Gerry Mulligan project [EN]

Gerry Mulligan (1927-1996)

Gerry Mulligan was born in Queens Village, Long Island, New York. Not long thereafter his family moved to Marion, Ohio, where his father took a job as general manager of a machine factory. The family hired an African-American woman as nanny for young Gerry, and at her house he spent quite some time. There, Gerry listened to music on their player piano -- the nanny had for instance Fats Waller piano rolls -- and started to pick out his first tunes on piano.

When his family had moved to Kalamazoo, Gerry got the chance to learn to play an instrument. He chose for the clarinet, and played in the school’s orchestra. After yet another move, this time to Reading, north of Philadelphia, Mulligan took clarinet lessons and turned to saxophone as well. In addition, he got interested in arranging, and before long, he was selling his first charts to a Philadelphia-based radio orchestra, headed by Johnny Warrington. Other arranging jobs ensued, and Mulligan wrote charts for Tommy Tucker, George Paxton and Elliott Lawrence, among others. In 1946, now relocated to New York, he joined the orchestra of former Benny Goodman-drummer Gene Krupa as staff-arranger, and there he met Gil Evans.

Later that year Mulligan started to work for Claude Thornhill’s orchestra as well, like Gil Evans, while occasionally sitting in with the reed section, on alto. For Thornhill, Mulligan wrote a number of arrangements and originals (Elevation), including a handful that were apparently never recorded: an arrangement of Broadway and the originals Joost at the Roost, The Major and the Minor, and Brew’s Tune.   As explained elsewhere, Thornhill’s band was the precursor of the Miles Davis Nonet. In the Nonet, Gerry’s first work on baritone can be heard. But Mulligan’s stamp on the Birth of the Cool sessions went well beyond his section work and occasional solos. No less than six of the twelve tracks are his: the arrangements of Godchild, Deception and Darn That Dream, and the originals Jeru, Rocker and Venus de Milo. His nonet-version of Joost at the Roost was not recorded.

Although those recordings took place in 1949 and 1950, it would take another year before his work on baritone was truly noticed. As leader of the Gerry Mulligan New Stars he recorded for Prestige, and those sides clearly display his individual sound. In Mulligan’s hands the baritone sounds remarkably light, or “cool” as some would have it. His virtuosity, speed and agility on the instrument seem to betray the effort it takes to play this large instrument.   Next, Mulligan traveled to Los Angeles, where he wrote arrangements for Stan Kenton and worked various jobs at the coast’s famous clubs, including The Lighthouse and The Haig. In both his writing and playing, Mulligan more and more turned to counterpoint (i.e., relatively independent moving melodic lines) and consequently he felt that he could better express himself without piano accompaniment. Around the same time he met trumpeter Chet Baker and they founded their famous pianoless quartet. Known as the Gerry Mulligan Quartet featuring Chet Baker, the group caught on quickly and before long, Mulligan and Baker were celebrities.   After serving time for narcotics possession, Mulligan returned in the 1950s with various other quartets (usually pianoless), alternately joining up with others, including valve-trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, trumpeter Jon Eardly, tenorist Zoot Sims and later trumpeter Art Farmer. He recorded with numerous musicians, including Thelonious Monk, Paul Desmond, Stan Getz, Ben Webster and Johnny Hodges.   In 1960 Mulligan founded the Concert Jazz Band which remained active until 1964. This orchestra enabled him to combine all his musical passions: composing and arranging, as well as playing baritone and piano. From 1968 he toured on and off for four years with the Dave Brubeck Quartet. In 1971 he founded another big band, known as The Age of Steam Orchestra. In-between he continue to tour and record with his own quartets, while doing numerous incidental gigs with a wide variety of other musicians. In 1992 he organized a new Gerry Mulligan Tentet (featuring Art Farmer and Lee Konitz) for a Re-Birth of the Cool Tour, performing the famous “Birth of the Cool” repertoire, as well as new works written by Mulligan.

 Gerry Mulligan - Dutch Jazz Orchestra CDs

Special thanks to

Franca R. Mulligan,

Cathie Phillips,

Mulligan Publishing Co.,

Jeff Sultanof,

David Joyner,

Fred Stride,

the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies

Books

Jeru: In the words of Gerry Mulligan - An Oral Autobiography

Horricks, Raymond. Gerry Mulligan.