1. Samba with Some Barbecue (Lil Hardin Armstrong)
  2. Olvidar (Forget) (Don Sebesky)
  3. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
  4. Emily (from The Americanization of Emily) (Johnny Mandel/Johnny Mercer)
  5. Someday My Prince Will Come (Larry Morey/Frank Churchill)
  6. Autumn Leaves (Joseph Kosma/Johnny Mercer/Jacques Prévert)
  7. Where Is Love? (from Oliver!) Lionel Bart)
  8. Lady in Cement (Hugo Montenegro)
  9. North by Northeast (Paul Desmond)
  10. Summertime (George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin/DuBose Heyward/Dorothy Kuhns)

Paul Desmond – alto saxophone
Herbie Hancock – piano (except 03)
Joe Beck (01, 06), Bucky Pizzarelli (03), Jay Berliner (07, 08, 10), Eumir Deodato (08) – guitar
Ron Carter (except 03), Frank Bruno (03) – bass
Airto Moriera – drums (01, 06, 08), percussion (03, 07, 10)
Leo Morris [Idris Muhammad] – drums (02, 04, 05, 07, 09, 10)
Mike Mainieri – vibes (07, 08, 10)
Joe Venuto – marimba (03)
Jack Jennings – percussion (07, 08, 10)
Paul Faulise, Kai Winding – trombone (except 03)
Wayne Andre – trombone (01, 02, 04-06, 09)
Bill Watrous – trombone (01, 02, 04-07, 09, 10)
Urbie Green – trombone (02, 04, 05, 07-10)
J.J. Johnson – trombone (07, 08, 10)
Joe Shepley – trumpet, flugelhorn
John Eckert – trumpet, flugelhorn (01, 02, 04-06, 09)
Marvin Stamm – trumpet, flugelhorn (except 03)
Burt Collins (except 01, 06) – trumpet, flugelhorn (02-05, 07-10)
Ray Alonge – French horn (except 03)
Tony Miranda – French horn (01, 02, 04-06, 09)
Jimmy Buffington – French horn (02, 04, 05, 07-10)
George Marge – flute and oboe (03)
Bob Tricarico – flute and bassoon (03)

Produced by Creed Taylor

Arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky

Originally issued as A&M SP 3015
              also issued as EN VERANO (A&M HDAS 371-29 [Spain])

Recorded on October 10 (07, 10), 16 (04, 09) and 24 (02, 05), November 5 (08) and 20 (01, 06), and December 18 and/or 26 (03), 1968, at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

01 published by Universal Music Corporation (ASCAP)
02 published by Thursday Music Corp. (BMI)
03 published by Northern Songs. Ltd.
04 published by Primary Waves Songs (ASCAP)
05 published by Bourne Co. (ASCAP)
06 published by Enoch and Cie/Morley Music Co. (ASCAP)
07 published by Hollis Music (BMI)
08 published by 20th Century Music (ASCAP)
09 published by Desmond Music Company (BMI)
10 published by DuBoase and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund Pub./Frankie G. Songs/IRA Gershwin Music/Nokawi Music/W. B. Music Corp. (ASCAP)

(P) 1969

During the incredible 17 years alto saxophonist Paul Desmond (1924-77) spent with the remarkably successful Dave Brubeck Quartet – for whom he provided “Take Five,” jazz’s biggest-selling hit – Brubeck made Desmond promise he’d never record with another pianist while still a part of the Quartet. Desmond, a man of his word, obliged, recording a string of solo albums in the early 1960s with guitarist Jim Hall in place of a keyboardist. Imagine, then, Desmond’s joy upon retiring from Brubeck’s exhaustive touring and recording schedule in 1967, to record his first album with a non-Brubeck pianist? And he couldn’t have asked for a finer one here than Herbie Hancock. Hancock positively relishes his guest role throughout Summertime, particularly on “Someday My Prince Will Come,” which Hancock spent years perfecting during his time with the Miles Davis Quintet.

Summertime, Paul Desmond’s spring 1969 A&M/CTI debut, is filled with many such pleasures; but none is as great as listening to the smooth-as-silk saxophonist, one of the loveliest musical linguists and wisest of all melodic wits, engaging with Taylor’s cadre of musical poets in this superbly varied yet coolly cohesive program. Desmond positively dances throughout, on samba-fied staples from Louis Armstrong and The Beatles, a typically haunting Sebesky original, an original blues, three well-chosen and well-executed movie themes and three terrifically cool takes on standards from the jazz canon.

“Samba with Some Barbeque” effortlessly weds Luiz Bonfá’s “Samba de Orfeu” (previously recorded by Desmond in 1963) with Lil Hardin Armstrong’s “Struttin’ with Some Barbeque” and gets its magnificent momentum from Herbie Hancock’s piano, Joe Beck’s nylon-string guitar1, Ron Carter’s bass and Airto Moriera’s dynamic time-keeping. Even more remarkable is the melodically astounding, though hardly atypical, solos of Desmond and Hancock – the latter picking up on the saxist’s closing motif and taking it along his own delightful way.2 The Beatles go batucada on the justly festive “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” where Desmond waxes angelically over the catchy melody and solos devilishly, inverting the melody in a myriad of ways (listen for Desmond’s quote of “Hey Jude”).

Sebesky’s melancholy “Olvidar” earns its Spanish title from its moody Catalan setting. Originally known as “Forget,” from the Sebesky-arranged The Warm World of Jack Sheldon (1968), Desmond reminisces plaintively while memorably conveying the song’s inability to leave the past behind. Desmond’s “North by Northeast” recalls the 1954 Brubeck/Desmond improvisation “Balcony Rock,”3 with Desmond in fine blue fettle, inverting expectations with a wink and a grin at every turn. Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock (who solos wittily) are in their element here.

Johnny Mandel’s lovely “Emily,” from The Americanization of Emily (1964), gets a beautiful reading from the alto saxophonist, with tremendous support from partners-in-time Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter. “Where is Love,” from the film musical Oliver! (1968), gets a jazzed-up inflection from Desmond’s compassion for the plaintive child’s cry, featuring nice vibes work from Mike Maineri and a typically lyrical solo from Herbie Hancock. Hugo Montenegro’s exciting and hugely underrated crime-jazz theme to the little-known Frank Sinatra film Lady in Cement (1968) gets a dynamic – and definitive – proto-Blaxsploitation groove by Sebesky and some of Desmond’s fieriest work on record, kindled by Hancock, Carter, Moreira and Maineri’s burning support.

“Someday My Prince Will Come” was performed by Desmond with the Brubeck Quartet on both Dave Digs Disney (1957) and Countdown: Time in Outer Space (1962). Here, Desmond gives the jazz waltz a romantic buoyancy guided gleefully by Hancock (who solos), Carter and Leo Morris. The bossa-fied “Autumn Leaves” gets an enchanting reading here by the same crew who swung “Samba with Some Barbeque” so elegantly. Desmond and Sebesky are perfectly paired here and deliver a pleasing new twist to an old jazz chestnut.4 Like “Autumn Leaves,” the Brubeck Quartet had never recorded the Gershwins’ “Summertime” – which leaves Desmond to make his own mark on it here. And that he does. The Porgy and Bess standard is set here in a commanding modal groove, with Desmond blowing warm melodic breezes over Hancock’s nimble waves; both, of course, soloing with signature grace.5

 “Desmond’s first recorded outing since leaving Brubeck was worth waiting for,” wrote Dan Morgenstern in his four-star DownBeat review.6 “Desmond often recorded on his own, but rarely have his talents been more tellingly displayed…Varied and often interesting material, a recording quality that beautifully captures and projects the altoist’s sound, and the sympathetic backing he receives – from Hancock, Carter and Beck in particular – help carry the album, but it is Desmond’s consistent excellence that holds it up.”

Steve Voce wrote in his Jazz Journal review of the record that “[Desmond’s] delicate solos are set against a crisp, Van Gelder-recorded group which, undoubtedly commercially intended, none the less produces a pretty good jazz album. The ballads are beautiful and all around this is an enchanting album.”7 Summertime reached number 12 on Billboard’s Jazz chart and the album’s single, “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” reached number 35 on the Easy Listening chart.

About the cover: “Summertime” (1966 – Norway). Taken during the Spring while on assignment in Scandinavia, this photo captures a beautifully melting ice cave that Turner saw while driving one day. “It was real easy to get to so I wondered what it would look like from the other side with the sun shining in.”8 The result is truly incredible and struck Creed Taylor as the perfect image for former Dave Brubeck Quartet alto saxist Paul Desmond’s A&M/CTI debut. Pete Turner once said that this was his favorite of all his CTI covers. Noting Creed Taylor’s perfectly ironic sense of contrast, he chuckled, “Icicles in summertime. Just perfect!”9 Basking appropriately in sunshine on the album’s back cover, Paul Desmond seems to agree: “Uh huh.”

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Endnotes:

  1. Summertime represents the first appearance of guitarist Joe Beck (1945-2008) on a CTI record. Beck makes a more substantial appearance on Betwixt and Between but disappears from Creed Taylor productions until 1973, when he contributes as a session player and arranger on CTI and Kudu albums through 1976. His album Beck (a.k.a. Beck & Sanborn) was issued on Kudu in 1975. ↩︎
  2. Guitarist Steve Khan, who contributed to many CTI albums in the late 70s, has transcribed Desmond and Hancock’s solos on “Struttin’ With Some Barbeque,” as well as a number of other solos from Summertime, as teaching tools for his students. Khan has said in praise of Summertime and the Creed Taylor productions of this period: “Say what you will, but Creed Taylor has always selected artists who have, at the very least, the gift of stating a melody with tremendous warmth and a very personalized touch. For this alone, these recordings stand tall. Even though the soloing was, by most standards, constricted to a chorus, a part of a chorus, or a prescribed number of bars, all the featured players offered improvisations of a special relaxed dignity.” Refer to www.stevekhan.com. ↩︎
  3. “North by Northeast” was credited as “Balcony Rock” on the original recording logs. While both tunes share similar blues structures, “North by Northeast” has enough of its own personality to be a substantially different tune. ↩︎
  4. While Desmond had recorded “Autumn Leaves,” with strings, in 1962, Hancock and Carter often performed the Johnny Mercer standard with Miles Davis from 1963 to 1966. Desmond, Carter and Sebesky would reunite in 1974 to record it again with Chet Baker on his 1974 CTI album She Was Too Good to Me. ↩︎
  5. Four years later, Sebesky wove “Summertime” into Dave Brubeck’s “Summer Song” (1956) for Jackie & Roy’s CTI album Time & Love (1974), a feature for Paul Desmond. ↩︎
  6. Dan Morgenstern, “Paul Desmond: Summertime,” DownBeat, November 27, 1969. ↩︎
  7. Steve Voce, “Paul Desmond: Summertime,” Jazz Journal, September 1969. ↩︎
  8. Turner, Pete The Color of Jazz (Rizzolli: New York), 206, p. 42. ↩︎
  9. As told to the author. ↩︎