Search - Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond :: Brubeck / Desmond

Two greats interact here, in recordings from 1952-54, with stunning intuition. Brubeck, as always, makes a virtue of his limited fleet-fingeredness. He has no need to hurry in the company of Paul Desmond, an alto saxophonist akin to Getz--light and never imbalanced. His and Brubeck's musical rapport had been forged in Brubeck's earlier octet and would continue for many years in his sterling quartet. The program here emphasizes standards. There is light combo support on some tracks. For "On a Little Street in Singapore," Brubeck and Desmond take a thoughtful, fragile jaunt through foreign streets. In "Trolley Song," the trolley bell sounds in Desmond's ringing horn. On "My Heart Stood Still," the pianist is alone, hammering heartily in his folksy, front-parlor way. --Peter Monaghan