As the title suggests, so forth.
The Truth of Masks
Paul, I miss Dave…
I have, of late, been listening a lot to Paul Desmond’s Feeling Blue compilation album. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I didn’t seem to like his playing here as much as his work with the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Then it hit me, the reason that the closing track with Gerry Mulligan stood out so much for me was because it had more aural crunch than most of the album, because most of the album is accompanied by Jim Hall on guitar; apparently because Desmond didn’t want to draw comparisons with Brubeck by teaming up with another pianist. And yet I really felt the lack of the piano’s heavier timbre, especially Brubeck’s very chord driven style, to allow Desmond float serenely over a grounding accompaniment. There is it seems a reason that sonatas for woodwind and string instruments customarily have piano accompaniments.
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