Seaside Heights. October, 2015. Paul Goldfinger photo. Blogfinger.net
Below a scene from Mighty Aphrodite. Paul Desmond’s music was featured. And speaking of the Greek Goddess of Love, today is Eileen Goldfinger’s birthday. Happy Birthday kid!
When I was a high school and college musician, I played a French made Selmer alto sax, as did Desmond.
Paul Desmond was my musical hero. I always tried to emulate his “cool” style. It was a sweet sound which touched me for its floating-in-air quality.
Paul Desmond. The search for a perfect reed is the bane of a sax man’s life. Internet photo. Reed sentiment is mine: PG
He was not only a performer with the Dave Brubeck group, but he was a jazz composer as well, and his “Take Five” was the first jazz song to sell a million copies. Paul Desmond’s sound provided a special flavor for the Dave Brubeck Quartet and was widely emulated by jazz musicians like me as a member of the Fairleigh Dickinson University Jazz Band and leader of the Paul Gary Quartet. (seen below on a Selmer tenor sax)
Bunny, I, Charlie (bass) and Frank (drums) warming up in Frank’s basement in Rutherford. We were college kids. Bunny and I were from FDU while Frank went to Seton Hall. Charlie was a precocious high school senior whose girlfriend was our groupie. Bunny rarely sang, but when she did, it was “Willow Weep for Me.” (We weeped for her singing.) Bunny was so slim that she could play between the white keys. Wallpaper compliments of Frank’s Mom. There are no recordings of our group.
Desmond’s remarkable tempo style was featured in Woody’s 1995 film “Mighty Aphrodite.”
The song below, “Romance de Amor,” is a Brazilian composition by Paul. It is from the album Skylark.
Paul Desmond drank and smoked heavily. He died at 52 of cancer.
Romance de Amor. (Love Song). Written by Paul Desmond.