This six CD set, recorded between 1961-64, includes bonus tracks not included on the original vinyl releases of Desmond Blue, Take Ten, Bossa Antigua, Glad to Be Unhappy,Easy Living and Two of a Mind with Gerry Mulligan plus several alternate takes (recorded at the same session as the released take) and alternate versions (recorded at a different session to the released take). Although the albums released as the Paul Desmond Quartet duplicate the released and previously unreleased material that appeared on the limited edition The Complete Recordings of the Paul Desmond Quartet with Jim Hall on the Mosaic label, this collection nevertheless provides a broad retrospective of Desmond’s work away from the Dave Brubeck Quartet in the 1960s, then at the peak of its popularity. Brubeck was unconcerned about Desmond’s extra-curricula recording activity, save for a gentleman’s agreement that Desmond would not record with a piano, which of course he honoured. These albums – save the Two of a Mind collaboration with Gerry Mulligan – might be said to fulfil the function of sophisticated easy listening music (marketed by RCA as ‘a great saxophonist in a new setting’). Indeed, the 1966 album Easy Living somewhat gives the game away, but nevertheless, it was a role Desmond and Hall fulfilled to perfection (with and without the string sections).