June 1997

Paul Desmond
Desmond Blue
RCA Victor

By Bill Bennett

Too often in jazz, "with strings" is the critical equivalent of "with child:" bursting with potential, but rather ungainly in the moment. There are a few choice moments on this 1962 reissue, but too few and there's not enough of Jim Hall's guitar, and the sort of improvised counterpoint Hall and Desmond so often created.