{"id":4858,"date":"2013-06-25T22:31:36","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T05:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=4858"},"modified":"2013-06-25T22:31:36","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T05:31:36","slug":"take-five-the-book-goes-digital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2013\/06\/take-five-the-book-goes-digital\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Five (The Book) Goes Digital"},"content":{"rendered":"

As of today, of Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond<\/em> begins its new existence as an ebook<\/a>. The hardcover edition has sold out. Used copies are going for as much as $150 on book and auction sites, but new hardbound copies are history. The electronic transformation is good news on several counts:<\/p>\n

\u00ef\u20ac\u00bdThe book will continue to be available. For now, it is on Kindle<\/a>. Publisher Malcolm Harris of \"Take<\/a>Parkside Publications tells me that he plans to have it up on Apple and Barnes & Noble within a week or so.<\/p>\n

\u00ef\u20ac\u00bdThe ebook edition has all of the features of the hardbound, including the nearly 200 photographs, the chapter notes, the solo transcriptions, the discography, the extensive index and Dave and Iola Brubeck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s foreword.<\/p>\n

\u00ef\u20ac\u00bdThe ebook edition is easily portable. The most frequent complaint about the five-pound, 10-and-a-half-by-11-inch original was, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How am I supposed to read this thing on an airplane?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Now you can, after the pilot says it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s okay to fire up your Kindle, iPad, Nook or Sony Reader.<\/p>\n

\u00ef\u20ac\u00bd The ebook sells for less than a third of the list price of the original hardcover edition.<\/p>\n

Among other honors, Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond<\/em> won an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award and the Jazz Journalists Association Book of the Year Award. Here are a few of its plaudits:<\/p>\n

Scrupulously researched and written with an attractive combination of affection and candor, it casts a bright light on Desmond\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s troubled psyche without devaluing his considerable achievements as an artist. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Any of the great composers of melodies\u00e2\u20ac\u201dMozart, Schubert, Gershwin\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwould have been gratified to have written what Desmond created spontaneously,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mr. Ramsey says. Strong words, but Take Five<\/em> makes them stick. \u00e2\u20ac\u201dTerry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The telling is lyrical, funny, nostalgic, provocative, and allusive \u00e2\u20ac\u201d just like a Paul Desmond solo.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u00a8 \u00e2\u20ac\u201dGary Giddins, author of Weather Bird: Jazz at the Dawn of its Second Century<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Doug Ramsey, the saxophonist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s friend for 20 years before Desmond\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death in 1977, constructs the full person as well as digging out much more of his writing than was known. A major piece of jazz scholarship, the book cuts no corners. \u00e2\u20ac\u201dBen Ratliff, <\/strong>The New York Times<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Every jazz musician should be lucky enough to get a biography as thoroughly researched as Doug Ramsey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new tome about alto saxophonist Paul Desmond. \u00e2\u20ac\u201dPaul de Barros, The Seattle Times<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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. Ramsey has the distinct advantage of being a musician, someone who understands how a jazz musician thinks and how amazing Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talent really was\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a8”\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDave Brubeck (from the Foreword to Take Five<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Doug Ramsey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Take Five<\/em> is an invaluable addition to jazz literature\u00e2\u20ac\u201dby an especially enduring writer on the music. I knew Paul Desmond, but I found so much more I did not know. \u00e2\u20ac\u201dNat Hentoff, author of American Music Is<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The detail of the research is astonishing. The writing is exquisite. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen a biography like it.\u00e2\u20ac\u00a8\u00e2\u20ac\u201dGene Lees, author of Portrait of Johnny: The Life of John Herndon Mercer<\/em>, \u00e2\u20ac\u00a8and publisher of The Jazzletter<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Doug Ramsey has illuminated Paul Desmond\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life and music with insight and compassion, gleaned from diligent research and genuine friendship, and offered with the touch of a true storyteller. This is the finest biography we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had of an important jazz figure.<\/em> \u00e2\u20ac\u201dDan Morgenstern, Director, Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies;\u00e2\u20ac\u00a8 author, Living with Jazz<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a fascinating portrait of a remarkable artist who turns out to have been not at all easy to know. It is a rare and valuable book largely because Doug Ramsey (who began with the advantage of having known Desmond about as well as anyone ever did) has approached his subject with skill, sensitivity and \u00e2\u20ac\u201d above all \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the ability to thoroughly involve himself in the project. When Ramsey lets us share his conversations with people who played important roles in Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, it is as if we were there with them, not just reading, but listening and learning. \u00e2\u20ac\u00a8 \u00e2\u20ac\u201dOrrin Keepnews, veteran music producer and author, \u00e2\u20ac\u00a8founder of Riverside and Milestone Records<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Brubeck<\/a><\/p>\n

To order the Kindle edition, please go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As of today, of Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond begins its new existence as an ebook. The hardcover edition has sold out. Used copies are going for as much as $150 on book and auction sites, but new hardbound copies are history. The electronic transformation is good news on several […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4858\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}