Blues in Time

Blues in Time
Studio album by Gerry Mulligan and Paul Desmond
Released	Late November/early December 1957[1]
Recorded	August 2, 27, 1957
Studio	Capitol (Hollywood) Fine Sound (New York City)
Genre	Jazz
Length	45:48
Label	Verve MGV 8246
Producer	Norman Granz
Alternative cover
Verve V 8478 edition

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Disc	[3]
DownBeat	[4]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[5]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[6]

Gerry Mulligan - Paul Desmond Quartet (later retitled Blues in Time) is a jazz album by Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan released in 1957 on the Verve label.^[7][8] The idea for this album was born in 1954, then postponed till summer of 1957 when Desmond suggested to record some pieces together. Producer Norman Granz managed to set up the recording date for the first session in August.^[9] Blues in Time was also reissued on Verve V 8478 with a different cover (see below). The album is the first of two albums Mulligan and Desmond recorded in a pianoless quartet setting. The second, recorded in 1962, was Two of a Mind.

Contrafacts

Four of the original compositions on the album are contrafacts. They are:

• "Stand Still" (based on "My Heart Stood Still")
• "Wintersong" (based on "These Foolish Things")
• "Battle Hymn of the Republican" (based on "Tea for Two")
• "Fall Out" (based on "Let's Fall in Love")

Track listing

Original LP

1. "Blues in Time" (Paul Desmond) – 9:01
2. "Body and Soul" (Johnny Green, Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton) – 9:38
3. "Standstill" (Gerry Mulligan) – 3:30
4. "Line for Lyons" (Mulligan) – 3:08
5. "Wintersong" (Desmond) – 6:58
6. "Battle Hymn of the Republican" (Desmond) – 7:45
7. "Fall Out" (Mulligan) – 5:45

Bonus tracks released on 1993 U.S. Verve CD

• "Tea for Two" (Vincent Youmans) - 7:56
• "Wintersong (take 2) - 8:08
• "Lover" (Richard Rodgers) - 6:43

Personnel

^[10]

• Paul Desmond – alto saxophone
• Gerry Mulligan – baritone saxophone
• Dave Bailey – drums
• Joe Benjamin – bass

References

1. "Review Spotlight on..." Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. December 2, 1957. p. 26 – via Google Books.
2. Allmusic review
3. Hall, Tony (26 July 1958). "The New Reviews". Disc. No. 25. pp. 18–19.
4. Feather, Leonard (9 January 1958). "Review of Gerry Mulligan-Paul Desmond Quartet" (PDF). DownBeat. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
5. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
6. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1053. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
7. Gerry Mulligan Discography Archived 2012-04-22 at the Wayback Machine accessed February 23, 2016
8. Tesser, Neil. "Gerry Mulligan and the Paul Desmond Quartet: Blues in Time". JazzTimes.
9. Original liner notes by Nat Hentoff
10. "Gerry Mulligan Paul Desmond Quartet". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved March 10, 2023.