He also played a bit of tenor sax in at least one band, though no recordings are known to exist. Desmond played clarinet early in his career, though he only recorded on the instrument for an early 1950s 78 rpm record with Jack Sheedy. As Ramsey remarks, many of Desmond's friends were surprised to discover people they knew at his memorial service, not knowing the wide circle that of folks the late musician knew.īorn Paul Breitenfeld, he frequently claimed that he chose the surname Desmond out of a phone book, though that wasn't really the case. Even though Ramsey had the advantages of being both a musician and a good friend of Desmond, he still had his work cut out for him, as the alto saxophonist led a very compartmentalized life and was not one to open up completely to anyone who knew him. But Doug Ramsey explores every facet of Desmond's public and private lives in this intimate, often hilarious and very thorough biography, a book that is very hard to put down. He was also the composer of the hit song "Take Five," though he never succeeded in writing another bestseller. Paul Desmond was an integral part of the Dave Brubeck Quartet for seventeen years and a brilliant lyrical alto saxophonist who sought a personal sound on his instrument, one of a few emerging saxophonists in the early 1950s who chose not to copy the furious bop licks of Charlie Parker.
Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond
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