Simon and Garfunkel's
Bridge Over Troubled Water was the hottest album in the land in 1970, and
Paul Simon's tunes from that and their earlier albums unexpectedly find a congenial advocate in
Paul Desmond. Against the odds as determined by bopsters,
Desmond finds something beautiful, wistful, and/or sly to say in each of these ten tunes, backed by
Herbie Hancock's Rhodes electric piano and a set of ravishing, occasionally overstated (as in "America") orchestrations by
Don Sebesky. "The 59th Street Bridge Song" is given a jaunty, carefree rendition, adapting quite well to a jazz treatment (after all,
Desmond's old teammate in the
Brubeck quartet
Joe Morello played drums on
S&G's original record) and
Desmond even does some cascading overdubs on his solo part. "Cecilia" is a fast samba,
Desmond cleverly works his old "Sacre Blues" into the solo on "El Condor Pasa," and the title track has a breathtakingly pretty fadeout.
Hancock's solos often reflect where he was personally at in 1970, with ideas transferred from his progressive electric Sextet. This is a
Creed Taylor production in all but name; the sound, track editing, and production values are right in line with the A&M CTI line, but
Sebesky is listed as producer,
Taylor having recently severed his ties with A&M to form his own label. ~ Richard S. Ginell