![]() Nat Hentoff, author of American Music IsĬasual, urbane, an intellectual noted for his wit, he marriedįor a short time, then for the rest of his life remained single and immenselyĪttractive to women. ![]() I knew Paul Desmond, but I found so much more I did not know." "Doug Ramsey's Take Five is an invaluable addition to jazz literature-by an especially enduring writer on the music. Immense success of Desmond's "Take Five," the Brubeck Quartetīecame the first million-selling jazz group. Jazz band since the Swing Era to be a fixture in popular music. Opened a market for jazz concerts on college campuses and became the only Traveled the world, won polls, sold records in the hundreds of thousands, The classic Daveīrubeck Quartet with Desmond, bassist Eugene Wright and drummer Joe Morello The band became one of the most successful jazz groups in history andĭesmond one of the music's most celebrated figures. After three years of travail and near poverty, Stylistic differences, they had an uncanny musical empathy. In 1947, Desmond and Brubeck discovered that, despite their Dave Brubeck (from the Foreword to Take Five) Ramsey has the distinct advantage of being a musician, someone who understands how a jazz musician thinks and how amazing Paul’s talent really was…" "When I learned that Doug Ramsey was writing a biography of Paul Desmond, I was pleased and relieved, because I can think of no one better qualified to do so. Groups, entertained in amusement parks and resorts. He never abandoned his gift for writing, music won, and he concentrated Desmond was tornįor a time between a career as a writer and one as a musician. He eventually became a friend and admirer of theīebop genius Charlie Parker, but early on he swore that he would neverīe just another horn in the crowd of Parker acolytes. His parents and sent to live for years with relatives 3000 miles away.ĭesmond came out of the Army after World War Two to struggle with uncertaintyĪnd indecision as he developed his individuality against the prevailing Troubled mother, as a young boy in San Francisco he was separated from The only son of a doting musical father and an emotionally Gary Giddins, author of Weather Bird: Jazz at the Dawn of its Second Century The telling is lyrical, funny, nostalgic, provocative, and allusive - just like a Paul Desmond solo." "This is the book Doug Ramsey was born to write: a love letter from one friend to another an appreciation by a gifted critic for a great artist a biography of a man who so methodically compartmentalized his music, life, and loves (many loves) that only a dedicated detective could tie up the strands and a history of a recent yet largely vanished musical era. His success as the alto saxophonist with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, decadesīefore he wrote "Take Five," Desmond determined that he wouldīe himself, never a disciple or an imitator, whatever the cost. Of the most immediately recognizable sounds in all of music. Is the story of a jazz artist who transcended genres to establish one Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond The E-book version is available from Amazon for $15.00. The print version of Take Five is sold out. Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond, by Doug Ramsey, Edited and designed by Malcolm Harris, Parkside Publications
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