Pure Desmond

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]

The Allmusic reviewer Richard S. Ginell stated "With the Skylark "experiment" behind him, Paul Desmond reverted to the relaxed quartet format that suited him well in the past... In fact, it sparked a Desmond renaissance where he regained a good deal of the witty spark and erudite cool".[2]

1. "Just Squeeze Me" (Duke Ellington, Lee Gaines) - 4:31
2. "I'm Old Fashioned" (Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer) - 4:55
3. "Nuages" (Django Reinhardt, Jacques Larue) - 5:13
4. "Why Shouldn't I?" (Cole Porter) - 3:34
5. "Everything I Love" (Porter) - 3:48
6. "Warm Valley" (Duke Ellington) - 4:26
7. "Till the Clouds Roll By" (Jerome Kern, P. G. Wodehouse) - 4:08
8. "Mean to Me" (Fred E. Ahlert, Roy Turk) - 5:46
9. "Theme from M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)" (Johnny Mandel) - 3:01 Bonus track on CD reissue
10. "Wave" (Antônio Carlos Jobim) - 6:16 Bonus track on CD reissue
11. "Nuages" [alternate take] (Reinhardt, Larue) - 4:48 Bonus track on CD reissue
12. "Just Squeeze Me" [alternate take] (Ellington, Gaines) - 4:05 Bonus track on CD reissue
13. "Till the Clouds Roll By" [alternate take] (Kern, Wodehouse) - 5:12 Bonus track on CD reissue

• Recorded at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on September 24 (tracks 1, 12 & 13), September 25 (tracks 3, 4 & 7) and September 26 (tracks 2, 5, 6, & 8-11)

• Paul Desmond - alto saxophone
• Ed Bickert - electric guitar
• Ron Carter - bass
• Connie Kay - drums
• Don Sebesky - musical supervision