He spent three years in the military, but his unit was not called to combat. In his first year of college, Desmond was drafted into the United States Army and joined the Army band while stationed in San Francisco. At that time, he began playing the alto saxophone, after being influenced by the likes of Lester Young and Charlie Parker.

After high school, Desmond enrolled at San Francisco State College where he majored in English. In that capacity, he interviewed comedian Bob Hope for his school newspaper during one of Hope's visits to San Francisco. While in high school, Desmond wished to study the violin, but his father dissuaded him, saying that violin players were 'a dime a dozen.with the violin, you'll starve.' Desmond developed a talent for writing during high school as well, becoming co-editor of his high school newspaper. Starting in 1933, Desmond spent nearly five years living with relatives in New Rochelle, New York due to his mother's mental health problems.ĭesmond began to study the clarinet at the age of twelve, which he continued while at San Francisco Polytechnic High School. ĭesmond's mother Shirley was emotionally unstable throughout his upbringing, and appears to have suffered from obsessive–compulsive disorder and other mental illnesses. During World War I, while training with the 17th New York Regiment in Plattsburgh, New York, he composed The Last Long Mile, one of the best-known soldiers' songs of that war. ĭesmond's father Emil Breitenfeld was a pianist, organist, arranger, and composer who accompanied silent films in movie theaters and produced musical arrangements for printed publication and for live theatrical productions. Desmond's mother, born Shirley King, was of an Irish Catholic family. The Breitenfeld family in Bohemia and Vienna featured musicians in every generation throughout the 1800s, 1900s, and to the present day. However, Fred Barton, songwriter/arranger and Desmond's cousin, found extensive genealogical proof that both the Breitenfeld and Löwy families were Bohemian Jews. Paul Desmond and members of his father's family 'frequently speculated as to whether Sigmund or Hermine Breitenfeld had Jewish backgrounds', but they did not identify as Jewish, or observe Jewish traditions. They had four children (including Emil, father of Paul Emil). His grandfather Sigmund Breitenfeld, a medical doctor, was born in Austria in 1857 he and wife Hermine (née Lewy) emigrated to the US at the end of the 19th century. After years of chain smoking and poor health, Desmond succumbed to lung cancer in 1977 after a tour with Brubeck.ĭesmond was born Paul Emil Breitenfeld in San Francisco, California, in 1924, the son of Shirley (née King) and Emil Aron Breitenfeld. In addition to his work with Brubeck, he led several groups and collaborated with Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Jim Hall, and Ed Bickert. He was a member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet and composed that group's biggest hit, ' Take Five'. Paul Desmond (born Paul Emil Breitenfeld Novem– May 30, 1977) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer and proponent of cool jazz.

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