(West Coast jazz) Paul Desmond - First Place Again - 2006, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Paul Desmond (alto saxophone)
Percy Heath (bass)
Connie Kay (drums)

The title of this set by alto saxophonist Paul Desmond refers to his having placed first once again in the alto chair in the Downbeat poll. Released in 1959, First Place Again is the result of an unexpected gathering of the rhythm section of the Modern Jazz Quartet: Percy Heath and Connie Kay, and Jimmy Giuffre 3 guitarist Jim Hall. The four musicians were all unexpectedly at home in New York and took full advantage of cheap, after-hours recording studio time to play out this set of standards and a pair of newer tunes, John Lewis' great blues, "Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West," and "East of the Sun (and West Of The Moon)," from a Princeton University theater work. The rest, including a fine reading of "Greensleeves," which is short and tight here, Cole Porter's "I Get a Kick out of You," J. Fred Coots' "For All We Known," "You Got to My Head" -- another Coots' tune -- and Sammy Cahn's "Time After Time," are done with an airy, amiable vibe, especially the work between Hall and the rhythm section, which is full of counterpoint and sharp accents. Desmond, of course, being at that time the king of melodic improvisation on the alto -- with the possible exception of Art Pepper's ascendancy -- is in fine form. His whimsical, breathy, dry tone is sharp, on the spot, and full of ideas as he quotes from a vast number of tunes.
Paul Desmond, who has swept more recent jazz polls throughout the world than any other musician, is best known, of course, as the alto saxophonist of the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Kept busy by the schedule of the quartet, and disinclined to do anything that, because of improper planning or hurried circumstances, might fall short of his own high standards of musical content and thought, Desmond has been content to be represented on records almost entirely by his works with Brubeck. A combination of events just prior to a European tour in the fall of 1959 led to this unexpected opportunity... a notable solo flight by one of the leading voices of modern jazz.
Three of Paul's favorite musicians were in New York at the same time that the Brubeck Quartet was in town. Percy Heath, bassist of the Modern Jazz Quartet, and Connie Kay, the group's percussionist, along with Jim Hall, guitarist of the Jimmy Guiffre 3, are among Paul's favorite musicians. Traveling schedules being what they are, the four seldom get the chance to see or hear each other; but this time opportunity smiled. The sessions had to be staged late at night and over a holiday weekend, but the "after hours" aspect seemed only to heighten the atmosphere of close-knit music-making which pervades this set.
These musicians, while friends and mutual admirers, had never worked together before. As the sessions developed, a remarkable group unity emerged. It was to be expected, of course, that Heath and Kay would form a cohesive rhythm team. Hall and Desmond quickly found themselves "with" the MJQ'ers, and before the first session was over, the group sounded as though it had been together for years.
Even in the faster-paced numbers, a relaxed atmosphere prevails. The combination of Jim Hall's masterful fill-in chords and counter-figures against the swinging beat of Heath and Kay form a perfect backdrop for Desmond's fancifully-spun variations. Except for the shorter Greensleeves, there is an expansive quality to the multi-chorus improvisations of the quartet. Even in the one original composition (2 Degrees) there is a pleasant spinning-out of variations which carries the listener from a quickly recognized melody to explorations of the uncharted. Always a thread of familiarity hovers in the background of the improvisations until the theme returns at the close.
The repertoire is a tasteful collection of standards plus an extraordinary blues by John Lewis, pianist and musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet. 2 Degrees East, 3 Degrees West was originally written for a meeting of musicians from opposite coasts; Heath and Hall were in the group that introduced it, in fact. The theme is so simple and so clearly stated that it is easily kept in mind as the group develops its interpretation. The underlying touch of barrelhouse in this piece, as in so many others by Lewis, is never lost despite the sophistication of both the melody and the improvisations of Desmond, Hall, Heath and Kay.
Moments of delicacy and beauty abound in this album (Notably in You Go to My Head, For All We Know, and Time After Time), along with some hard-driving playing. Desmond is at his soaring best in such bright-tempoed numbers as I Get a Kick Out of You and East of the Sun. Jim Hall provides some unexpected touches by playing the first chorus of Time After Time without accompaniment, and turning to unamplified guitar in the unexpectedly swinging three-quarter time Greensleeves. Paul and Jim do a remarkable "chase" on Sun, which is not only in the grand tradition first established by Bix Beiderbecke and Frank Trumbauer in the Twenties, but also turns into a real duet, with both parts having equal importance.
An ultra-cool touch is supplied at the end of each chorus of For All We Know in the form of a "deceptive cadence." (Cadence, in this sense, means the close of a musical passage or phrase; the deception ties in the alteration of the tonic, which would normally end such a passage -- in this case, the substitution of a flatted fifth for the tonic at the end of each chorus.) This creates a feeling of suspense and gives the fleeting impression that the boys are about to change key for the next chorus; but they never do. It also serves as a Pleasant catch-of-breath at the end of the performance.
I Get a Kick Out of You starts as a sound piece, but takes off in the second chorus; when Heath switches to four-to-the-bar, it really sails. Paul's long ending is based on a short one which Miles Davis used on another Cole Porter tune, All of You. Realizing that Miles' ending is based on the harmony of the first half of I Get a Kick Out of You, Paul took this hint and expanded Miles' ideas into the full-blown finisher heard on this record. In a typical bit of interplay, the ending is tipped off by Paul in a phrase that is then picked up by Connie Kay and fed back to Paul in the coda.
As this album so amply demonstrates, Paul Desmond is one of the masters of the difficult art of carrying along an audience in a long-lined improvisation. The development of his solos always takes place with a logical clarity; at all times, his playing indicates clear shape in its parts as well as in the whole. Musicianship, technical mastery of his instrument, and an agile (and sometimes whimsical) mind -- these are the tools with which Paul Desmond has brought pleasure to over a decade of admirers of his inventive artistry.
---------George Avakian
(From the original liner notes)