Time Out Ten
Paul Desmond
Greensleeves
For this item you need to be able to stop for ten minutes.
We are often moving on to the next job, the next meeting, scrolling down social media, taking the next call ......'Time Out Ten' asks you to stop for ten minutes and listen to a particular piece of music; to find a time when you won't be interrupted, when you can put in/on your headphones and chill out. Ten minutes isn't long.
Saxophonist Paul Desmond is perhaps best remembered for his recordings with Dave Brubeck, but on Christmas Day, 1971, he showed up for a gig by the MJQ at New York's Town Hall. This was to be the only recording of Paul with the Modern Jazz Quartet [John Lewis (piano) ; Milt Jackson (vibes); Jim Hall (bass) and Connie Kay (drums)] and not released until Paul had passed through the Departure Lounge. He had previously recorded with Jim Hall and Connie Kay but though they had been friends since the 1950s, this was apparently the only time the MJQ and Paul Desmond ever performed in public.
​
JazzFM includes their recording of Greensleeves in their list of 16 'must-hear solos and improvisations' where David Basskins writes "One of the most exquisite alto sax solos in jazz appears on a little-known recording of Greensleeves by Paul Desmond & The Modern Jazz Quartet. The performance at New York’s famed Town Hall on Christmas Day, 1971, is the only recorded instance of them having played together. It’s arguably the greatest, most beautiful thing Desmond ever recorded.
© Sandy Brown Jazz 2025.4