Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond - Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond (2019) [Hi-Res]

• This CD reissues two earlier Fantasy LPs titled Jazz at the Black Hawk and Jazz at Storyville. Pianist Dave Brubeck and altoist Paul Desmond are the two main constants while bassists Ron Crotty and Wyatt Ruther and drummers Lloyd Davis, Herb Barman and Joe Dodge are heard on some tracks. There are many high points to this interesting set including Brubeck-Desmond duets on "Over the Rainbow" and "You Go to My Head," an unaccompanied piano solo on "My Heart Stood Still" and quartet versions of "Jeepers Creepers," "Trolley Song" and "Crazy Chris." ~ Scott Yanow

• Two greats interact here, in recordings from 1952-54, with stunning intuition. Brubeck, as always, makes a virtue of his limited fleet-fingeredness. He has no need to hurry in the company of Paul Desmond, an alto saxophonist akin to Getz--light and never imbalanced. His and Brubeck's musical rapport had been forged in Brubeck's earlier octet and would continue for many years in his sterling quartet. The program here emphasizes standards. There is light combo support on some tracks. For "On a Little Street in Singapore," Brubeck and Desmond take a thoughtful, fragile jaunt through foreign streets. In "Trolley Song," the trolley bell sounds in Desmond's ringing horn. On "My Heart Stood Still," the pianist is alone, hammering heartily in his folksy, front-parlor way. -- Peter Monaghan