Glad Player

On their second album Long Player, the Faces truly gel – which isn't quite the same thing as having the band straighten up and fly right because in many ways this is album is even more ragged than their debut, with tracks that sound like they were recorded through a shoebox thrown up against a couple of haphazardly placed live cuts…

Even though Desmond was kidding when he described himself as the world's slowest alto player, this record bears out the kernel of truth within the jest. Here, Desmond set out to make a record of love songs and torch ballads, so the tempos are very slow to medium, the mood is of wistful relaxation, and the spaces between the notes grow longer. At first glance, Desmond may seem only peripherally involved with the music-making, keeping emotion at a cool, intellectual arms' length, yet his exceptionally pure tone and ruminative moods wear very well over the long haul. Again, Jim Hall is his commiserator and partner, and the guitarist gets practically as much space to unwind as the headliner; the solo on "Angel Eyes" is an encyclopedia of magnificent chording and single-string eloquence…

With a high, detached tone that defined "cool" jazz, Paul Desmond, the longtime saxophone player in Dave Brubeck's quartet, was one of the dominant instrumentalists in '60s jazz. This gorgeously packaged 5 CD set brings together the five discs Desmond made for RCA between 1961 and 1964 with sympatico guitarist Jim Hall: Desmond Blue, Take Ten, Glad to Be Unhappy, Bossa Antigua, and Easy Living. One of the few alto saxmen not influenced by Charlie Parker, Desmond's light airy tone and straightforward approach to melody are a refreshing change.

With a high, detached tone that defined "cool" jazz, Paul Desmond, the longtime saxophone player in Dave Brubeck's quartet, was one of the dominant instrumentalists in '60s jazz. This gorgeously packaged 5 CD set brings together the five discs Desmond made for RCA between 1961 and 1964 with sympatico guitarist Jim Hall: Desmond Blue, Take Ten, Glad to Be Unhappy, Bossa Antigua, and Easy Living. One of the few alto saxmen not influenced by Charlie Parker, Desmond's light airy tone and straightforward approach to melody are a refreshing change.

Michael Mantler offers a review of his career (so far), in an anthology that follows his path from the creative heyday of the Jazz Composer's Orchestra through the body of work he has recorded for JCOA, WATT and ECM. Whether juxtaposing players from the worlds of jazz, classical music and rock, setting remarkable words for remarkable voices, composing for instrumental forces from duo to symphony orchestra, or soloing as trumpeter, Mantler sounds like no one else. If the range of his work is its hallmark, his tone, as player and writer, is unmistakably his own.