How Many of You Are There in the Quartet? (Brian Doyle)

    musician, and extraordinarily fun to be around, and very alone. I don't know what he did with his days. No one knows, not even Dave. There'll probably never be a biography of Paul. Jazz musicians don't lead interesting lives. They're not tragic operas, except for the occasional Charlie Parker or Billie Holiday. They mostly just play the hell out of their instruments and then go home and practice."

Chorus

In 1971 Desmond was coaxed out of retirement by Jim Hall, who persuaded him to play some quartet dates at the Half Note in New York City. Desmond claimed he only took the job because the Half Note was around the corner, and he could roll out of bed to work. His shows crammed the club. He played with Gerry Mulligan at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, a performance that drew a roaring crowd and ecstatic reviews from critics. He played a Christmas concert in New York's Town Hall that year with the Modern Jazz Quartet, which also drew a roaring crowd and finished with "Take Five."

In 1972, Chet Baker persuaded him into the studio for two albums, and Brubeck persuaded him back on stage for a series of concerts called "Two Generations of Brubeck," which featured Brubeck sons Chris, Danny, and Darius. Jim Hall then persuaded him to meet the Canadian jazz guitarist Ed Bickert in Toronto, and Bickert and Desmond played so well together that Desmond played a series of club dates in Toronto, made a studio record, taped a series of live performances, appeared on a Canadian television show, and played the Edmonton Jazz Festival with his Canadian quartet - billed as the Paul Desmond Quartet, the first such entity since Desmond's scuffling years in San Francisco after the war.

Finally, in 1976, Brubeck persuaded Desmond back into the Brubeck Quartet for a wildly popular (and characteristically busy) Silver Anniversary Tour - 25 shows in 25 nights in 25 cities. They opened in Alfred, New York, and then played 23 shows in 23 nights, traveling from one gig to the next on a bus with eight beds, two television sets, a kitchen, two bathrooms, a shower, and two audio recording systems. The plan was to record the last three shows, and from these issue a record.

"I think we all felt those years were worth it, and we were all glad to be back together," says Brubeck. "What I sensed out of the reunion was a great love among four terribly independent individuals. No matter what we put each other through over the years - and believe me, the emotions ran the full gamut - there was deep love and regard there."

Coda

In February of 1977, Desmond joined the Quartet on stage at Avery Fisher Hall for a reunion concert, at which he played beautifully, remembers Brubeck, "though he could hardly stand and should never have been out of bed. He'd had transfusions throughout the day just so he could play that night. Two doctors came with him to the show and were amazed he could even stand up. But playing music heals and invigorates you." Brubeck, among others, noticed that Paul had to use two or three breaths for long notes rather than the one great gulp he'd needed in the past.

Sometime after that show, remembers Brubeck, he and Desmond did a recording session of about three hours, just the two of them; the next day they recorded for another hour or so, after which Desmond observed that "we can make an album for a streetcar token and a ham sandwich." That was the last time Brubeck saw Desmond, though they spent many hours on the phone and "got closer and closer," says Brubeck.

Desmond made plans to record once more with his Canadian quartet, and he welcomed a string of visitors to