow - and the original LP had a great, sarcastic cover: gleaming icicles.Doug Ramsey's award-winning, critically acclaimed biography Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond revealed a lot about the late alto saxophonist, a quiet man who was a brilliant musician, humorous writer and quick-witted punster.
#PAUL DESMOND AUTUMN LEAVES MOVIE#
In a pliable mood, Desmond even consents to record a then-new Beatles tune, "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," samba-style, quoting "Hey Jude" along the way (it's very possible that he was attracted by the main character of the lyric, a fellow named Desmond), and he makes potent music out of movie tunes like "Emily" and even the snazzy "Lady in Cement." Don Sebesky brings in some intelligently crafted arrangements for big band augmented by French horns, Herbie Hancock turns in some often brilliant solo work in several featured spots, Ron Carter is on bass, and Leo Morris and Airto Moreira alternate on drums.
No matter how many times you've heard "Autumn Leaves," Desmond's bossa nova treatment will give you a fresh jolt as he offhandedly tosses off the most exquisitely swinging ruminations too bad it fades after only three minutes. "Samba With Some Barbecue" is a marvelous bossa nova treatment of Louis Armstrong's New Orleans rouser "Struttin' With Some Barbecue," whose opening bars bear an uncanny resemblance to those of "Samba de Orpheus" (which the erudite Desmond was no doubt aware of).
The result is a beautifully produced, eclectic album of music that revives Desmond's "bossa antigua" idea and sends it in different directions, directly toward Brazil and various Caribbean regions, as well as back to the jazzy States. In the midst of lolling away his time in semi-retirement after the Dave Brubeck Quartet broke up in 1967, Paul Desmond allowed himself to be lured back into the recording studio by producer Creed Taylor, who knew exactly what to do with his idle, but by no means spent, alto player.
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