Paul Desmond was born on November the 25th, 1924 - San Francisco, California. He led a remarkable life and was hailed as one of the best Alto Sax players of his time. For seventeen years he was the lead soloist in the most commercially successful jazz band ever: the Dave Brubeck Quartet. He was special as an artist in that he carved his own sound instead of imitating or covering other artists.
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In a time that Charlie Parker's bebop style was most popular, Paul Desmond was equally worshipped for his pure and gentle alto sax tone and the "elegant lyricism of his improvisations." He claimed his tone imitated a "dry martini" and both fans and critics adored it. He won jazz poll after jazz poll, he said "I have won several prizes as the worlds slowest alto player, as well as a special award in 1961 for quietness." .
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Brubeck and Desmond had very different styles, but they played together exceptionally well. Desmond's melodic solos contrasted the polytonal rhythms of Brubeck. This did not hold them back and they formed a strong partnership, in the Dave Brubeck Quartet, started in 1951. "There's certainly nobody else with whom I would have stuck around this long."- Paul Desmond.
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They toured the world, playing 300 concerts a year, a phenomenal achievement, and had a Columbia recording contract that required four albums a year. In 1959, Desmond wrote what was to become their first million seller jazz single: Take Five. This became their most well known piece and was played at all their concerts. It made Desmond a small fortune in royalties. .
Although Brubeck was the leader of the band, Desmond was quite clearly the brain behind the operation; he was the secret to the long-lived success of the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
In 1967 the quartet split up. Desmond unofficially retired; he was 43 and didn't play his sax again for 3 years. He was supposedly writing a humorous memoir of his years on the road with the band and was to be titled: "How many of You Are There in the Quartet?" The book never came out.
