Paul Gonsalves is a nice, easy going guy from a beautiful family in New Bedford, Rhode Island. His mother is beautiful, his sisters and brothers are beautiful, and all of his children are beautiful. In fact, he is blessed with nothing but beautiful relatives.  He had a good musical education, has great solo taste, and plays with profound authority. But he is shy, hates microphones, and loves au naturel. We call him “the strolling violins,” because he will take his horn and walk over to a group, or do his whole solo o one child in the audience.

He wants to be liked by everybody, and doesn’t want anything from anyone except a kind word and a water chaser. He will stand around and talk and socialise with people all night, whether or not he knows them, and always he says, “They’re some beautiful cats, man.”

He has respect for respect, but never makes demands for himself. There is never an evil thought in his mind. In fact, his purity of mind suggests to me that he would have made a good priest. His punch line, of course, is “Jack Daniels,” but that is just a kind of façade.

Duke Ellington, Music is My Mistress, Da Capo Press, 1973