Artist: Gerry Mulligan
Genre(s):
Jazz
Discography:
Gerry Mulligan Quartet With Chet Baker
Year: 1953
Tracks: 24
Jazz Masters 36
Year:
Tracks: 12
The most far-famed and plausibly sterling jazz baritonist of all meter, Gerry Mulligan was a heavyweight. A flexible soloist world Health Organization was ever quick to jam with anyone from Dixielanders to the most advanced boppers, Mulligan brought a somewhat revolutionary wakeful well-grounded to his potentially awkward and fell horn and played with the speeding and dexterity of an altoist.
Mulligan started on the pianoforte before learning clarinet and the various saxophones. His initial reputation was as an organiser. In 1944 he wrote charts for Johnny Warrington's receiving set band and before long was qualification contributions to the books of Tommy Tucker and George Paxton. He touched to New York in 1946 and united Gene Krupa's Orchestra as a staff organiser; his most far-famed chart was "Disk Jockey Jump." The uncommon times he played with Krupa's striation was on alto and the same situation existed when he was with Claude Thornhill in 1948.
Gerry Mulligan's first-class honours degree noteworthy recorded exploit on baritone horn was with Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool nonet (1948-50) only at one time over again his arrangements ("Godchild," "Patch That Dream" and 3 of his originals "Jeru," "Rocking chair" and "Urania de Milo") were more than significant than his forgetful solos. Mulligan spent much of 1949 writing for Elliot Lawrence's orchestra and acting anonymously in the sax segment. It was non until 1951 that he began to nonplus a bit of aid for his act upon on baritone. Mulligan recorded with his own nonet for Prestige, displaying an already recognizable legal. After he traveled to Los Angeles, he wrote some arrangements for Stan Kenton (including "Youngblood," "Swing House" and "Walk Shoes"), worked at the Lighthouse and then gained a even Monday night engagement at the Haig. Around this fourth dimension Mulligan accomplished that he enjoyed the supernumerary freedom of soloing without a piano player. He packed with trumpeter Chet Baker and soon their witching resonance was featured in his piano-less quartette. The group caught on quickly in 1952 and made both Mulligan and Baker into stars.
A drug raid place Mulligan out of action and over that quartette merely, when he was released from jailhouse in 1954, Mulligan began a new musical partnership with valve trombone player Bob Brookmeyer that was just as successful. Trumpeter Jon Eardley and Zoot Sims on tenor now and again made the group a 6 and in 1958 trumpeter Art Farmer was featured in Mulligan's Quartet. Being a very flexible player with regard for other stylists, Mulligan went out of his way to record with some of the not bad musicians he admired. At the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival he traded off with baritonist Harry Carney on "Prima Bara Dubla" while backed by the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and during 1957-60 he recorded discriminate albums with Thelonious Monk, Paul Desmond, Stan Getz, Ben Webster and Johnny Hodges. Mulligan played on the classic Legal of Jazz goggle box limited in 1958 and appeared in the movies I Want to Live and The Subterraneans.
During 1960-64 Mulligan light-emitting diode his Concert Jazz Band which gave him an opportunity to write, play baritone voice and once in a while double on pianissimo. The orchestra at times included Brookmeyer, Sims, Clark Terry and Mel Lewis. Mulligan was a little less active after the large band stone-broke up just he toured extensively with the Dave Brubeck Quartet (1968-72), had a part-time big lot in the 1970s (the Age of Steam), double on soprano for a period, lED a mid-'70s 6 that included vibraphonist Dave Samuels, and in 1986 packed on a record with Scott Hamilton. In the nineties he toured the world with his splendid "no-name" quartette and lED a "Renascence of the Cool Band" that performed and recorded remakes of the Miles Davis Nonet classics. Up until the goal, Gerry Mulligan was forever tidal bore to play.
Among Mulligan's compositions were "Walkin' Shoes," "Line for Lyons," "Bark for Barksdale," "Nights at the Turntable," "Verbalize Chaos," "Soft Shoe," "Bernie's Tune," "Blueport," "Vocal for Strayhorn," "Vocal for an Unfinished Woman" and "I Never Was a Young Man" (which he often sang). He recorded extensively through the years for such labels as Prestige, Pacific Jazz, Capitol, Vogue, EmArcy, Columbia, Verve, Milestone, United Artists, Philips, Limelight, A&M, CTI, Chiaroscuro, Who's Who, DRG, Concord and GRP.
