Pure Desmond

Paul Desmond | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000026BS
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,654 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Squeeze Me

2. I'm Old Fashioned

3. Nuages [Alternate Take]

4. Why Shouldn't I?

5. Everything I Love

6. Warm Valley

7. Till the Clouds Roll By

8. Mean to Me

9. Theme from M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)

10. Wave

Editorial Reviews

Remastered for the first time using the original two-track analog tapes, the 40th Anniversary Edition of Pure Desmond is packaged in a softpack sleeve that replicates the original LP and its iconic cover design. Down Beat s 1975 review of the album declared This consummate set of performances is pure Desmond ... personal and compelling interpretations which dazzle because of his romantic tonal warmth and classic structural simplicity ... Member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet and writer of their iconic song Take Five, Desmond was voted by Down Beat s readers into its Jazz Hall of Fame in 1977. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Desmond's "mix and match" quartet album, August 19, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Pure Desmond (Audio CD)

After the Dave Brubeck quartet, Paul Desmond recorded primarily in three settings: a guitar based quartet with Jim Hall featuring Connie Kay on drums, on a series of flawed, over-orchestrated albums with Ron Carter on bass and many, many back-up musicians, and finally, in a humble quartet with little known guitarist Ed Bickert. This album is unique because it finds Desmond in the quartet setting that suits him the best, but with a mix of all the different musicians he'd played with: Connie Kay, Ron Carter and Ed Bickert; all together for the first and only time! These are four great musicians and the album does in fact live up to their promise. Fans of any of these musicians would do well to pick up this album as they all get a chance to shine. Kay drums smooth, Carter is one of the greatest bassists ever, and Ed Bickert's guitar is distinctly different from Jim Halls (it's a bit more plucky, in lay-mans terms, but in a good way- it's complimented by Carter's bass and provides great support for Desmond) and Paul Desmond, well, Desmond proves why he's the greatest alto sax player. This is one of the best solo Desmond outtings out there, so don't pass it up.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Desmond and Bickert, what a team !!, September 27, 2000

By 

Francis Lannie (Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pure Desmond (Audio CD)

I bought this because i like Desmond and had heard some Bickert. I assumed they'd be good together, boy was i wrong....THEY ARE FANTASTIC! When listening to other jazz, at up tempo's, with complex harmony etc sometimes it just seems too much. Because of the speed i just can't catch everything that's happening and get frustrated. This album on the whole has good mid-tempo tunes, an excellent sound mix enabling you to hear all of the individual instruments, and plain good tunes. Desmond has his trademark sound and plays some nice musical ideas. As a guitar player I found Bickert to be amazing. Everybody plays fast, long single note lines these days, but Ed plays chords like nobody else, he kind of sounds like a piano, a bit of Bill Evans maybe ? Together they create amazing music with nice solos where you can hear that they are keeping the melody foremost in their minds as they play. The bottom line is that there is no ego here at all, just a great collaboration by the whole band, the nearest comparison i can think of is the Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Chet Baker. I'll let someone else have the final words, my wife, who said 'That's great, who is it ?'

You know it makes sense, buy this album !

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Desmond Best When Pure & Unadulterated, April 20, 2004

By 

"elprofeloco" (Chula Vista, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pure Desmond (Audio CD)

As a huge Desmond fan (well, not so sizeable, but enthusiastic) for many decades, I've concluded that, for me, Desmond is best when he is in a minimal setting with a few capable musicians - this is usually a trio or quartet format without strings, orchestration or overdubs. I find that of the dozens of Desmond recordings I own, the over-produced and over-orchestrated ones get in the way of the true art and essence of Desmond.
The oft quoted "Desmond is (smooth) like a dry martini" has more than one truth to it - both are at their best with only four choice ingredients (gin, vermouth, olive, ice - or alto, bass, drums, guitar or piano). Desmond is so deceptively smooth, adept, and lyrical that he needs to be heard uncluttered and unfettered.
For me, some of Desmond's best recordings are in the quartet format with either Jim Hall or Ed Bickert on guitar. If you can't get the now out of print Mosaic label 4 CD set with Jim Hall (those 4 CDs would be 4 of my 5 desert-island-discs and I listen to a lot of music from Bach to blues), then at least get whatever you can of Desmond w. Hall or Bickert.
There is a saying that "if a man don't like the blues he's got a hole in his soul" - well, if someone can't appreciate Desmond at his best, they've got a void in their psyche - and "Pure Desmond" is one example of Desmond at his best.