Paul Desmond - Take Ten
Paul Desmond - alto saxophone [click here to see more vinyl featuring Paul Desmond]
Jim Hall - guitar [click here to see more vinyl featuring Jim Hall]
Gene Cherico, Gene Wright (b); Connie Kay (dr)
Written by Paul Desmond (A1, A2, A4, B1), Luiz Bonfá (B2), Luigi Creatore (B2), Antônio Maria (B2), Hugo Peretti (B2), James Van Heusen (B2), Phil Silvers (B2), Luiz Bonfá (B3), Isham Jones (B4), Gus Kahn (B4)
1 LP, standard sleeve
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : black
Speed : 33 RPM
Size : 12'’
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : Pallas
Label : Speakers Corner
Original Label : RCA
Recording: June 5 - 25, 1963 in Webster Hall, New York, by Ray Hall
Production: George Avakian
Originally released in 1963
Reissued in 2005
Tracks :
Side A :
- Take Ten
- El Prince
- Alone Together
- Embarcadero
Side B :
- Theme from ''Black Orpheus''
- Nancy (With the Laughing Face)
- Samba de Orfeu
- The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else)
Reviews :
« Now listeners enter the heart of the Paul Desmond/Jim Hall sessions, a great quartet date with Gene Cherico manning the bass (Gene Wright deputizes on the title track) and MJQ drummer Connie Kay displaying other sides of his personality. Everyone wanted Desmond to come up with a sequel to the monster hit "Take Five"; and so he did, reworking the tune and playfully designating the meter as 10/8. Hence "Take Ten," a worthy sequel with a solo that has a Middle-Eastern feeling akin to Desmond's famous extemporaneous excursion with Brubeck in "Le Souk" back in 1954. It was here that Desmond also unveiled a spin-off of the then-red-hot bossa nova groove that he called "bossa antigua" (a sardonic play-on-words meaning "old thing"), which laid the ground for Desmond's next album and a few more later in the decade. Two of the best examples are his own tunes, the samba-like "El Prince" (named after arranger Bob Prince), an infectious number with on-the-wing solo flights that you can't get out of your head, and the haunting "Embarcadero." Hall now gets plenty of room to stretch out, supported by Kay's gently dropped bombs, and he is the perfect understated swinging foil for the wistful altoist. There is not a single track here that isn't loaded with ingeniously worked out, always melodic ideas. » AllMusic Review by Richard S. Ginell
No, not "Take Five" but "Take Ten" is the title of this LP and its very first number. Certainly this should be taken as a hint that it was not Dave Brubeck but Paul Desmond who was the composer of this 'million seller'. At the recording session, the guitarist Jim Hall was more than a substitute for the piano - he contributed to the quartet a whole new sound colouring which was tinged with the influences of bossa nova.
The numbers are all easy-going and airy, the melodic lines and sound are filled with transparency. All the while one is curious as to the clear part-writing, and the wealth of ideas emanating from the soloists. This does not only apply to the old favourites "Alone Together", "Nancy" and "The One I Love", all three of them arrangements made ad hoc in the studio and which demonstrate how familiar the musicians were with one another, how they listened to one another, answered, and kept the dialogue flowing. The atmosphere is relaxed, and this conveys itself to the listener even after almost half a century.
RCA’s recording and reproduction technology was ahead of its time. The music of these South-American-sounding gems comes out of the loudspeakers with brilliance, clarity and - at last - without the frustrating crackle of a second-hand LP.
Ratings :
AllMusic : 4.5 / 5 , Discogs : Rate Your Music :