Get your own Free Home PageGerald Joseph Mulligan was born in New York on April 6th, 1927, and died from complications of knee surgery in January, 1996. He was best known for his performance on baritone saxophone, but he also often performed and recorded on both piano and, later in his career, on soprano saxophone. In addition, he plays clarinet on one track on "Night Lights" and he even sings on "I Never Was A Young Man" from the album Little Big Horn.
Mulligan became known for his prodigous writing and arranging skills in his teens when he wrote for Johnny Warrington's radio band in 1944, and for Gene Krupa's band two years later as a staff arranger. He attracted attention with his composition entitled "Disc Jockey Jump." During this period, he played the various reed instruments, even attracting the attention of Charlie Parker playing the tenor saxophone, an instrument he never returned to on record until the early 60's on his collaboration with Stan Getz. He was also associated, in a writing and arranging capacity, with the bands of Claude Thornhill, Elliot Lawrence, and Stan Kenton.
Mulligan hit the big time when he became known for his work (writing, arranging, and soloing) on Miles Davis's first defining album, "Birth of the Cool." Gerry's compositions for this album included "Jeru," "Godchild," and "Venus de Milo," all songs that would remain in his repertoire long after the initial success of the album had died down. This album launched and aided several careers of important jazz figures, including alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, tubaist Bill Barber, arranger Gil Evans, and most notably Davis himself. By this time Mulligan was specializing in what would always be his primary instrument, the baritone saxophone. His involvement and performance launched his career, garnering him attention from still more bandleaders interested in his work, including trombonist Kai Winding. His and that album's popularity set the stage for the next, possibly most important phase in his career.
In 1952, Mulligan moved to Los Angeles, and embarked on what may be the most significant, and what is definitely the most popular, period of his career. He and trumpeter Chet Baker formed the first "pianoless" quartet. At that time (and, to some extent, still today), the most popular format for a small jazz ensemble consisted of one to three horn players, a pianist, a bassist, and a drummer. The piano provided the heart of the chords, and soloists became accustomed to hearing that sound behind them. One night (the reasons for this are not known; it is commonly attributed to an unusually small bandstand, not brilliant musical foresight), Mulligan and Baker started a new gig, and didn't bring a pianist along with them. They were forced to rely on their intuition and each other for the chord tones and, perhaps unknowingly, revolutionized jazz music for the duration. Despite the unlikely format, the group became instantly successful. The laid-back, melodic sounds of the quartet helped define, with the big band orchestras of Stan Kenton and the small groups of Dave Brubeck, the concept that is now referred to as "west coast jazz." Ironically, Mulligan was always considered synonymous with the term, despite the fact that he moved back to the east coast within a few years. Mulligan did a short jail term in California on drug charges, and when he was released, he expected to reteam with Baker, but Baker had risen to a new level of fame with his vocal talents, and had become too expensive for Mulligan. The two split, but reunited twice in the future, once in 1957 for the "Reunion" album, and again in 1971 for their much heralded Carnegie Hall Concert.
After splitting with Baker, he returned to New York, the home of his earlier successes, and found a new partner for his quartet, valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, not only a talented soloist, but an accomplished composer and arranger as well. Brookmeyer's happier, more lively, style was something of a contrast to Baker's ultra-laid back approach, but it fit the pianoless setting perfectly. The Mulligan/Brookmeyer group's best work can be heard on the "Live in Paris" albums, recorded during the group's sensational 1954 appearance at the Salle Pleyel in that European city. During the 1950's, Mulligan led a variety of small groups, including another quartet with trumpeter Jon Eardley. He also led sextet's with Brookmeyer, Eardley, and tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims, and other larger "small" groups, often a tentet, revisiting the style and success of the "Birth of the Cool" group. This group can be heard on the Gerry Mulligan Tentet album. Yet another of his successful small groups was that with trumpeter/flugulhornist Art Farmer, well known for his work with tenorist Benny Golson and their "Jazztet." While the collaboration with Farmer was not long- lasting or even terribly commercially accepted, but Mulligan historians generally speak of that group's What Is There To Say? album as not only one of Mulligan's best, but one of the best jazz albums ever recorded. A unique idea that stemmed from that period is documented on the Gerry Mulligan Songbook album. This album features a five-piece saxophone section with rhythm playing all Mulligan originals, arranged by Mulligan and Bill Holman. That album never achieved the critical acclaim of select others, but it is interesting due to its different take on some of Mulligan's most oft-played compositions.
Gerry Mulligan was a musician who loved to jam. He probably played and recorded with more (and more diverse) musicians than anyone outside of about a dozen legendary jazz players. Indeed, his best work always ended up on albums that were minimally rehearsed, and that were recorded with people he rarely played with. The best example of this is his collaboaration with Stan Getz. Getz enjoyed much more popularity than Mulligan did, and Getz was best known for his forays into the arena of the bossa nova, an area in which Gerry was rarely seen, but the two mesh as if they grew up together. Another historically significant collaboration was that with alto saxophonist Paul Desmond. Desmond, best known for his work with pianist Dave Brubeck, was a perfect match for Mulligan. They recorded two albums together in the late fifties, "Quartet," and "Two of a Mind." They both utilized Mulligan's pianoless concept. The two albums, while not spectacular from Mulligan's perspective, were some of the best playing Desmond ever put on record. In fact, the two were so compatible that when Desmond left Brubeck's touring group, Mulligan stepped in to take his place.
Mulligan's collaborations over the years are much too numberable to individually examine, but two others are interesting due to their surprising and iconoclastic nature. On the album Mulligan Meets Monk, Mulligan jammed with revolutionary and controversial pianist Thelonious Monk. The session utilized Monk's long-time rhythm section of Wilbur Ware and Shadow Wilson, yet Mulligan never seems the slightest bit out of place. They play mostly Monk originals, but, as might be expected, Mulligan plays them like his own. Within the jazz idiom at that time, however, Mulligan and Monk could not be more different. The other strikingly unique collaboration was with Argentinian accordian master Astor Piazzolla. Putting the two of them together is roughly comprable to backing the "Riverdance" ensemble with the Counting Crows today. As usual, though, the music sounds as natural as if Mulligan were an Argentine native.
As I mentioned earlier, when Paul Desmond left longtime collaborator Dave Brubeck, Mulligan stepped in to take the role of horn player in that pianist's ensemble. Ironically, for the five years that Mulligan toured with Brubeck, they were always billed as "The Dave Brubeck trio featuring guest star Gerry Mulligan," never simply "The Dave Brubeck Quartet." Those years were defined by one performance, now on record as Live at the Berlin Philharmonie. At that performance, the crowd literally forced the group to return to the stage for three encores when they refused to leave the concert hall. It wasn't until the lights were dimmed and turned off that the audience finally gave in and went home. A listen to the album only reinforces the notion. Often, the group would play with symphony orchestras, which is primarily the setting that Brubeck plays today.
The last fifteen years or so of Gerry's career are easily grouped, but not easily categorized. Like he did for his entire career, he sought out new musical territory, playing in unlikely settings, often creating these settings for himself, and driving the music in new directions even in traditional quartet or quintet arenas. Perhaps the seminal album of Mulligan's later career was Dream A Little Dream. He plays in his then-working quartet over a collection of standards, including some of his own compositions, already standards by that time. His sound is just as fresh as ever, yet his musical searching doesn't detract from the overall accessibility of the music itself. An album only a year before that, Paraiso, is a group of bossa novas, mostly written by him, and performed with Brazilian vocalist Jane Duboc. While he is in a completely different setting, the music is undeniable his. His last recording, Dragonfly, is perhaps the most unique of his late albums. Some of the compositions are unmistakable as jazz fusion, and he surrounds himself with fusion artists such as Grover Washington and Dave Samuels, and even including a brass choir, arranged by the inimitable Slide Hampton. During these years he was no longer considered the musical pathfinder of his pianoless quartet and concert jazz band days, but he began to receive plenty of recognition for the near-legendary status he had attained. Fellow bariman Nick Brignola and guitarist Sal Salvador joined forces to record a tribute album to the master, including not only his most famous compositions, but selected songs that he and his various groups often played. While it isn't the best album ever recorded, it gives a good perspective on Mulligan's music.
In January 1996, he died of complications after knee surgery. Tributes were granted him in such diverse publications as the "Wall Street Journal" and "Newsweek." For thirty years he had annually dominated both fan and critic polls on his instrument, and has still not ceased to do so. In 1996, N2K Encoded Jazz released his "Legacy" album, a collection of his best work, with two previously unreleased tributes, "Now I Know What I've Missed..." by Patti Austin and Dave Grusin, and "O Great Spirit" by Diva Gray and Darryl Tookes. Also in 1996, Pacific Jazz released a four CD set of his fifties recordings with trumpeter Chet Baker. The re-releases keep pouring onto the racks, and at least one additional tribute album, with the aforementioned Brignola and bari player Ronnie Cuber fronting the project.
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