A new Rifftides reader, Orsolya S., joined us recently. Now and then she sends comments, an activity we encourage among all readers. Her latest communique concerns a recording that has been exciting listeners for more than sixty years.
Thanks for recommending the album Dave Brubeck Quartet at Oberlin College a while back. One of my favorite albums, I’ve listened to it 8 or 9 times since buying it. All the tracks are great, but “Perdido” is my favorite. The quartet recorded the album in the early fifties at Oberlin College in a chapel there. According to the liner notes, jazz wasn’t performed very much on college campuses in those days. You can hear how excited the audience was to be hearing this kind of music. The members of the quartet can be heard cheering for each other and encouraging the others, which is very heartening. The music is bright and upbeat. You always feel better after hearing Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond play together.
Orsolya S’s enthusiasm gives us all a fine reason to listen to “Perdido” again.
A favorite line from one of my visits with Brubeck when I interviewed him for Desmond’s biography:
Boy, do I miss Paul Desmond.
Boy, do a lot of us miss them both.
Take Five: The Public And Private Lives Of Paul Desmond is rarely found in hard cover these days, except at exorbitant prices on the used-book market. It is available as an ebook at a non-exorbitant price. And, as Iola Brubeck observed when it emerged in that format, “It’s a lot easier to take it on an airplane that way.”
Man, Desmond was on fire on “Perdido”! What a complete master. Whew.
This has been one of my favorite albums since I discovered the red transparent Fantasy LP, back around ’63. Dreamy “Stardust”…and “The Way You Look Tonight” are probably my favorites nowadays.
You mentioned your fine Desmond biography. Are you sold out of hard copies? I must have nabbed one of the last, about 5 years back, for which I am duly grateful. A great read, although a sad one.
The publisher has no more hard copies. As mentioned, they can occasionally be spotted on the internet, usually at high prices.
Excellent commentary, & thanks for including the link to “Perdido” — anyone unfamiliar w/ Paul Desmond will gain a real appreciation for his ability & talent.
There is something I particularly like about the Brubeck albums on Fantasy. Though Joe Morello was a very fine drummer, I slightly prefer the pre-Morello group.
One of the first solos I ever transcribed. It’s Desmond, I figured, how complex could it be? Ha. Took me forever to get some of those lines down. I still use some of them today! Thanks for reigniting some old memories!
I’m sure they played more tunes than the ones released. Where are they? Who has them and will they ever be issued? I have been wondering for years.
One of my favorite Brubeck albums. Paul really wails on this one.
It’s always one of the group’s recordings I recommend to newcomers to jazz in general and Brubeck/Desmond in particular. It truly is a classic.
For some reason, I’m running into a lot of university aged kids who like jazz lately. The music never dies as long as there are ears, hearts and brains to listen to it.