{"id":4069,"date":"2012-09-25T20:06:19","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T03:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=4069"},"modified":"2012-09-25T20:30:10","modified_gmt":"2012-09-26T03:30:10","slug":"correspondence-on-desmond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2012\/09\/correspondence-on-desmond\/","title":{"rendered":"Correspondence: On Desmond"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Responding to the Brubeck-Desmond item in the previous exhibit, David Evans writes:<\/p>\n

Thanks for sharing that! Desmond always kills me.<\/p>\n

It takes tremendous strength and control to play with such a beautiful sound and such balanced phrasing. It sounds easy, but believe me, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not. Classical dancers make it look easy, too, like they are effortlessly floating around, but it takes great strength and toughness to create that illusion.<\/p>\n

And Desmond\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s solo construction is always so compelling. The development of a motive engages the listener\u00e2\u20ac\u201cwe recognize a phrase as it emerges again in a new tonality farther down the line\u00e2\u20ac\u201cit brings us along, in a friendly way, through the song form. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the creation of an expectation, the asking of a question, then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the satisfaction of an answer\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6or a little twist, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s satisfaction with a surprise\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6
\nMost of all, I love it when he addresses two or more contours simultaneously\u00e2\u20ac\u201ca melodic line and its counterpoint\u00e2\u20ac\u201cit takes some sleight of hand on a monophonic instrument, but there it is. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lovely melodic utterance\u00e2\u20ac\u201cit lingers shining in the air while he resolves some inner voices for a moment\u00e2\u20ac\u201cthen he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s back to the melodic voice and it feels like he never left it. I would love to hear Desmond playing unaccompanied, that compositional skill on clear display as he spins an entire orchestration singlehandedly.<\/p>\n

To me, Jim Hall is the other towering, beautiful contrapuntalist\u00e2\u20ac\u201ccertainly that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I love the Desmond\/Hall RCA box set<\/a> so much.<\/p>\n

Thanks for this post!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nMr. Evans teaches tenor saxophone at Lewis And Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and plays it with Dave Frishberg, Chuck Israels, Retta Christie and Phil Baker, among others. Here he is a couple of years ago with Mr. Baker in a guest shot on Lynn Darroch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s program Bright Moments<\/em> on KMHD-FM. <\/p>\n