When playing alongside Dave Brubeck, the sublime altoist Paul Desmond often played "good cop" (gentle, insouciant, cheerful) to Brubeck's "bad cop" (agitated, cerebral, weighty). In his own, equally fascinating quartets with the august and always composed guitarist Jim Hall, the discord of the Brubeck band is replaced by concord and sympathy. Although the seeds of bossa nova were laid in the mid-1950s, it took two early-1960s Stan Getz records for it to truly blossom: 1962's Jazz Samba with Charlie Byrd and 1964's Getz/Gilberto with Joao Gilberto. Thus, it makes sense that Desmond and crew entered the studio in the summer of 1964 to make their own contributions to the style. Needless to say, the unflappable ensemble and the easygoing style were a perfect match. Atop Modern Jazz Quartet drummer Connie Kay's softly swaying Brazilian rhythms, Desmond and Hall deliver passages that are assertive yet delicate, thoughtful yet breezy, and never ever hurried or forced. --Marc Greilsamer