Hipness Is What It Is

A cool, light, bluesy sound, the feeling that he popped out of the womb wearing a business suit and horned-rim glasses, smoking, and with a blond on his arm, Paul Desmond was an icon of hipness

American jazz saxophonist and composer Paul Desmond behind the scenes of American television show Playboy's Penthouse. The show was hosted by Playboy founder and then-editor/publisher Hugh Hefner and first broadcast on October 24, 1959. Photo by Ted Williams.

Listen to Paul Desmond, what do you hear? The epitome of a cool emotional tone, means understate…