Paul Desmond

[RJVB]

There’s a track that is the best thing I’ve ever heard from an alto saxophone, and (for me) apex Paul Desmond: “The City Is Crying”:

Definitely very nice! Is it me though or is there some sort of clipping in the audio of that video (esp. in the bass register)?

Some interesting background about Take Five.

[AndyV]

One of my fav Desmond cuts too.

[P.J.]

I love Paul Desmond. I didn’t realize until college that there’s a contingent of jazz dorks who consider him “corny” but man … so good. Pick a line at a random from a solo you pick at random and it will probably be a perfect example of jazz vocabulary that you could study for a month.

Of course Jim Hall and Ed Bickert don’t hurt either.

Jimmy Raney always said that it harder to improvise slowly and Desmond is the perfect example of being great at this.