Tuesday, 9/15/09

by musicclipoftheday

Cigarettes, Scotch, amphetamines, cocaine: alto saxophonist Paul Desmond consumed them all, often in prodigious quantities. But that didn’t muddy his playing. It would be hard to find, anywhere in music, a sound more pure.

Paul Desmond, live, Monterey (California), 1975

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lagniappe

“I have won several prizes as the world’s slowest alto player, as well as a special award in 1961 for quietness.”—Paul Desmond