PAUL DESMOND: TAKE TEN

Performer: Paul Desmond, saxophone; Jim Hall, guitar; Gene Cherico, Gene Wright double bass; Connie Kay, drums
Author: Paul Desmond
Number of discs: 1
Label: Speakers Corner
Support: LPs
Genre: Jazz
Year: 2005

No, the title of this LP is not Take Five but Take Ten. Certainly this should be taken as a clear allusion that it was not Dave Brubeck but Paul Desmond who composed the million-selling best-seller. During the recording Jim Hall was more than a replacement for the piano, in fact he contributed to a new color of the quartet's sound by borrowing some influences from bossa nova. The songs are airy and easy to use and leave room for the ideas of the soloists. The three tracks 'Alone Together', 'Nancy' and 'The One I Love' are splendid, whose arrangements created ad hoc in the studio demonstrate how much familiarity had established between the musicians, how much they listened to each other, responded and how fluid they kept their dialogue. The relaxed atmosphere contributes to the ease of listening and the great recording technique shows us how far the engineers at RCA were ahead of their peers of their time. The music of these South American gems comes out of the speakers with a brilliance, and with a clarity never heard before, and without the frustrating hiss of a second-hand LP.

Tracklist
Take Ten
El Prince
Alone Together
Embarcadero
Theme from Black Orpheus
Nancy
Samba de Orfeu
The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else)