Gerry Mulligan
Encyclopedia
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996) was an American
jazz
saxophonist, clarinetist, composer
and arranger
. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists
in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz
– he was also a notable arranger, working with Claude Thornhill
, Miles Davis
, Stan Kenton
, and others. Mulligan's pianoless quartet of the early 1950s with trumpeter Chet Baker
is still regarded as one of the more important cool jazz
groups. Mulligan was also a skilled pianist
and played several other reed instruments. Mulligan reportedly had a relationship with actress Judy Holliday
until she died in 1965, and with actress Sandy Dennis
from 1965 until they broke up in 1976.
native of Irish
descent; his mother a Philadelphia native of half Irish and half German
descent. Gerry was the last of four sons: George, Phil, Don and Gerry.
George Mulligan's career as an engineer necessitated frequent moves through numerous cities. When Gerry was less than a year old, the family moved to Marion, Ohio
, where his father accepted a job with the Marion Power Shovel Company.
With the demands of a large home and four young boys to raise, Mulligan's mother hired an African-American nanny
named Lily Rose, who became especially fond of the youngest Mulligan. As he became older, Mulligan began spending time at Rose's house and was especially amused by Rose's player piano
, which Mulligan later recalled as having rolls by numerous players, including Fats Waller
. Black musician
s sometimes came through town, and because many motels wouldn't take them, they often had to stay at homes within the black community. The young Mulligan occasionally met such musicians staying at Rose's home.
The family's moves continued with stops in southern New Jersey (where Mulligan lived with his maternal grandmother), Chicago, Illinois, and Kalamazoo, Michigan
, where Mulligan lived for three years and attended Catholic school
. When the school moved into a new building and established music
courses, Mulligan decided to play clarinet
in the school's nascent orchestra
. Mulligan made an attempt at arranging with the Richard Rodgers
song "Lover
", but the arrangement was seized prior to its first reading by an overzealous nun
who was taken aback by the title on the arrangement.
When Gerry Mulligan was 14, his family moved to Detroit and then to Reading, Pennsylvania
. While in Reading, Mulligan began studying clarinet with dance-band musician Sammy Correnti, who also encouraged Mulligan's interest in arranging. Mulligan also began playing saxophone
professionally in dance bands in Philadelphia, an hour and a half or so away.
The Mulligan family next moved to Philadelphia, where Gerry attended the West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys
and organized a school big band
, for which he also wrote arrangements. When Mulligan was sixteen, he approached Johnny Warrington at local radio station
WCAU
about writing arrangements for the station's house band. Warrington was impressed and began buying Mulligan's arrangements.
Mulligan dropped out of high school
during his senior year to pursue work with a touring band. He contacted bandleader Tommy Tucker when Tucker was visiting Philadelphia's Earle Theatre. While Tucker did not need an additional reedman, he was looking for an arranger and Mulligan was hired at $100 a week to do two or three arrangements a week (including all copying). At the conclusion of Mulligan's three-month contract, Tucker told Mulligan that he should move on to another band that was a little less "tame". Mulligan went back to Philadelphia and began writing for Elliot Lawrence
, a pianist
and composer who had taken over for Warrington as the band leader at WCAU.
Mulligan moved to New York City
in January 1946 and joined the arranging staff on Gene Krupa
's bop
-tinged band. Notable arrangements of Mulligan's work with Krupa include "Birdhouse", "Disc Jockey Jump" and an arrangement of "How High the Moon
" that quoted Charlie Parker
's "Ornithology
"
as a countermelody.
Mulligan next began arranging for the Claude Thornhill
Orchestra, occasionally sitting in as a member of the reed section. Thornhill's arranging staff included Gil Evans
, whom Mulligan had met while working with the Krupa band. Mulligan eventually began living with Evans, at the time that Evans' apartment on West 55th Street
became a regular hangout for a number of jazz
musicians working on creating a new jazz idiom.
formed a nine-piece band that featured arrangements by Mulligan, Evans and John Lewis
. The band initially consisted of Davis on trumpet, Mulligan on baritone saxophone
, trombonist
Mike Zwerin
, alto saxophonist
Lee Konitz
, Junior Collins
on French horn, tubist
Bill Barber
, pianist John Lewis, bassist Al McKibbon
and drummer
Max Roach
.
The band only played a handful of live performances (a two week engagement at the Royal Roost
jazz club and two nights at the Clique Club). However, over the next couple of years, Davis reformed the nonet on three occasions to record twelve pieces for release as singles. These were eventually compiled on a Capitol Records
album, titled Birth of the Cool
. Mulligan wrote and arranged three of the tunes recorded ("Rocker," "Venus de Milo," and "Jeru," the latter named after himself), and arranged a further three ("Deception," "Godchild," and "Darn That Dream").
He was also (with Davis, Konitz and Barber) one of only four musicians who played on all the recordings. Despite the chilly reception by audiences of 1949, the Davis nonet has been judged by history as one of the most influential groups in jazz history, creating a sound that, despite its East Coast
origins, became known as West Coast Jazz
.
During his period of occasional work with the Davis nonet between 1949 and 1951, Mulligan also regularly performed with and arranged for trombonist Kai Winding
. Mulligan's composition "Elevation" and his arrangement of "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
" were recorded by Mulligan's old boss, Elliott Lawrence. This brought Mulligan additional recognition. Mulligan also arranged for and recorded with bands led by Georgie Auld
and Chubby Jackson
.
In September, 1951, Mulligan recorded the first album under his own name, Mulligan Plays Mulligan. By this point, he had mastered a melodic and linear playing style, inspired by Lester Young
, that he would retain for the rest of his career.
In the spring of 1952, Mulligan became more desperate for remunerative employment
and headed west to Los Angeles
with his girlfriend, pianist Gail Madden. Through an acquaintance with arranger Bob Graettinger, Mulligan started writing arrangements for Stan Kenton's
Orchestra. While most of Mulligan's work for Kenton were pedestrian arrangements that Kenton needed to fill out money-making dance performances, Mulligan was able to throw in some more substantial original works along the way. His compositions "Walking Shoes" and "Young Blood" stand out as embodiments of the contrapuntal style that became Mulligan's signature. His sound or tone (timbre) was likened to a tweed cloth.
, a small jazz club on Wilshire Boulevard
at Kenmore Street. During the Monday night jam sessions, a young trumpeter named Chet Baker
began sitting in with Mulligan. Mulligan and Baker began recording together, although they were unsatisfied with the results. Around that time, vibraphonist Red Norvo
's trio began headlining at The Haig, thus leaving no need to keep the grand piano that had been brought in for Erroll Garner
's stay at the club.
Faced with a dilemma of what to do for a rhythm section, Mulligan decided to build on earlier experiments and perform as a pianoless quartet with Baker on trumpet, Bob Whitlock on bass and Chico Hamilton
on drums (later Mulligan himself would occasionally double on piano). Baker's melodic style fit well with Mulligan's, leading them to create improvised contrapuntal textures free from the rigid confines of a piano-enforced chordal structure. While novel at the time in sound and style, this ethos of contrapuntal group improvisation hearkened back to the formative days of jazz. Despite their very different backgrounds, Mulligan a classically-trained New Yorker and Baker from Oklahoma and a much more instinctive player, they had an almost psychic rapport and Mulligan later remarked that, "I had never experienced anything like that before and not really since." Their dates at the Haig became sell-outs and the recordings they made in the fall of 1952 became major sellers that led to significant acclaim for Mulligan and Baker.
This fortuitous collaboration came to an abrupt end with Mulligan's arrest on narcotics charges in mid-1953 that led to six months at Sheriff's Honor Farm. Both Mulligan and Baker had followed the example of their peers and become heroin addicts. However, while Mulligan was in prison, Baker transformed his lyrical trumpet style, gentle tenor voice and matinee-idol looks into independent stardom. Thus when upon his release Mulligan attempted to rehire Baker, the trumpeter declined the offer for financial reasons. They did briefly reunite at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival
and would occasionally get together for performances and recordings up through a 1974 performance at Carnegie Hall
. But in later years their relationship became strained as Mulligan, with considerable effort, would manage to kick his habit, while Baker's addiction would bedevil him professionally and personally almost constantly until his death in 1988.
replacing Baker, although Mulligan and Brookmeyer both occasionally played piano. This quartet structure remained the core of Mulligan's groups throughout the rest of the 1950s with sporadic personnel changes and expansions of the group with trumpeters Jon Eardley
and Art Farmer
, saxophonists Zoot Sims
, Al Cohn
and Lee Konitz
, and vocalist Annie Ross
. In 1957, Mulligan and his wife, Arlyne Brown Mulligan (daughter of composer Lew Brown
), had a son, Reed Brown Mulligan.
Mulligan also studied Piano with Suezenne Fordham, who was a member of the inner circle of Jazz players in NY. She was sought out by jazz musicians of the era to coach them to improve their piano technique. She and Mulligan also had a personal relationship from 1966 through 1972.
Mulligan also performed as a soloist or sideman (often in festival settings) with a veritable Who's Who of late 50s jazz artists: Paul Desmond
, Duke Ellington
, Ben Webster
, Johnny Hodges
, Jimmy Witherspoon
, André Previn
, Billie Holiday
, Marian McPartland
, Louis Armstrong
, Count Basie
, Stan Getz
, Thelonious Monk
, Fletcher Henderson
, Manny Albam
, Quincy Jones
, Kai Winding
, Miles Davis
, and Dave Brubeck
. Mulligan appears in Art Kane
's celebrated A Great Day in Harlem
portrait of 57 major jazz musicians taken in August 1958.
Mulligan formed his first "Concert Jazz Band" in the Spring of 1960. Partly an attempt to revisit the ornate arrangements of big band music in a smaller setting, the band varied in size and personnel, with the core group being six brass, five reeds (including Mulligan) and a pianoless two-piece rhythm section. The membership included (at various times, among others): trumpeters Conte Candoli
, Nick Travis
, Clark Terry
, Don Ferrara, Al Derisi, Thad Jones
and Doc Severinsen
, saxophonists Zoot Sims
Jimmy Ryder, Gene Allen
, Bobby Donovan, Phil Woods
and Gene Quill
, trombonists Willie Dennis
, Alan Raph and Bob Brookmeyer
, drummers Mel Lewis
and Gus Johnson
, and bassists Buddy Clark
and Bill Crow
. The band also recorded an album of songs sung by Gerry's close friend Judy Holliday
in 1961. The band toured and recorded extensively through the end of 1964, ultimately producing five albums for Verve records
.
Mulligan resumed work with small groups in 1962 and appeared with other groups sporadically (notably in festival situations). Mulligan would continue to work intermittently in small group settings until the end of his life, although performing dates started to become more infrequent during the mid '60s. After Dave Brubeck
's quartet broke up in 1967, Mulligan began appearing regularly with Brubeck as the "Gerry Mulligan / Dave Brubeck Quartet" through 1973. Thereafter, Mulligan and Brubeck would work together sporadically until the final year of Mulligan's life.
In 1971, Mulligan created his most significant work for big band in over a decade for the album The Age of Steam. At various times in the 70's he performed with Charles Mingus
. The Concert Jazz Band was "reformed" in 1978 and toured at various times through the '80s.
's String Jazz Quartet, a 1959 orchestra album with André Previn
and a 1965 album of the Gerry Mulligan Quintet and Strings. In 1974, Mulligan collaborated with famed Argentine musician Ástor Piazzolla
. While in Milan for the recording sessions, Mulligan met his future wife, Countess Franca Rota Borghini Baldovinetti, a freelance photojournalist and reporter. In 1975, Mulligan recorded a string album with Italian composer Enrico Intra.
Mulligan's more serious work with orchestra began in May 1970 with a performance of Dave Brubeck's oratorio, The Light in the Wilderness with Erich Kunzel
and the Cincinnati Symphony.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Mulligan worked to build and promote a repertoire of baritone saxophone
music for orchestra. In 1973, Mulligan commissioned composer Frank Proto
to write a Saxophone Concerto that was premiered with the Cincinnati Symphony. In 1977, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
commissioned Harry Freedman
to write the saxophone concerto Celebration which was performed by Mulligan with the CBC Symphony. In 1982, Zubin Mehta
invited Mulligan to play soprano saxophone in a New York Philharmonic performance of Ravel
's Bolero
.
In 1984, Mulligan commissioned Harry Freedman
to write The Sax Chronicles which was an arrangement of some of Mulligan's melodies in pastiche styles. In April of that year, Mulligan was a soloist with the New American Orchestra in Los Angeles for the premier of Patrick Williams' Spring Wings.
In June 1984, Mulligan completed and performed his first orchestral commission, Entente for Baritone Saxophone and Orchestra, with the Filarmonia Venetia. In October, Mulligan performed Entente and The Sax Chronicles with the London Symphony Orchestra
.
In 1987, Mulligan adapted K-4 Pacific (from his 1971 Age of Steam big band recording) for quartet with orchestra and performed it beside Entente with the Israel Philharmonic
in Tel Aviv
with Zubin Mehta
conducting. Mulligan's orchestral appearances at the time also included the Houston Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic
.
1988 saw the premier of Mulligan's Octet for Sea Cliff a chamber work commissioned by the Sea Cliff Chamber Players. In 1991 the Concordia Orchestra premiered Momo's Clock, a work for orchestra (without saxophone solo) that was inspired by a book by German author Michael Ende
.
In June 1988, Mulligan was invited to be the first-ever Composer-in-Residence at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival
and was commissioned to write a work, which he entitled The Flying Scotsman. In 1991, Mulligan contacted Miles Davis
about revisiting the music from the germane 1949 Birth of the Cool album. Davis had recently performed some of his Gil Evans
collaborations with Quincy Jones
at the Montreux Jazz Festival
and was enthusiastic. However, Davis died from a stroke
in September and Mulligan continued the recording project and tour with Wallace Roney
and Art Farmer
subbing for Davis. Re-Birth of the Cool (released in 1992) featured the charts from Birth of the Cool, and a new nonet which included Lewis and Barber from the original Davis band. Mulligan appeared at the Brecon Jazz Festival
1991. Mulligan's final recording was a quartet album (with guests), Dragonfly, recorded in the Summer of 1995 and released on the Telarc label. Mulligan gave his final performance on the 13th Annual Floating Jazz Festival, SS Norway, Caribbean Cruise, November 9, 1995.
Mulligan died in Darien, Connecticut
on January 20, 1996 at the age of 68 following complications from knee surgery. His widow Franca — to whom he had been married since 1976 — said he had also been suffering from liver cancer
. Upon Mulligan's death, his library and numerous personal effects (including a gold-plated Conn baritone saxophone) were given to the Library of Congress
. 'The Gerry Mulligan Collection' is open to registered public researchers in the library's Performing Arts Research Center. The library placed Mulligan's saxophone on permanent exhibit in early 2009.
's orchestra playing alto saxophone in the 1946 RKO short film Follow That Music. Mulligan had small roles in the films I Want to Live!
(1958 - as a jazz combo member), The Rat Race
(1960 - in which he appears as a tenor saxophonist instead of playing his usual baritone sax), The Subterraneans (1960) and Bells Are Ringing
(1960). Mulligan also performed numerous times on television in a variety of settings during his career.
As a film composer, Mulligan wrote music for A Thousand Clowns
(1965 - title theme) the film version of the Broadway comedy Luv (1967), the French films La Menace (1977) and Les Petites galères (1977 - with Ástor Piazzolla
) and I'm Not Rappaport
(1996 - title theme).
In 1974 Mulligan collaborated on a musical version of Anita Loos
' play Happy Birthday
. Although the creative team had great hopes for the work, it never made it past a workshop production at the University of Alabama. In 1978, Mulligan wrote incidental music for Dale Wasserman
's Broadway play Play with Fire.
In 1995 the Hal Leonard Corporation released the video tape The Gerry Mulligan Workshop - A Master Class on Jazz and Its Legendary Players.
With Charles Mingus
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
saxophonist, clarinetist, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists
Baritone saxophone
The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz
Cool jazz
Cool is a style of modern jazz music that arose following the Second World War. It is characterized by its relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the bebop style that preceded it...
– he was also a notable arranger, working with Claude Thornhill
Claude Thornhill
Claude Thornhill was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader...
, Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
, and others. Mulligan's pianoless quartet of the early 1950s with trumpeter Chet Baker
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
is still regarded as one of the more important cool jazz
Cool jazz
Cool is a style of modern jazz music that arose following the Second World War. It is characterized by its relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the bebop style that preceded it...
groups. Mulligan was also a skilled pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and played several other reed instruments. Mulligan reportedly had a relationship with actress Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday was an American actress.Holliday began her career as part of a night-club act, before working in Broadway plays and musicals...
until she died in 1965, and with actress Sandy Dennis
Sandy Dennis
Sandra Dale “Sandy” Dennis was an American theater and film actress. In 1966, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.-Early life:...
from 1965 until they broke up in 1976.
Early life and career
Gerry Mulligan was born in Queens Village, Queens, New York, the son of George and Louise Mulligan. His father was a Wilmington, DelawareWilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
native of Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
descent; his mother a Philadelphia native of half Irish and half German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
descent. Gerry was the last of four sons: George, Phil, Don and Gerry.
George Mulligan's career as an engineer necessitated frequent moves through numerous cities. When Gerry was less than a year old, the family moved to Marion, Ohio
Marion, Ohio
Marion is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Marion County. The municipality is located in north-central Ohio, approximately north of Columbus....
, where his father accepted a job with the Marion Power Shovel Company.
With the demands of a large home and four young boys to raise, Mulligan's mother hired an African-American nanny
Nanny
A nanny, childminder or child care provider, is an individual who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service...
named Lily Rose, who became especially fond of the youngest Mulligan. As he became older, Mulligan began spending time at Rose's house and was especially amused by Rose's player piano
Player piano
A player piano is a self-playing piano, containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism that operates the piano action via pre-programmed music perforated paper, or in rare instances, metallic rolls. The rise of the player piano grew with the rise of the mass-produced piano for the home in...
, which Mulligan later recalled as having rolls by numerous players, including Fats Waller
Fats Waller
Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
. Black musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s sometimes came through town, and because many motels wouldn't take them, they often had to stay at homes within the black community. The young Mulligan occasionally met such musicians staying at Rose's home.
The family's moves continued with stops in southern New Jersey (where Mulligan lived with his maternal grandmother), Chicago, Illinois, and Kalamazoo, Michigan
Kalamazoo, Michigan
The area on which the modern city stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture, who migrated into the area sometime before the first millennium. Evidence of their early residency remains in the form of a small mound in downtown's Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to...
, where Mulligan lived for three years and attended Catholic school
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
. When the school moved into a new building and established music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
courses, Mulligan decided to play clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
in the school's nascent orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
. Mulligan made an attempt at arranging with the Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
song "Lover
Lover (song)
"Lover" is a popular song written by Richard Rodgers, with words by Lorenz Hart. It was featured in the movie Love Me Tonight . Les Paul's version was a guitar instrumental released by Capitol Records in 1948. It has a french title Partout Toi...
", but the arrangement was seized prior to its first reading by an overzealous nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
who was taken aback by the title on the arrangement.
When Gerry Mulligan was 14, his family moved to Detroit and then to Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
. While in Reading, Mulligan began studying clarinet with dance-band musician Sammy Correnti, who also encouraged Mulligan's interest in arranging. Mulligan also began playing saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
professionally in dance bands in Philadelphia, an hour and a half or so away.
The Mulligan family next moved to Philadelphia, where Gerry attended the West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys
West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys
West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys open it doors in 1916 and was located on 49th between Chestnut and Market Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
and organized a school big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
, for which he also wrote arrangements. When Mulligan was sixteen, he approached Johnny Warrington at local radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
WCAU
WPHT
WPHT is a CBS Radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, broadcasting on 1210 kHz. A 50,000-watt clear-channel station, it broadcasts in an omnidirectional pattern that allows it to cover most of the eastern half of North America at night. It uses the nickname "Talk Radio 1210 WPHT." The...
about writing arrangements for the station's house band. Warrington was impressed and began buying Mulligan's arrangements.
Mulligan dropped out of high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
during his senior year to pursue work with a touring band. He contacted bandleader Tommy Tucker when Tucker was visiting Philadelphia's Earle Theatre. While Tucker did not need an additional reedman, he was looking for an arranger and Mulligan was hired at $100 a week to do two or three arrangements a week (including all copying). At the conclusion of Mulligan's three-month contract, Tucker told Mulligan that he should move on to another band that was a little less "tame". Mulligan went back to Philadelphia and began writing for Elliot Lawrence
Elliot Lawrence
Elliot Lawrence is an American jazz pianist and bandleader.Son of the broadcaster Stan Lee Broza, Lawrence led his first dance band at age 20, but he played swing at the time its heyday was coming to a close. He recorded copiously as a bandleader for Columbia, Decca, King, Fantasy, Vik, and Sesac...
, a pianist
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and composer who had taken over for Warrington as the band leader at WCAU.
Mulligan moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in January 1946 and joined the arranging staff on Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...
's bop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
-tinged band. Notable arrangements of Mulligan's work with Krupa include "Birdhouse", "Disc Jockey Jump" and an arrangement of "How High the Moon
How High the Moon
"How High the Moon" is a jazz standard with lyrics by Nancy Hamilton and music by Morgan Lewis. It was first featured in the 1940 Broadway revue Two for the Show, where it was sung by Alfred Drake and Frances Comstock....
" that quoted Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
's "Ornithology
Ornithology (composition)
"Ornithology" is a jazz standard by bebop alto saxophonist Charlie Parker and trumpeter Benny Harris.Its title is a reference to Parker's nickname, "Bird"...
"
as a countermelody.
Mulligan next began arranging for the Claude Thornhill
Claude Thornhill
Claude Thornhill was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader...
Orchestra, occasionally sitting in as a member of the reed section. Thornhill's arranging staff included Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
, whom Mulligan had met while working with the Krupa band. Mulligan eventually began living with Evans, at the time that Evans' apartment on West 55th Street
55th Street (Manhattan)
55th Street is a two-mile-long, one-way street traveling east to west across Midtown Manhattan.-Sutton Place South:*The route officially begins at Sutton Place South which is on a hill overlooking FDR Drive....
became a regular hangout for a number of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musicians working on creating a new jazz idiom.
Birth of the Cool
In September 1948, Miles DavisMiles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
formed a nine-piece band that featured arrangements by Mulligan, Evans and John Lewis
John Lewis (pianist)
John Aaron Lewis was an American jazz pianist and composer best known as the musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet.- Early life:...
. The band initially consisted of Davis on trumpet, Mulligan on baritone saxophone
Baritone saxophone
The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
, trombonist
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
Mike Zwerin
Mike Zwerin
Mike Zwerin was an American cool jazz musician and author. Zwerin as a musician played the trombone and bass trumpet within various jazz ensembles. He was active within the jazz and prog. jazz musical community as a session musician...
, alto saxophonist
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...
, Junior Collins
Junior Collins
Addison Collins, Jr. was an American French horn player.A member of Glenn Miller's Army Air Force band, and Claude Thornhill's orchestra, he went on to play with Charlie Parker, Gerry Mulligan and others....
on French horn, tubist
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
Bill Barber
Bill Barber (musician)
John William Barber, known as Bill Barber or Billy Barber is considered by many to be the first person to play tuba in modern jazz. He is best known for his work with Miles Davis on albums such as Birth of the Cool, Sketches of Spain and Miles Ahead...
, pianist John Lewis, bassist Al McKibbon
Al McKibbon
Al McKibbon was an American jazz double bassist, known for his work in bop, hard bop, and Latin jazz.In 1947, after working with Lucky Millinder, Tab Smith, J. C. Heard, and Coleman Hawkins, he replaced Ray Brown in Dizzy Gillespie's band, in which he played until 1950...
and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
.
The band only played a handful of live performances (a two week engagement at the Royal Roost
Royal Roost
-History:Ralph Watkins originally opened the Royal Roost as a chicken restaurant. After a difficult start, Watkins was persuaded by Sid Torin to try presenting modern jazz at the club. Beginning in 1948 the club began to showcase the likes of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Dexter...
jazz club and two nights at the Clique Club). However, over the next couple of years, Davis reformed the nonet on three occasions to record twelve pieces for release as singles. These were eventually compiled on a Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
album, titled Birth of the Cool
Birth of the Cool
Birth of the Cool is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1957 on Capitol Records. It compiles twelve songs recorded by Davis's nonet for the label over the course of three sessions during 1949 and 1950...
. Mulligan wrote and arranged three of the tunes recorded ("Rocker," "Venus de Milo," and "Jeru," the latter named after himself), and arranged a further three ("Deception," "Godchild," and "Darn That Dream").
He was also (with Davis, Konitz and Barber) one of only four musicians who played on all the recordings. Despite the chilly reception by audiences of 1949, the Davis nonet has been judged by history as one of the most influential groups in jazz history, creating a sound that, despite its East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
origins, became known as West Coast Jazz
West coast jazz
West Coast jazz refers to various styles of jazz music that developed around Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a sub-genre of cool jazz, which featured a less frenetic, calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music tended to be more heavily arranged,...
.
During his period of occasional work with the Davis nonet between 1949 and 1951, Mulligan also regularly performed with and arranged for trombonist Kai Winding
Kai Winding
Kai Chresten Winding was a popular Danish-born American trombonist and jazz composer. He is well known for a successful collaboration with fellow trombonist J. J. Johnson.-Biography:...
. Mulligan's composition "Elevation" and his arrangement of "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
"Between the devil and the deep blue sea" is an idiom meaning a dilemma—i.e., to choose between two undesirable situations .-Possible origins:...
" were recorded by Mulligan's old boss, Elliott Lawrence. This brought Mulligan additional recognition. Mulligan also arranged for and recorded with bands led by Georgie Auld
Georgie Auld
Georgie Auld was a jazz tenor saxophonist, clarinetist and bandleader.Auld was born John Altwerger in Toronto...
and Chubby Jackson
Chubby Jackson
Greig Stewart 'Chubby' Jackson was an American jazz double-bassist and band leader.Born in New York City, Jackson began at the age of seventeen as a clarinetist, but quickly changed to bass....
.
In September, 1951, Mulligan recorded the first album under his own name, Mulligan Plays Mulligan. By this point, he had mastered a melodic and linear playing style, inspired by Lester Young
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
, that he would retain for the rest of his career.
In the spring of 1952, Mulligan became more desperate for remunerative employment
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
and headed west to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
with his girlfriend, pianist Gail Madden. Through an acquaintance with arranger Bob Graettinger, Mulligan started writing arrangements for Stan Kenton's
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
Orchestra. While most of Mulligan's work for Kenton were pedestrian arrangements that Kenton needed to fill out money-making dance performances, Mulligan was able to throw in some more substantial original works along the way. His compositions "Walking Shoes" and "Young Blood" stand out as embodiments of the contrapuntal style that became Mulligan's signature. His sound or tone (timbre) was likened to a tweed cloth.
The Pianoless Quartet with Chet Baker
While arranging for Kenton, Mulligan began performing on off-nights at The HaigThe Haig
-History:Located across from the Ambassador Hotel, the club was originally a bungalow home, which was then converted by owner John Bennett into a club. In its time, Erroll Garner, Shorty Rogers, Red Norvo, Laurindo Almeida, and Bud Shank all played the club...
, a small jazz club on Wilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named for Henry Gaylord Wilshire , an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, and gold mining. Henry Wilshire initiated what was to become Wilshire...
at Kenmore Street. During the Monday night jam sessions, a young trumpeter named Chet Baker
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
began sitting in with Mulligan. Mulligan and Baker began recording together, although they were unsatisfied with the results. Around that time, vibraphonist Red Norvo
Red Norvo
Red Norvo was one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba and later the vibraphone as viable jazz instruments...
's trio began headlining at The Haig, thus leaving no need to keep the grand piano that had been brought in for Erroll Garner
Erroll Garner
Erroll Louis Garner was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad "Misty", has become a jazz standard...
's stay at the club.
Faced with a dilemma of what to do for a rhythm section, Mulligan decided to build on earlier experiments and perform as a pianoless quartet with Baker on trumpet, Bob Whitlock on bass and Chico Hamilton
Chico Hamilton
Chico Hamilton , is an American jazz drummer and bandleader.-Early life through 1960s:Hamilton was born in Los Angeles, California. He had a fast-track musical education in a band with Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet, Ernie Royal, Dexter Gordon, Buddy Collette and Jack Kelso...
on drums (later Mulligan himself would occasionally double on piano). Baker's melodic style fit well with Mulligan's, leading them to create improvised contrapuntal textures free from the rigid confines of a piano-enforced chordal structure. While novel at the time in sound and style, this ethos of contrapuntal group improvisation hearkened back to the formative days of jazz. Despite their very different backgrounds, Mulligan a classically-trained New Yorker and Baker from Oklahoma and a much more instinctive player, they had an almost psychic rapport and Mulligan later remarked that, "I had never experienced anything like that before and not really since." Their dates at the Haig became sell-outs and the recordings they made in the fall of 1952 became major sellers that led to significant acclaim for Mulligan and Baker.
This fortuitous collaboration came to an abrupt end with Mulligan's arrest on narcotics charges in mid-1953 that led to six months at Sheriff's Honor Farm. Both Mulligan and Baker had followed the example of their peers and become heroin addicts. However, while Mulligan was in prison, Baker transformed his lyrical trumpet style, gentle tenor voice and matinee-idol looks into independent stardom. Thus when upon his release Mulligan attempted to rehire Baker, the trumpeter declined the offer for financial reasons. They did briefly reunite at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard, who, together with husband Louis Lorillard, financed the festival for many years. The couple hired jazz impresario George Wein to organize the...
and would occasionally get together for performances and recordings up through a 1974 performance at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
. But in later years their relationship became strained as Mulligan, with considerable effort, would manage to kick his habit, while Baker's addiction would bedevil him professionally and personally almost constantly until his death in 1988.
Middle career
Mulligan continued the quartet format with valve trombonist Bob BrookmeyerBob Brookmeyer
Robert Brookmeyer is an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer.-Biography:Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. He later worked with Jimmy Giuffre...
replacing Baker, although Mulligan and Brookmeyer both occasionally played piano. This quartet structure remained the core of Mulligan's groups throughout the rest of the 1950s with sporadic personnel changes and expansions of the group with trumpeters Jon Eardley
Jon Eardley
Jon Eardley was an American jazz trumpeter.Eardley first started on trumpet at the age of 11; his father had played in Paul Whiteman's orchestra. He played in an Air Force band in Washington, D.C. from 1946 to 1949, then played with his own quartet in D.C. from 1950 to 1953...
and Art Farmer
Art Farmer
Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...
, saxophonists Zoot Sims
Zoot Sims
John Haley "Zoot" Sims was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor and soprano.-Biography:He was born in Inglewood, California, the son of vaudeville performers Kate Haley and John Sims. Growing up in a performing family, Sims learned to play both drums and clarinet at an early age...
, Al Cohn
Al Cohn
Al Cohn was an American jazz saxophonist and arranger and composer.-Biography:Alvin Gilbert Cohn was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was initially known in the 1940s for playing in Woody Herman's Second Herd as one of the Four Brothers, along with Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, and Serge Chaloff...
and Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...
, and vocalist Annie Ross
Annie Ross
Annie Ross is an English jazz singer, and actress, best known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.-Early years:...
. In 1957, Mulligan and his wife, Arlyne Brown Mulligan (daughter of composer Lew Brown
Lew Brown
Lew Brown was a lyricist for popular songs in the United States.Brown was born as Louis Brownstein in Odessa, Russian Empire...
), had a son, Reed Brown Mulligan.
Mulligan also studied Piano with Suezenne Fordham, who was a member of the inner circle of Jazz players in NY. She was sought out by jazz musicians of the era to coach them to improve their piano technique. She and Mulligan also had a personal relationship from 1966 through 1972.
Mulligan also performed as a soloist or sideman (often in festival settings) with a veritable Who's Who of late 50s jazz artists: Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond , born Paul Emil Breitenfeld, was a jazz alto saxophonist and composer born in San Francisco, best known for the work he did in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for penning that group's greatest hit, "Take Five"...
, Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, Ben Webster
Ben Webster
Benjamin Francis Webster , a.k.a. "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young...
, Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges
John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...
, Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.-Early life and career:James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during...
, André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
, Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
, Marian McPartland
Marian McPartland
Margaret Marian McPartland, OBE is an English-born jazz pianist, composer, writer, and the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio, NPR.-Early life:...
, Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
, Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
, Fletcher Henderson
Fletcher Henderson
James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. His was one of the most prolific black orchestras and his influence was vast...
, Manny Albam
Manny Albam
Manny Albam was a jazz baritone saxophone player who eventually put the instrument down in favour of a long and respected career as an arranger, writer, and teacher.-Biography:The son of Lithuanian immigrants, who was born in the Dominican Republic when his mother went into labour en route...
, Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, Kai Winding
Kai Winding
Kai Chresten Winding was a popular Danish-born American trombonist and jazz composer. He is well known for a successful collaboration with fellow trombonist J. J. Johnson.-Biography:...
, Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, and Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck
David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
. Mulligan appears in Art Kane
Art Kane
Art Kane , born Arthur Kanofsky in New York City, was a fashion and music photographer active from the 1950s through early 1990s...
's celebrated A Great Day in Harlem
A Great Day in Harlem
A Great Day in Harlem or Harlem 1958 is a 1958 black and white group portrait of 57 notable jazz musicians photographed on a street in Harlem, New York City. The photo has remained an important object in the study of the history of jazz....
portrait of 57 major jazz musicians taken in August 1958.
Mulligan formed his first "Concert Jazz Band" in the Spring of 1960. Partly an attempt to revisit the ornate arrangements of big band music in a smaller setting, the band varied in size and personnel, with the core group being six brass, five reeds (including Mulligan) and a pianoless two-piece rhythm section. The membership included (at various times, among others): trumpeters Conte Candoli
Conte Candoli
Secondo "Conte" Candoli was an American jazz trumpeter based on the West Coast. He played in the big bands of Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, and Dizzy Gillespie, and in Doc Severinsen's NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show. He played with Gerry Mulligan, and on Frank Sinatra's TV specials...
, Nick Travis
Nick Travis
Nick Travis was an American jazz trumpeter.Travis started playing professionally at age 15, playing in the early 1940s with Johnny McGhee, Vido Musso , Mitch Ayres, and Woody Herman...
, Clark Terry
Clark Terry
Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...
, Don Ferrara, Al Derisi, Thad Jones
Thad Jones
Thaddeus Joseph Jones was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader.-Biography:Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan to a musical family of ten . Thad Jones was a self taught musician, performing professionally by the age of sixteen...
and Doc Severinsen
Doc Severinsen
Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen is an American pop and jazz trumpeter. He is best known for leading the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.-Early life:...
, saxophonists Zoot Sims
Zoot Sims
John Haley "Zoot" Sims was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor and soprano.-Biography:He was born in Inglewood, California, the son of vaudeville performers Kate Haley and John Sims. Growing up in a performing family, Sims learned to play both drums and clarinet at an early age...
Jimmy Ryder, Gene Allen
Gene Allen
Eugene Allen is an American art director.He followed his father, and became a Los Angeles Police officer after he was laid off from his first job as a sketch artist. After serving in the United States Navy during World War II, Allen went to art school to pursue his career...
, Bobby Donovan, Phil Woods
Phil Woods
Philip Wells Woods is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.-Biography:...
and Gene Quill
Gene Quill
Daniel Eugene Quill was an American alto saxophonist known for his bebop jazz records with Phil Woods. He and Woods recorded as Phil and Quill...
, trombonists Willie Dennis
Willie Dennis
Willie Dennis was an American jazz trombonist known as a big band musician but was also an influential bebop soloist...
, Alan Raph and Bob Brookmeyer
Bob Brookmeyer
Robert Brookmeyer is an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer.-Biography:Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. He later worked with Jimmy Giuffre...
, drummers Mel Lewis
Mel Lewis
Mel Lewis was an American drummer, jazz musician and band leader. He was born Melvin Sokoloff in Buffalo, New York to Russian immigrant parents....
and Gus Johnson
Gus Johnson (jazz musician)
Gus Johnson was the drummer in various jazz bands, including that of Jay McShann for many years. In the 1960s he played for saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and accompanied singer Ella Fitzgerald in her 1960 concert in Berlin...
, and bassists Buddy Clark
Buddy Clark
Buddy Clark was a popular American singer in the 1930s and 1940s.-Life and career:Clark was born Samuel Goldberg to Jewish parents in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He made his Big Band singing debut in 1934 with Benny Goodman on the Let's Dance radio program. In 1936 he started to perform on the...
and Bill Crow
Bill Crow
Bill Crow is an American jazz bassist and author.Crow was born in Othello, Washington in the United States of America, but spent his childhood in Kirkland, Washington. After high school, he briefly played sousaphone at the University of Washington in Seattle...
. The band also recorded an album of songs sung by Gerry's close friend Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday was an American actress.Holliday began her career as part of a night-club act, before working in Broadway plays and musicals...
in 1961. The band toured and recorded extensively through the end of 1964, ultimately producing five albums for Verve records
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
.
Mulligan resumed work with small groups in 1962 and appeared with other groups sporadically (notably in festival situations). Mulligan would continue to work intermittently in small group settings until the end of his life, although performing dates started to become more infrequent during the mid '60s. After Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck
David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
's quartet broke up in 1967, Mulligan began appearing regularly with Brubeck as the "Gerry Mulligan / Dave Brubeck Quartet" through 1973. Thereafter, Mulligan and Brubeck would work together sporadically until the final year of Mulligan's life.
In 1971, Mulligan created his most significant work for big band in over a decade for the album The Age of Steam. At various times in the 70's he performed with Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
. The Concert Jazz Band was "reformed" in 1978 and toured at various times through the '80s.
Orchestral work
Mulligan, like many jazz musicians of his era, occasionally recorded with strings. Notable dates include 1957 recordings with Vinnie BurkeVinnie Burke
Vinnie Burke was an American jazz bassist born in Newark, New Jersey.Burke played violin and guitar early in life, but while fighting in World War II he the use of his pinky finger and switched to bass. In the second half of the 1940s he played with Joe Mooney, Tony Scott, and Cy Coleman...
's String Jazz Quartet, a 1959 orchestra album with André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
and a 1965 album of the Gerry Mulligan Quintet and Strings. In 1974, Mulligan collaborated with famed Argentine musician Ástor Piazzolla
Ástor Piazzolla
Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music...
. While in Milan for the recording sessions, Mulligan met his future wife, Countess Franca Rota Borghini Baldovinetti, a freelance photojournalist and reporter. In 1975, Mulligan recorded a string album with Italian composer Enrico Intra.
Mulligan's more serious work with orchestra began in May 1970 with a performance of Dave Brubeck's oratorio, The Light in the Wilderness with Erich Kunzel
Erich Kunzel
Erich Kunzel, Jr. was an American orchestra conductor. Called the "Prince of Pops" by the Chicago Tribune, he performed with a number of leading pops and symphony orchestras, especially the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra , which he led for over 44 years.-Early life and career:Kunzel was born to...
and the Cincinnati Symphony.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Mulligan worked to build and promote a repertoire of baritone saxophone
Baritone saxophone
The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
music for orchestra. In 1973, Mulligan commissioned composer Frank Proto
Frank Proto
Frank Proto American composer and bassist. Proto was born on July 18, 1941, Brooklyn, New York. Double Bass student of Fred Zimmermann and David Walter. Graduate of the Manhattan School of Music 1966 Master of Music. Self-taught composer...
to write a Saxophone Concerto that was premiered with the Cincinnati Symphony. In 1977, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
commissioned Harry Freedman
Harry Freedman
Harry Freedman , was a Canadian composer, english hornist, and music educator of Polish birth. He wrote a significant amount of symphonic works, including several film scores, and also composed a substantial amount of chamber music...
to write the saxophone concerto Celebration which was performed by Mulligan with the CBC Symphony. In 1982, Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
invited Mulligan to play soprano saxophone in a New York Philharmonic performance of Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
's Bolero
Bolero
Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...
.
In 1984, Mulligan commissioned Harry Freedman
Harry Freedman
Harry Freedman , was a Canadian composer, english hornist, and music educator of Polish birth. He wrote a significant amount of symphonic works, including several film scores, and also composed a substantial amount of chamber music...
to write The Sax Chronicles which was an arrangement of some of Mulligan's melodies in pastiche styles. In April of that year, Mulligan was a soloist with the New American Orchestra in Los Angeles for the premier of Patrick Williams' Spring Wings.
In June 1984, Mulligan completed and performed his first orchestral commission, Entente for Baritone Saxophone and Orchestra, with the Filarmonia Venetia. In October, Mulligan performed Entente and The Sax Chronicles with the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
.
In 1987, Mulligan adapted K-4 Pacific (from his 1971 Age of Steam big band recording) for quartet with orchestra and performed it beside Entente with the Israel Philharmonic
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is the leading symphony orchestra in Israel. It was originally known as the Palestine Orchestra, and in Hebrew as התזמורת הסימפונית הארץ ישראלית The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit...
in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
with Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
conducting. Mulligan's orchestral appearances at the time also included the Houston Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
.
1988 saw the premier of Mulligan's Octet for Sea Cliff a chamber work commissioned by the Sea Cliff Chamber Players. In 1991 the Concordia Orchestra premiered Momo's Clock, a work for orchestra (without saxophone solo) that was inspired by a book by German author Michael Ende
Michael Ende
Michael Andreas Helmuth Ende was a German author of fantasy and children's literature. He is best known for his epic fantasy work The Neverending Story; other famous works include Momo and Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver...
.
Later career
Throughout Mulligan's orchestral work and until the end of his life, Mulligan maintained an active career performing and recording jazz - usually with a quartet that included a piano.In June 1988, Mulligan was invited to be the first-ever Composer-in-Residence at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival
Glasgow International Jazz Festival
Glasgow International Jazz Festival is a jazz festival in Glasgow, Scotland.-Main Festival:One of the biggest jazz festivals in Europe, the Glasgow International Jazz Festival is held annually in June in the Merchant City area of Glasgow...
and was commissioned to write a work, which he entitled The Flying Scotsman. In 1991, Mulligan contacted Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
about revisiting the music from the germane 1949 Birth of the Cool album. Davis had recently performed some of his Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
collaborations with Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
at the Montreux Jazz Festival
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva...
and was enthusiastic. However, Davis died from a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
in September and Mulligan continued the recording project and tour with Wallace Roney
Wallace Roney
Wallace Roney is an American hard bop and post-bop trumpeter.Roney took lessons from Clark Terry and Dizzy Gillespie and studied with Miles Davis from 1985 until the latter's death in 1991...
and Art Farmer
Art Farmer
Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...
subbing for Davis. Re-Birth of the Cool (released in 1992) featured the charts from Birth of the Cool, and a new nonet which included Lewis and Barber from the original Davis band. Mulligan appeared at the Brecon Jazz Festival
Brecon Jazz Festival
Brecon Jazz Festival is a music festival held on an annual basis in the rural surroundings of Brecon, in south Powys, Mid Wales. Normally staged in early August, it plays host to a range of jazz musicians who travel from across the world to take part and to many visiting tourists who are attracted...
1991. Mulligan's final recording was a quartet album (with guests), Dragonfly, recorded in the Summer of 1995 and released on the Telarc label. Mulligan gave his final performance on the 13th Annual Floating Jazz Festival, SS Norway, Caribbean Cruise, November 9, 1995.
Mulligan died in Darien, Connecticut
Darien, Connecticut
Darien is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. A relatively small community on Connecticut's "Gold Coast", the population was 20,732 at the 2010 census. Darien was listed at #9 at CNN Money's list of "top-earning towns" in the United States as of 2011...
on January 20, 1996 at the age of 68 following complications from knee surgery. His widow Franca — to whom he had been married since 1976 — said he had also been suffering from liver cancer
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either a viral hepatitide infection or cirrhosis .Compared to other cancers, HCC is quite a rare tumor in the United States...
. Upon Mulligan's death, his library and numerous personal effects (including a gold-plated Conn baritone saxophone) were given to the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
. 'The Gerry Mulligan Collection' is open to registered public researchers in the library's Performing Arts Research Center. The library placed Mulligan's saxophone on permanent exhibit in early 2009.
Theatre and film
Mulligan's first film appearance was probably with Gene KrupaGene Krupa
Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...
's orchestra playing alto saxophone in the 1946 RKO short film Follow That Music. Mulligan had small roles in the films I Want to Live!
I Want to Live!
I Want to Live! is a 1958 film noir produced by Walter Wanger and directed by Robert Wise which tells the heavily fictionalized story of a woman, Barbara Graham, convicted of murder and facing execution. It stars Susan Hayward as Graham, and also features Simon Oakland, Stafford Repp, and Theodore...
(1958 - as a jazz combo member), The Rat Race
The Rat Race
The Rat Race is a 1960 American drama film directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds as struggling young entertainment professionals in New York City. Filming took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.- Plot :...
(1960 - in which he appears as a tenor saxophonist instead of playing his usual baritone sax), The Subterraneans (1960) and Bells Are Ringing
Bells Are Ringing (film)
Bells Are Ringing is a 1960 romantic comedy-musical film directed by Vincente Minnelli. It stars Judy Holliday and Dean Martin.-Synopsis:Based on the successful 1956 Broadway production of the same name by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jule Styne, the film focuses on Ella Peterson, who works in...
(1960). Mulligan also performed numerous times on television in a variety of settings during his career.
As a film composer, Mulligan wrote music for A Thousand Clowns
A Thousand Clowns
A Thousand Clowns is a 1962 American play by Herb Gardner, which tells the story of a young boy who lives with his eccentric uncle Murray, who is forced to conform to society in order to keep custody of the boy. A 1965 movie version was adapted from the play by Gardner and directed by Fred Coe.-...
(1965 - title theme) the film version of the Broadway comedy Luv (1967), the French films La Menace (1977) and Les Petites galères (1977 - with Ástor Piazzolla
Ástor Piazzolla
Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music...
) and I'm Not Rappaport
I'm Not Rappaport (film)
I'm Not Rappaport is 1996 film adaptation by Herb Gardner of his play by the same name. Also directed by Gardner, the film starred Walter Matthau, Ossie Davis, Amy Irving, Craig T...
(1996 - title theme).
In 1974 Mulligan collaborated on a musical version of Anita Loos
Anita Loos
Anita Loos was an American screenwriter, playwright and author.-Early life:Born Corinne Anita Loos in Sisson, California , where her father, R. Beers Loos, had opened a tabloid newspaper for which her mother, Minerva "Minnie" Smith did most of the work of a newspaper publisher...
' play Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday (play)
Happy Birthday is a play written by Anita Loos. It opened on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre on October 31, 1946 and closed on March 13, 1948, after 564 performances. It starred Helen Hayes, for whom it was written. The story involves Addie, a mousy librarian who becomes enamoured of a handsome...
. Although the creative team had great hopes for the work, it never made it past a workshop production at the University of Alabama. In 1978, Mulligan wrote incidental music for Dale Wasserman
Dale Wasserman
Dale Wasserman was an American playwright. -Early life:Dale Wasserman was born in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and was orphaned at the age of nine. He lived in a state orphanage and with an older brother in South Dakota before he "hit the rails". He later said:-Career:Wasserman worked in various...
's Broadway play Play with Fire.
In 1995 the Hal Leonard Corporation released the video tape The Gerry Mulligan Workshop - A Master Class on Jazz and Its Legendary Players.
Awards
- 1981 Grammy Award (Best Jazz Instrumental Performance by a Big Band) for Walk on the Water
- Grammy nominations for the albums The Age of Steam, For an Unfinished Woman and Soft Lights and Sweet Music
- 1982 The Birth of the Cool album inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame
- 1982 Connecticut Arts Award
- 1984 Viotti Prize (Vercelli, Italy)
- 1984 inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame
- 1988 Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
- 1989 received keys to the city of Trieste, Italy
- 1990 Philadelphia Music Foundation Hall of Fame
- 1991 American Jazz Hall of Fame
- 1992 Lionel Hampton School of Music Hall of Fame
- 1992 Guest composer at the Mertens Contemporary American Composer's Festival, University of Bridgeport, Connecticut
- 1994 Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame
- 1995 Artists Committee for the Kennedy Center Honors for the Performing Arts
- 42 consecutive years (1953–1995) winning the Down Beat magazine reader's poll for outstanding baritone saxophonist
As leader
- 1950: The Gerry Mulligan Quartet/Gerry Mulligan with the Chubby Jackson Big Band - The big band sides are from 1950, the band led by bassist Jackson included Howard McGheeHoward McGheeHoward McGhee was one of the very first bebop jazz trumpeters, together with Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro and Idrees Sulieman. He was known for lightning-fast fingers and very high notes...
, Zoot SimsZoot SimsJohn Haley "Zoot" Sims was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor and soprano.-Biography:He was born in Inglewood, California, the son of vaudeville performers Kate Haley and John Sims. Growing up in a performing family, Sims learned to play both drums and clarinet at an early age...
, and trombonist J. J. Johnson. The quartet sides, with Chet BakerChet BakerChesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
were recorded at two sessions in 1952. - 1951: Historically Speaking
- 1951: Mulligan Plays Mulligan - Mulligan's first session as leader
- 1953: The Original Quartet With Chet Baker -2-CD collection of the recordings of the pianoless quartet with Chico HamiltonChico HamiltonChico Hamilton , is an American jazz drummer and bandleader.-Early life through 1960s:Hamilton was born in Los Angeles, California. He had a fast-track musical education in a band with Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet, Ernie Royal, Dexter Gordon, Buddy Collette and Jack Kelso...
for Pacific Jazz - 1953: Konitz Meets Mulligan (with Chet BakerChet BakerChesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
- 1954: Gerry Mulligan quartet: Pleyel Concert - (2 CD, with Bob BrookmeyerBob BrookmeyerRobert Brookmeyer is an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer.-Biography:Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. He later worked with Jimmy Giuffre...
(v.trb.), Red MitchellRed MitchellKeith Moore "Red" Mitchell Keith Moore "Red" Mitchell Keith Moore "Red" Mitchell (September 20, 1927, New York City - November 8, 1992, Salem, Oregon, was an American jazz double-bassist, composer, lyricist, and poet. He was the brother of Whitey Mitchell....
(b), Frank IsolaFrank IsolaFrank Isola was an American jazz drummer. Died in Detroit, Michigan, on December 12, 2004.Isola was born and raised in Detroit and was heavily influenced by Gene Krupa. He played in the U.S. military during World War II , and then studied and performed in California with Bobby Sherwood and Earle...
(d) - 1956: At Storyville ( Quartet, live in Boston, Mulligan plays piano on some tracks,
- 1957: Reunion with Chet Baker
- 1957: Mulligan Meets MonkMulligan Meets MonkMulligan Meets Monk is a jazz album by saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and pianist Thelonious Monk, originally released in 1957. It has been reissued numerous times on CD...
(with Thelonious MonkThelonious MonkThelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
as co-leader) - 1957: Blues in Time (Quartet with Paul DesmondPaul DesmondPaul Desmond , born Paul Emil Breitenfeld, was a jazz alto saxophonist and composer born in San Francisco, best known for the work he did in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for penning that group's greatest hit, "Take Five"...
Verve recordsVerve RecordsVerve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
, released on CD as Gerry Mulligan/Paul Desmond Quartet) - 1957: Getz Meets Mulligan in Hi-Fi (with Stan GetzStan GetzStanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
(t.sax), Lou LevyLou Levy (pianist)Louis A. Levy , generally known as Lou Levy, was a bebop-based pianist who worked with many top jazz artists, later coming to embrace the cool jazz medium and playing in that style as well .Levy was born to Jewish parents in Chicago and started playing piano when he was 12...
(p), Ray BrownRay Brown (musician)Raymond Matthews Brown was an American jazz double bassist.-Biography:Ray Brown was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and had piano lessons from the age of eight. After noticing how many pianists attended his high school, he thought of taking up the trombone, but was unable to afford one...
(b), Stan LeveyStan LeveyStan Levey was an American jazz drummer. Born in Philadelphia, Levey is considered one of the earliest bebop drummers, one of the very few white drummers involved in the formative years of bebop and accepted as one of bop's most important drummers, along with Kenny Clarke and Max Roach...
(d). - 1958: Jazz Giants '58Jazz Giants '58Jazz Giants '58 is a 1958 album featuring Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan and Harry "Sweets" Edison, accompanied by a trio led by Oscar Peterson...
(Verve) - 1958: What Is There to Say?What Is There to Say?What Is There to Say? is a 1959 album by Gerry Mulligan. Allmusic's Scott Yanow states "The last of the pianoless quartet albums that Gerry Mulligan recorded in the 1950s is one of the best" and "Virtually every selection is memorable, with "What Is There to Say," "Just in Time," "Festive Minor,"...
- 1959: Gerry Mulligan Meets Ben WebsterGerry Mulligan Meets Ben WebsterGerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster, also simply called Meets Ben Webster, is a 1959 album featuring the November 3 - December 2 studio sessions of American jazz musicians Gerry Mulligan and Ben Webster. In a 2003 review, All That Jazz described this album as the most notable example of Gerry...
(with Ben WebsterBen WebsterBenjamin Francis Webster , a.k.a. "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young...
(t.sax), Jimmy RowlesJimmy RowlesJimmy Rowles was an American jazz pianist who was best known as an accompanist. He also released a number of albums under his own name, and explored various idioms including swing and cool jazz. - Biography :Born in Spokane, Washington, Rowles studied at Gonzaga College in Spokane, Washington...
(p), Leroy VinnegarLeroy VinnegarLeroy Vinnegar was an American jazz bassist.Born in Indianapolis, the self-taught Vinnegar established his reputation in Los Angeles during the 1950s and 1960s. His trademark was the rhythmic "walking" bass line, a steady series of ascending or descending notes, and it brought him the nickname...
(b), Mel LewisMel LewisMel Lewis was an American drummer, jazz musician and band leader. He was born Melvin Sokoloff in Buffalo, New York to Russian immigrant parents....
(d). - 1960: Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band at the Village Vanguard (with a big band driven by drummer Mel LewisMel LewisMel Lewis was an American drummer, jazz musician and band leader. He was born Melvin Sokoloff in Buffalo, New York to Russian immigrant parents....
) - 1962: Live at the Olympia Paris
- 1962: The Gerry Mulligan Quartets - Complete Studio Rec. with Bob BrookmeyerBob BrookmeyerRobert Brookmeyer is an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer.-Biography:Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. He later worked with Jimmy Giuffre...
(v.trb & p) /Chet BakerChet BakerChesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
(trp), Bill CrowBill CrowBill Crow is an American jazz bassist and author.Crow was born in Othello, Washington in the United States of America, but spent his childhood in Kirkland, Washington. After high school, he briefly played sousaphone at the University of Washington in Seattle...
/Henry GrimesHenry GrimesHenry Grimes is a jazz double bassist, violinist, and poet.After more than a decade of activity and performance, notably as a leading bassist in free jazz, Grimes completely disappeared from the music scene by 1970...
(b), Gus JohnsonGus Johnson (jazz musician)Gus Johnson was the drummer in various jazz bands, including that of Jay McShann for many years. In the 1960s he played for saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and accompanied singer Ella Fitzgerald in her 1960 concert in Berlin...
/Dave BaileyDave Bailey (musician)Samuel David "Dave" Bailey is an American jazz drummer.Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Bailey studied drumming in New York City at the Music Center Conservatory following his stint in the Air Force in World War II...
(d). - 1963: Jeru (with Tommy FlanaganTommy FlanaganThomas Lee Flanagan was an American jazz pianist born in Detroit, Michigan, particularly remembered for his work with Ella Fitzgerald...
, Ben Tucker, Dave BaileyDave Bailey (musician)Samuel David "Dave" Bailey is an American jazz drummer.Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Bailey studied drumming in New York City at the Music Center Conservatory following his stint in the Air Force in World War II...
) - 1963: The Great Gerry Mulligan (Crown RecordsCrown Records-Modern Records subsidiary:One Crown Records was a Budget Albums record label founded as a subsidiary of Modern Records.-Singles:* 19??: "Musso's Boogie" b/w "Sing Sing Sing" * 19??: "???" b/w "???" * 19??: "???" b/w "???"...
) - 1963: Night Lights (with trumpeter Art FarmerArt FarmerArthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...
, Bob BrookmeyerBob BrookmeyerRobert Brookmeyer is an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer.-Biography:Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. He later worked with Jimmy Giuffre...
(v.trb), Jim HallJim Hall (musician)James Stanley Hall is an American jazz guitarist.-Biography:Educated at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Hall moved to Los Angeles where he began to attract national, and then international, attention in the late 1950s...
(g). - 1964: Feelin' Good (Limelight RecordsLimelight RecordsLimelight Records was a subsidiary label of Mercury Records. Originally headed by Quincy Jones, its activities were directed by the producer Jack Tracy...
) - 1964: Complete Studio Recordings- The Gerry Mulligan Sextet with Art FarmerArt FarmerArthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...
, Bob BrookmeyerBob BrookmeyerRobert Brookmeyer is an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer.-Biography:Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. He later worked with Jimmy Giuffre...
, Jim HallJim Hall (musician)James Stanley Hall is an American jazz guitarist.-Biography:Educated at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Hall moved to Los Angeles where he began to attract national, and then international, attention in the late 1950s...
(g), Bill CrowBill CrowBill Crow is an American jazz bassist and author.Crow was born in Othello, Washington in the United States of America, but spent his childhood in Kirkland, Washington. After high school, he briefly played sousaphone at the University of Washington in Seattle...
(b), Dave BaileyDave Bailey (musician)Samuel David "Dave" Bailey is an American jazz drummer.Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Bailey studied drumming in New York City at the Music Center Conservatory following his stint in the Air Force in World War II...
(d). - 1965: If You Can't Beat 'Em,Join 'Em, (Limelight Series)
- 1970: Live at the Berlin Philharmonie (with the Dave BrubeckDave BrubeckDavid Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
Trio) - 1971: Age of Steam Gerry Mulligan and his Orchestra
- 1974: Summit with Astor PiazzollaÁstor PiazzollaÁstor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music...
(bnd), Angel Pocho Gatti (p), Giuseppe Prestipino (Pino PrestiPino PrestiPino Presti is an Italian bassist, arranger, composer, conductor, record producer, born in Milan....
) (elb), Tullio De PiscopoTullio De PiscopoTullio De Piscopo is an Italian drummer and singer.De Piscopo was born the son of a drummer in an orchestra. In 1969 he moved to Turin, where he began a successful career as drummer for several popular artists, including Gerry Mulligan, Ástor Piazzolla, Aldemaro Romero, Gato Barbieri, Mina, Lucio...
(d), Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli (1st violin) and Strings Orchestra. - 1974: Gerry Muligan/Chet Baker: Carnegie Hall Concert (with Chet BakerChet BakerChesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
(trp), Ed Byrne (trb), Bob JamesBob James (musician)Robert McElhiney James is a jazz keyboardist, arranger and producer.-Biography:During the 1970s, Bob James played a major role in establishing the smooth jazz genre. "Angela", the instrumental theme from the sitcom Taxi, is probably Bob James' most well-known work to date...
(p), John ScofieldJohn ScofieldJohn Scofield , often referred to as "Sco," is an American jazz guitarist and composer, who has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mavis Staples, Phil Lesh, Billy Cobham,...
(g), Ron CarterRon CarterRon Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...
(b), Harvey MasonHarvey MasonHarvey William Mason is an American jazz drummer. He has worked with many jazz and fusion artists such as Bob James, The Brecker Brothers, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and almost all the Mizell Brothers productions with Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, Bobbi Humphrey and Gary Bartz...
(d), Dave SamuelsDave SamuelsDave Samuels is an American vibraphone player who has worked with various jazz and fusion artists, such as Spyro Gyra. Currently, he plays in an ensemble called The Caribbean Jazz Project, a Grammy-winning jazz-Latin music group...
(vb). - 1976: Gerry Mulligan meets Enrico Intra with Enrico Intra (p), Giancarlo Barigozzi (f), Sergio Farina (g), Pino PrestiPino PrestiPino Presti is an Italian bassist, arranger, composer, conductor, record producer, born in Milan....
(b), Tullio De PiscopoTullio De PiscopoTullio De Piscopo is an Italian drummer and singer.De Piscopo was born the son of a drummer in an orchestra. In 1969 he moved to Turin, where he began a successful career as drummer for several popular artists, including Gerry Mulligan, Ástor Piazzolla, Aldemaro Romero, Gato Barbieri, Mina, Lucio...
(d) - 1990: Lonesome Boulevard
- 1992: Re-Birth of the Cool
- 1993: Billy Taylor and Gerry Mulligan: Live at MCG (live, with pianist Billy TaylorBilly TaylorBilly Taylor was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and since 1994, he was the artistic director for jazz at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in...
at Manchester Craftsmen's GuildManchester Craftsmen's GuildManchester Craftsmen's Guild is a nonprofit multi-discipline art, education and music organization established in 1968 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, with the address of 1815 Metropolitan St. 15233...
(MCG) in Pittsburgh) - 1993: Paraiso with Brazilian singer Jane Duboc
- 1995: Dragonfly The final recordings
As sideman
With Miles DavisMiles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
- ConceptionConception (album)Conception is a compilation album issued in 1951 as PRLP 7013, featuring Miles Davis on a number of tracks. The album features other notable musicians such as Lee Konitz, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan and Zoot Sims. All the pieces were recorded at the famous Van Gelder Studio...
(1951) - Birth of the CoolBirth of the CoolBirth of the Cool is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1957 on Capitol Records. It compiles twelve songs recorded by Davis's nonet for the label over the course of three sessions during 1949 and 1950...
(1957)
With Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
- Charles Mingus and Friends in ConcertCharles Mingus and Friends in ConcertCharles Mingus and Friends in Concert is a live album by jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus recorded at the Philharmonic hall of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 1972 and released on the Columbia label...
(Columbia, 1972)
External links
- The Gerry Mulligan Collection at the Library of Congress
- A site with information on Mulligan and all the great Jazz Baritone Saxophonists
- Craig Allan Hanley's repository of Mulligan liner notes, articles and information
- Excerpts from Mulligan's oral autobiography at the Library of Congress
- Biography of Gerry Mulligan on his publishing company's website
- An extensive Mulligan discography and record of performances by Gérard Dugelay and Kenneth Hallqvist
- Mulligan's 1996 NY Times Obituary
- [ Gerry Mulligan] at Allmusic