Paul Desmond-Gerry Mulligan: Two of a Mind. - sound recording reviews

National Review, Oct 13, 1989 by Ralph de Toledano

Paul Desmond--Gerry Mulligan: Two of a Mind

Paul Desmond--Gerry Mulligan: Two of a Mind (RCA-Bluebird 9654-2 RB). Here two saxophone players--Paul Desmond, alto, and Gerry Mulligan, baritone--take lovely standards like "All the Things Your Are" and "Stardust" down a long road from the melody. Both soloists, backed by drums and bass, have perfected to full mellowness the techniques of their instruments. They improvise not on the melody but on the chord, so they are in effect composing. This is the jazz the followed jazz, and it moves a long way from its source. But it is fine music which never forgets its obligation to the beat, and bearing no responsibilities for the frenzies that followed. It belongs in any representative jazz library.