Word: desmond
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...composer of Take Five claimed he wanted his alto saxophone to sound like a dry martini. Desmond's wish came true on this 1975 cool-jazz masterpiece, finally available on CD after two decades in limbo. Backed up by Canadian super-guitarist Ed Bickert, Desmond, who died in 1977, spins out long, pungent melodic lines that float through the air with luminous grace. Best of all is a slyly witty version of Things Ain't What They Used to Be that would have made Duke Ellington grin...
...Dedicated to Chaos, which chronicles the beginnings of the bebop revolution as well as the coming of hard drugs and the deepening scar of racism, eases away at the end on a note of shattering simplicity. Dave Brubeck, whose music, buttressed by the suave and inventive sax of Paul Desmond, is an important rediscovery here, recounts a childhood incident of racial revelation that leaves him weeping. It is an unforgettable anecdote and lays open the conscience as it touches the soul--just the way that much of jazz can do, with a flourish or a solo...
Human-rights crusaders like Tibet's Dalai Lama and South Africa's Desmond Tutu are so celebrated in the U.S. that it can be easy to forget how dangerous and lonely their work can be. Kennedy Cuomo's interviews with 50 activists, including seven Nobel laureates, tell the stories of these courageous souls in their own sometimes straightforward words. East Timor's Jose Ramos-Horta remembers when the U.S. was a foe: "My own sister Maria was killed by a plane delivered to Indonesia two weeks before by the Carter Administration." Black-and-white portraits by the Pulitzer-prizewinning photographer...
...Critics used to have it easy. Saving art from censors used to mean fighting for Ulysses, or at least the Smothers Brothers. Once, thought-provoking series like All in the Family and M*A*S*H stirred turmoil. But recent TV history, from upn's The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer to Fox's Simpsons rip-off Family Guy, is instead littered with idiotic series under idiotic attacks from would-be censors. Thus the job of pushing society's buttons and fomenting public discussion--once a hallmark of "quality TV"--has largely been taken over by TV's most mediocre...