Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond -- Stardust

College of the Pacific, December 14, 1953. Paul Desmond began playing this tune professionally when he was with the Jack Fina band in 1949. It later became a staple of the early Brubeck quartets as Paul and Dave found many ways to improvise on it. There are at least 9 separate recordings of Desmond playing this tune and they are all different from each other; each has its own unique melodic variations and character. This one sat in Fantasy's tape vault for nearly 50 years. Taken at a slower tempo than the others, it may be the most complex and unusual of all of them. With Ron Crotty on bass and Joe Dodge on drums.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Dave
• Brubeck
• Paul
• Desmond
• jazz
• piano
• saxophone

[luisitosax]

I hear that Paul Desmond, even that he was mainly a Jazz Saxophonist, he always had a semiclassical sound. Is that true? I love his sound and he was my main isnpiration to learn saxophone as a child.

[kocn53]

@luisitosax His first wind instrument was the clarinet, which as you know requires a firmer, more rigid embouchure. That probably determined to some extent his approach to the alto. There is a "proper" tone for classical saxophone, but by the time Desmond got really good on alto he was not using it, fortunately, and never did thereafter. He was an original in every respect, including tone, which no one to my ears has ever replicated.

[luisitosax]

@kocn53 Thanks so much for your input! I also think that Desmond is unique.

[kocn53]

@luisitosax If you really want to learn as much as possible about what made Desmond the unique genius that he was, I strongly recommend the "Take Five" biography by Doug Ramsey, who knew Paul for many years. It is packed full of fascinating details of Desmond's life.

[stevesedberry]

Wow! What a sound! There is enough melody to keep me interested yet a warm wind blows in and out creatively.

[stevesedberry]

Wow! What a sound!

[Saxman1219]

I think tone has as much to do with personality as embouchure. I didn't intend to sound like Paul, but I liked that I did. I've always been laid back and my tone, as well as the improvisational ideas I come up with, reflect that. Oddly enough, on Bari, my personality is different and I'm more of a bopper than cool school. Go figure.

[Saxman1219]

bfizzledizzle, the drummers use brushes, which they drag across the drum head to get that effect, as opposed to striking the head.

[bfizzledizzle]

How do jazz drummers make that sort of rolling sound on the snare? 

[samirhossain]

This is my favourite jazz tune! :D

[1948BigCy]

@luisitosax Do you have the duet album he did with Gerry Mulligan from 1958 I think? "Blues in Time"...an early breakaway attempt from Brubeck, I've never heard Paul play better (when you are familiar with an artist's music, you feel that you know them and are free to call them by their first names!)...his playing sounds as fresh and alive today as it did when he played it at that midnight session 53 years ago...truly timeless...

[luisitosax]

@1948BigCy Sure I think he did it, maybe Lee Konitz is close to Paul´s sound.

[1948BigCy]

@luisitosax Paul was the anti-Bird, just as Prez was the anti-Hawk...his laid back lagging approach, behind the beat sound, vibrato-less alto was the opposite of Johnny Hodges, Bird, and the rest...totally unique...I read somewhere that he stated he was trying to emulate a "dry martini" on alto!!! I think he accomplished this pretty well, don't you?

[giottorisotto]

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Mi piaci tu sempre e solo TU neint altro sempre e solo TU!