Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond is the story of a jazz artist who transcended genres to establish one of the most immediately recognizable sounds in all of music. Long before his success as the alto saxophonist with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, decades before he wrote "Take Five," Desmond determined that he would be himself, never a disciple or an imitator, whatever the cost.
Long before he became a leading jazz critic, Doug Ramsey met Desmond, became his friend and remained close for more than twenty years. They shared many interests in addition to music and spent hours at a time in a conversation that continued until shortly before Desmond died in 1977. Preparing to write Paul's story, Ramsey marshaled his skills as a veteran print and broadcast journalist. He interviewed scores of people from all periods of Desmond's life, grade school through his lonely final days. He talked with women who were romantically involved with Paul, Gloria Steinem among them. He discovered a cache of correspondence and documents that helped disclose the hidden story of Paul's early years. After a long search, he found Duane, Paul's former wife and intellectual sparring partner, who remained Desmond's friend long after they parted but was a figure of mystery even to Brubeck and other colleagues. He talked with leading musicians who were contemporaries, and combed through dozens of publications for reviews, articles and interviews. As Ramsey did his work, Desmond the private man with great joys and great troubles began to emerge from the shadows to fill out the public image of a blithely self-contained star soloist spinning out seamlessly inventive musical stories.
Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond includes long, revealing passages from Paul's letters, hilarious accounts of life in the army and life on the road, his memos to himself about his artistic choices and his disagreements with jazz orthodoxy, his carefully crafted campaign to persuade Brubeck that he should be in Dave's band.
Many of the book's nearly two hundred photographs have never before been published, nor have several amusing drawings by Desmond's close friend Arnold Roth. Ramsey includes the story of how Brubeck's friendship with Desmond blew up and Brubeck's wry account of how Desmond repaired it. Dave and Iola Brubeck wrote the book's foreword. It begins, "Paul Desmond was an enigma." This fascinating book makes him less of one.
Take Five also includes transcriptions of several of Paul’s most brilliant recorded solos, with comments and analysis by such noted artists as Bud Shank, Bill Mays, Paul Cohen, John Handy, Gary Foster and Brent Jensen. They provide a graphic illustration and explanation of Desmond’s timeless and lyrical style.
