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Paul Desmond

AKA Paul Emil Breitenfeld

Born: 25-Nov-1924
Birthplace: San Francisco, CA
Died: 30-May-1977
Location of death: New York City
Cause of death: Cancer - Lung
Remains: Cremated (ashes scattered)

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight [1]
Occupation: Jazz Musician

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Jazz alto saxophonist, Dave Brubeck Quartet

Military service: US Army

[1] Ted Gioia, West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960 (1998), page 78: "During his SF State years, Paul was briefly married; as with his enigmatic childhood, the details are rather sketchy. Gene Lees, despite his close friendship with Desmond, writes that he learned about the affair only because he had met the woman before he knew Paul: 'Paul never mentioned her to me, and I mentioned her only once, when we both had a few too many drinks. Paul got tears in his eyes, and I never spoke of her again.' The former Mrs. Breitenfeld later remarried, while Paul maintained a confirmed state of noncommitment in his later relations with women."

Wife: (m. briefly)

    High School: San Francisco Polytechnic High School, San Francisco, CA
    University: San Francisco State College

    Dave Brubeck Quartet Saxophone (1951-67)
    Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame 1991
    Risk Factors: LSD, Smoking






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