Biography of Paul Desmond

In a time that Charlie Parker’s bebop style was most popular, Paul Desmond was equally worshipped for his pure and gentle alto sax tone and the “elegant lyricism of his improvisations.” He claimed his tone imitated a “dry martini” and both fans and critics adored it. He won jazz poll after jazz poll, he said “I have won several prizes as the worlds slowest alto player, as well as a special award in 1961 for quietness.”

Brubeck and Desmond had very different styles, but they played together exceptionally well. Desmond’s melodic solos contrasted the pol

ytonal rhythms of Brubeck. This did not hold them back and they formed a strong partnership, in the Dave Brubeck Quartet, started in 1951. “There’s certainly nobody else with whom I would have stuck around this long.”- Paul Desmond.

His best work of the period was seen when he joined with 3 Toronto musicians. Canada’s best jazz guitarist Ed Bickert, Don Thompson- bass, and Jerry Fuller- Drums. He appeared only 6 times with this “Canadian Quartet”. Bassist Don Thompson doubled as a recording engineer so a number of the gigs were recorded and released. They also appeared on CBC-TV’s Take 30, and were recorded at their gig at the Edmonton Jazz Festival.

He was eventually convinced to play again doing occasional gigs with his friends, fronting a quartet-featuring guitarist Jim Hall for two weeks at the “Half note” in New York. They broke the attendance record. He played an incredible set at the New Orleans Jazz Festival with Gerry Mulligan. He played

Some topics in this essay:
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