Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond - 1975: The Duets: Originals (Dig)
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CD Details
Artist: Dave Brubeck, Paul DesmondEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2009-08-11
Music Label: A&M
Soundtracks:
- Alice in Wonderland
- These Foolish Things
- Blue Dove
- Stardust
- Koto Song
- Balcony Rock
- Summer Song
- You Got to My Head
Music reviews of 1975: The Duets: Originals (Dig)
Music Review: Predictable excellence
Rating: 5 Stars
Well, maybe not all that predictable. I long ago acquired Brubeck's solo album and learned all the transcriptions (Pawnee Press). Substantial stuff, cerebrally and emotionally satisfying to play and never wearing out its welcome. Still, it's not a well-kept secret that Dave has a strong attraction to emphatic rhythmic contexts as well as a percussive approach to match it (notice how rarely the word "touch" is used in describing his playing, which favored polymath metricians like Joe Morello or former hard-hitting big-band movers like Butch Miles and Randy Jones). This being, to the best of my knowledge, the only album comprising just Brubeck and his virtually indispensable complement, Paul Desmond, I was curious whether the percussive Brubeck would tend to dominate the proceedings. The temptation to overcompensate for the missing rhythm section might seem irresistible to a power player like Brubeck.
No need to fear such imbalances. In fact, Dave rarely goes so far as to supply walking bass lines, in the manner, say, of the late Dave McKenna. He seems more intent on placing himself at Paul's disposal than letting the piano or even the swing thing walk away with the session. The final result--recorded approximately a scant year before Paul's passing--places Paul front and center, his full and lustrous tone (it's about time to drop the overworked "dry martini" comparison which, thanks in part to Paul, writers have latched on to in a desperate attempt to represent the uniqueness of his sound, his fluid phrasing, his redefinition of the altissimo regions of the horn) is spot-lighted throughout, thanks to Brubeck's empathetic (not just "emphatic"), sensitive support. Moreover, to my ears the combination of piano and alto creates more interest while wearing better--and longer--than the undeniable chemistry of Paul and Jim Hall's minimalist guitar. The textures are more varied, the harmonizations and voicings more frequently placed in a zone between jazz and classical worlds, overtones and harmonics become a more important component of the music, with a greater expressive range being the final result. "Koto Song" is an enchanting mood piece, at times pointillist, at times impressionistic, its placement after "Stardust" suggestive of luminescent particles still lingering from the familiar Hoagy Carmichael standard that had once served as a departure point for some of the quartet's most daring (Where's the melody?) yet memorable performances from the early 1950s.
As was always his practice, Paul picks his brief moment for an allusion to another staple from the old days--"Balcony Rock"--a blues that requires no more than a couple of bars to be at once recognizable and satisfying. "Summer Song" may be the most adventurous piano playing on the session, as Dave concludes his own composition with an extended final chorus that is equal parts melody, improvisation, and showpiece cadenza. The last track, the old standard "You Go to My Head," is performed before a live audience and, as was so often the case, is the better for it. Neither player states the melody, yet there's never a doubt about what it is. Brubeck's piano recalls some of the more rapturous moments of the '50s college concerts before Paul returns for a calm, peaceful closure, the melody still unstated but without regrets on anybody's part. We've just been afforded an entirely new possibility latent within the familiar melody of one of the more enduring pop and jazz standards. Despite any formal announcements regarding the occasion or even the name of the tune, it's a most fitting valedictory to a musical pair that arguably was to mid-century jazz improvisation what Rodgers and Hammerstein were to musical theater (or Sinatra and Riddle to the American Songbook).
Description of 1975: The Duets: Originals (Dig)
Brubeck met sax man Paul Desmond in early '44; their partnership would prove fruitful, as the two seemed to both complement and challenge each other at the same time. This last duet before Desmond's death in '77 makes clear the magic was still there! Features Alice in Wonderland; These Foolish Things; Blue Dove; Stardust; Koto Song; Balcony Rock; Summer Song , and You Go to My Head .Broadway & Vocalists CDs
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