With the rise of pattern based improvisation through the influence of jazz academe, melodic improvisation has receded. Thus Desmond's name, as a master of melodic improvisation, has correspondingly diminished. Yet melodic improvisation is a far more satisfying style of improvising. More demanding for the improviser than pattern running, the rewards of mastering it are correspondingly higher, and can result in a kind of musical poetry that in the right hands, such as Desmond's, can still work its magic over 50 years later. Desmond was the perfect foil for Dave Brubeck, in whose quartet he won international acclaim. A gentleman's agreement between the two meant that Desmond was free to record away from the quartet, but not with a piano. It was something Desmond honoured even when he left the group at the end of the 1960s. This CD combines the first two albums recorded by Desmond under his own name away from Brubeck: the Fantasy 10-inch album Desmond from 1954 and the Fantasy 12-inch album Paul Desmond featuring Don Elliott from 1956. They are of greater interest than the series of ‘mood’ albums Desmond produced for RCA in the 1960s simply because of the variety of musical approaches he attempts. From Desmond comes a quintet comprising Dick Collins trumpet, Desmond and Dave Van Kriedt on tenor sax, plus bass and drums. Desmond, Collins and Kriedt were members of Dave Brubeck's Octet in the 1940s whose ensemble sound uncannily resembled that of the Birth of the Cool recordings, but were made a year in advance of them. One striking piece by the octet was ‘Fugue on Bop Themes’ by Van Kriedt that prompted jazz critic Max Harrison to note it was ‘the most thoroughgoing and effective use of a fugue ever recorded by a jazz composer.’ On Desmond we have more in similar idiom, the saxophonist even saying in the liner notes ‘the quintet session came about mostly as a means of recording my two favourite Van Kriedt compositions, originally called ‘Choral Prelude’ and ‘Fugue IV’. These remarkable pieces suggest an area that still has not been explored in greater depth in jazz, Van Kriedt's writing so effective, yet leaving space for improvisation – even within the fugue's lines. The second part of the Desmond album sees Desmond experimenting with voices – the Bill Bates Singers – and introduces another Brubeck Octet alumni, Jack Weeks on trombone, whose concept the voices plus sax idea was. These sides are again both interesting and compelling. The sides with Don Elliott, while lacking the musical curiosity of Desmond, nevertheless demand your attention. Elliott (highly regarded in his time and although unknown now, recorded in duet with Bill Evans on the album Tenderly). A mixture of originals and quality standards, this album speaks less of competition, more of musical co-operation.