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The paper is high-quality and the photographic illustrations, some two pages, are equally elegant. Paul Desmond Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More | AllMusic The Quartet formed toward the end of 1950 and took final shape with Eugene Wright and Joe Morello a few years later. 23, No. The Dave Brubeck Quartet played until 1967, when Brubeck switched his musical focus from performance to composition and dissolved the group. Basically, Paul was a clarinet player for many years, but he started playing alto after high school and more during the time he was in the Army band at the Presidio in San Francisco. The quintessential cool jazz saxophonist, an alto with a shimmering sound and light, airy playing exemplified by his self-written "Take Five. His fans were unaware of his rapidly declining health. "[1] Desmond developed a talent for writing during high school as well, becoming co-editor of his high school newspaper. If you see something that doesnt look right, contact us. Desmond's mother Shirley was emotionally unstable throughout his upbringing, and appears to have suffered from obsessivecompulsive disorder and other mental illnesses. This page is updated often with new details about Paul Desmond. Sign up with your email address to receive Brubeck news and updates. It issaid that when Desmond started work in California at the Bandbox, Desmond hired Brubeck; only to first cut his pay in half and then fire him after taking him on tour just so that he (Desmond) could gamble in the casinos at Reno. | [11] Desmond is reported to have quipped, upon seeing a former girlfriend on the street, "There she goes, not with a whim but a banker" (a semi-Spoonerism reference to T.S. Clarinetist Perry Robinson recalls in his autobiography that Desmond would sometimes need a vitamin B12 shot just to go on playing during his later career.[10]. Desmond's pure tone, the ingenuity of his melodic lines, his harmonic resourcefulness, the musical wit that reflected his literate and sophisticated personality, made him one of the most personal and appealing of all jazz stylists. Doug Ramsey knew Paul Desmond personally for years and is a musician as well as a journalist so he has both the insight as well as the ability to tell the story well. "I have won several prizes as the world's slowest alto player, as well as a special award in 1961 for quietness." He was one of the most popular musicians to come out of the West Coast's . At the time I really thought it was kind of a throw-away. But that that was when he was playing great. Desmond made the move from the San Francisco area to New York where he spent his remaining years. "url": "https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/paul-desmond" Paul Desmond (born Paul Emil Breitenfeld; November 25, 1924 - May 30, 1977) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer, best known for the work he did in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for composing that group's greatest hit, "Take Five".