The Arranger

1. How High The Moon
2. Disc Jockey Jump - The Bebop Era
3. Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
4. Elevation - The Bebop Era
5. *Thruway
6. All The Things You Are
7. Mullenium
8. *Motel

Mullenium

May 21, 1946 see "Young Mulligan"

January 22, 1947 see "Young Mulligan"

The Bebop Era

October 10, 1949

April 13, 1949

5 & 7 - April 19
6 & 8 - 20, 1957

 LINER NOTES

Everybody knows that Gerry Mulligan is a saxophonist - most often to be heard on the baritone sax - but he's also a pianist, a composer, an arranger and a bandleader. This album focuses on two important stages in the course of his career as an arranger. The first aspect is exemplified by four items which are representative of his manner in the late 40's, when he was only twenty years and worked for Gene Krupa and Elliot Lawrence. The following four pieces, so far unissued except for Thruway, were recorded in the 50's by a big band put together by Gerry in New York.

During the ten years between those two series, Gerry wrote and arranged for several bands, including the Miles Davis Nonet, Charlie Parker's strings and Claude Thornhill's Orchestra. He also went to California where, in 1952, he gained worldwide recognition with his piano-less Quartet. Later, in 1955, he put up his Sextet.

Needless to say, the four pieces of the 50's reflect the evolution of those different stages. Gerry had also made sure to pick some of his favorite musicians for the occasion, among them such stylists as Lee Konitz, Zoot Sims and Bob Brookmeyer. He also liked his trumpet line. "Their togetherness," he says, "reminded me of Ellington's trombone section in the 30's. Lawrence Brown, Juan Tizol and Joe Nanton each had a very different style, yet together they produced an amazing overall sound." The same remark applies to Don Joseph, Dan Ferrara, Phil Sunkel and Jerry Lloyd (formerly Jerry Hurwitz, a trumpet player very much in demand around New York in the 40's). Each of them possesses a strong musical personality, yet their ensemble work is unique

Surely the orchestration of All The Things You Are is one of Gerry's most engaging score. Although primarily meant to emphasize Don Joseph's delicate feeling as a melodist, this arrangement on Jerome Kern's famous evergreen seems to develop into an original composition unmistakably stamped by the personality of Mulligan the arranger. The chord progression of the song is ideally suited to Gerry's refined harmonic taste, as witness the ensamble of the last chorus, whose precision reminds us of the fact that Mulligan is also an expert and demanding bandleader. Here he really gets the very best of his band in all respects, particularly so far as timing, phrasing and respect of dynamics are concerned. The closeness of the different sections of the band, together with the blending of their respective colors, suggest a full organ with a subtle combination of stops. It makes it the more a pity that this superb band never had a chance to function regularly. Motel, Mullenium and Thruway obviously confront us with one of the most original of jazz arrangers. All those characteristics of Mulligan's style that were already discernible in his contributions to Krupa's and Lawrence's books have here come to full maturity. We note a supreme lightness of touch in the ensemble work, a taste for linear and multilinear melodies as well as an elegant strictness in the written parts that stands in sharp contrast with the freedom allowed the soloists when they improvise. Gerry also likes to make room for a certain form of collective improvisation or "spontaneous polyphony" (in Thruway, for instance), a taste he happily owes to his respect for traditional jazz.

Big bands are scarce nowadays and a lot of people the whole world over certainly wish there were more of them on the jazz scene. Not only those who are old enough to have enjoyed on the hoof, so to speak, the music of the 40's and the 50's, but also the younger set, the people in thier twenties and thirties who are now discovering it. Both age-groups should be happy with this album, which aptly illustrates one of the most authentic and specific aspects of a purely American musical world: the Big Band, with its seven brass, its five reeds and its rhythm section. One may well wonder how such a rigid formula can allow any latitude to original creativity. Because Gerry Mulligan is not only a brilliant soloist but also a superbly gifted composer and arranger, he has long known the answer to that question. This album makes it obvious.

Henri Renaud

THE BEBOP ERA

Although he certainly applied New twists and turns to jazz, no one took Jelly Roll Morton seriously when he claimed to have invented it. That was almost fifty years ago, when swing was all the rage and the top bandleaders were given m ovie star treatment by their fans and the press. Reduced to playing for the noisy patrons of a rather unglamorous Washington, D.C. bar, Morton knew that many fo the musical devicesthat threw jitterbugs into a frenzy on the dance floor had been pioneered by him in the twenties.

Today, "jazz" is a much broader term, often applies to sounds that bear little or no relationship to the music of Morton and his contemporaries. But bebop's place in jazz has never been questioned - well, at least not in the past 35 or 40 years.

There are no individual claims to the invention of bop, as we now call it. Like the jazz idioms that preceded it, the bop style came about through the creative afforts of many, although this time there exists a better record of how it all came about, and this collection contains performances by some of the most important early contributors - indeed, by some of the very musicians who shaped the concept. Think of this as a trip through the evolution of bop, from its very early phase, when its voice occasionally rose fron within a swing context, to the time it came into full bloom at places like Birdland.

In terms of jazz, bop and the "cool" West Coast sound that derived from it may well be the last stylisticdevelopments of any consequence. In the more that four decades since bop emerged, we have seen several attempts at taking jazz in a new direction, but none has really been successful - at least not artistically - nor have these new paths led to the musicality and substance that is evidenced here. It is a measure of bop's enduring quality that so many of tday's finest young musicians are devoted to its furtherance. Whether they will be able to contribute to its evolution remains to be seen.

DISC JOCKEY JUMP

By 1947 bop was clearly the musical language of the day, and even the most popular of all swing drummers, Gene krupa, had to give his band a healthy dash of the new ingredient. On "Disc Jocket jump" we hear clearly that Krupa's own drumming stayed deeply ensconced in the swing mold, but the Gerry Mulligan tune and the record's solos - most notably those by Charlie kennedy on alto and Don fagerquist on trumpet - were right up to date. Krupa remembered Mulligan from those days as "a kind of tempermental guy who wanted to expound a lot of his own ideas. This one," he said of "Disc Jockey Jump," "was good musically and commercially.

ELEVATION

In his hometown of Philadelphia, Elliot Lawrence used to lead the children's band on the WCAU Horn and Hardart Radio Hour, which was produced by his father, STanley Broza. When he was twenty, he took over the radio station's house band, whose arranger was a young man named Gerry Mulligan. Larwence himself did not make any conspicuous contribution to bop, but the association with Mulligan elevated his band beyond the dance floor. This 1949 Mulligan arrangement of a tune composed with lawrence contains many of the hot elements of swing, and is a far cry from the so-called "Birth of the Cool" sessions he recorded with Miles Davis just three months earlier. "Elevation" is quite reminiscent of earlier Woody herman charts, complete with tight, fiery ensembles and solos by Phil Urso, Vince Forrect, Joe Techner, Lawrence, and drummer Howie Mann riding high on the crests of brass waves.

MULLENIUM

If you say "baritone saxophone" to jazz listeners, the musician most often invoked is Gerry Mulligan (1927-1996) While we give due respect to such giants as Harry Carney, Serge Chaloff, Pepper Adams, John Surman, and others, the baritone and Mulligan nonetheless are virtually synonymous. It's difficult to think of another twentieth-century musician who so completely dominates the public's association of performer-with-instrument.

Part of the reason for Mulligan's fame is that he was more than a great player. He was equally innovative as a leader of ensembles ranging from quartets (especially his famous "pianoless" foursomes of the 1950's and '60's) to big bands. On all of these, Mulligan put his stamp as a composer and arranger. His groups were rarely casual affairs; the music they played was usually notable for its piquant harmonies, airy (and often contrapuntal) textures, and dancing rhythms.

What frequently goes unmentioned is that Mulligan, in fact, first made his mark as a composer-arranger, and furthermore, he did so at an astonishingly young age. When the Gene Krupa orchestra recorded Mulligan's arrangement of "How High the Moon" in May of 1946, Gerry was barely nineteen, but he already had gained valuable experience writing for the bands of radio station WCAU in Philadelphia (where he lived during his high-school years) and Tommy Tucker.

It's obvious that young Mulligan was already versed in the new language of bebop -hear the quotes from the bop anthem "Ornithology" in his arrangement of "Moon." (The soloists here are Charlie Kennedy, Dick Taylor, Red Rodney, and Charlie Ventura.) "Disc Jockey Jump," a Mulligan original recorded eight months later, is a further illustration of how precocious a writing talent Mulligan was. The theme itself is based on a combination of "You Can Depend on Me" (alias "Perdido") and altered "Honeysuckle Rose" (on the bridge) chord changes, and this time the solos are played by Kennedy, Taylor, Krupa, Buddy Wise, and Don Fagerquist. Both of these recordings announced to the jazz world the debut of an important new writer.

Mulligan spent the rest of the decade as an active participant on the New York scene. Among his activities were playing in and writing for the Elliot Lawrence and Claude Thornhill orchestras and the 1948-50 Miles Davis "Birth of the Cool" nonet. (He and fellow arranger Gil Evans played key roles conceiving and organizing the famed Davis composed and/or arranged seven of the twelve pieces that the group recorded for Capitol.) The Lawrence band was in reality the WCAU house band from Philadelphia; Lawrence had assumed leadership of it and moved it to New York. Mulligan became one of the band's principal arrangers-others included Tiny Kahn and, later, Al Cohnn and Johnny Mandel.

Heard in this collection are two Mulligan arrangements that Lawrence recorded for Columbia. "Elevation" is a shouting blues with solos by Phil Urso, Vince Forrest, Tom O'Neil, and Joe Techner. "Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea" is a very danceable treatment that features Sy Berger, Lawrence, Techner, Mulligan, and Urso. In addition to writing for the band and playing in its saxophone section, Mulligan also led a quintet from within the band (with Urso, Bob Karsh, O'Neil, and Howie Mann) that Lawrence featured on gigs. Mann recalls that in 1948, the Lawrence band shared a three-week billing with the Nat King Cole Trio at the Paramount Theater in New York. At the end of every show, Cole would sit in on piano with the big band; the climactic number was always "Elevation."

Lawrence's band lasted as a full-time entity from 1947 until May of 1951; it continued for several more years on a part-time basis. Eventually, the band recorded an album, Elliot Lawrence Plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements, for Fantasy.

Probably sometime in 1951, Mulligan hitchhiked to California and settled in Los Angeles. To make money as he established himself, he began writing arrangements for the Stan Kenton orchestra. Several of these pieces -most notably "Young Blood" and "Swing House"-were crucial in the evolution of the Kenton band and one of its writers, Bill Holman. As Holman told Ted Gioia in West Coast Jazz, "I knew I wanted to do something different from what it had been doing previously, but I knew that Stan was not interested in Basie types of charts. But the things Gerry Mulligan had done with the band gave me a glimmer of light of what could be done..," Mulligan's writing - swinging, modern, and often polyphonic-set the stage for a good deal of Kenton's music after 1952.

That year, Mulligan formed with trumpeter Chet Baker the first and most famous of his "pianoless" quartets. Within a year, both Mulligan and Baker had become stars and then, after a disagreement over money, parted company. Mulligan continued to lead similar quartets with valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer or trumpeter Jon Eardley, as well as a marvelous 1955-56 sextet with Brookmeyer, Eardley, tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims, and bass and drums.

Mulligan, however, had not abandoned his interest in writing for larger groups. In January of 1953, he recorded eight tentet sides in Los Angeles that effectively combined the pianoless quartet concept with "Birth of the Cool" instrumentation. And in April of 1957, he assembled an all-star New York lineup for two days of recording; for the occasion, Mulligan brought four of his own big-band arrangements. "Thruway" (based on the changes of "Broadway") features Mulligan on both piano and baritone, plus Jerry Lloyd, Brookmeyer, Don Joseph, Sims, and Lee Konitz. (On take 7, there is an extra trumpet solo, probably Don Ferrara, sandwiched between Lloyd and Brookmeyer.) Following the string of solos is a chorus of improvised counterpoint with Mulligan, Brookmeyer, and Konitz, then an insert: a contrapuntal chorus written by Brookmeyer. Concluding is a characteristic Mulligan ensemble.

"Motel" is a swift romp on "I Got Rhythm" changes. Both takes showcase Sims, Lloyd, Charlie Rouse, Brookmeyer, Mulligan, and Konitz. Mulligan's writing here is functional though, by his standards, not particularly inspired. The level of scoring inspiration, though, picks up noticeably on his exquisite treatment of "All the Things You Are," with solos by the leader, Konitz, and Joseph. Last is "Mullenium" ("I May be Wrong" with an altered "Honeysuckle Rose" bridge), with the leader doubling piano and baritone, plus Joseph, Brookmeyer, and after a change of key -Sims. The ensuing ensemble choruses are simple and irresistible.

Over forty years later, neither Brookmeyer nor producer George Avakian could remember why Mulligan never recorded enough arrangements with this band for a full album. Three years after these sessions, he formed his thirteen-piece Concert Jazz Band, one of the finest and most unique large jazz ensembles of the 1960's. In an interview he gave to Burt Korall at that time, Mulligan spoke revealingly: "Typical instrumentation-seven brass, five reeds, four rhythm -didn't work out; the sound was too heavy and full. The flexibility I had been so happy with in the small band was missing. We finally came up with our current set up -six brass, five reeds, drums, and bass-which allows for variety of tone color, and the flexibility and clarity of a small band."

Regardless of the sizes or types of bands he chose to write for, Gerry Mulligan belongs in the pantheon of jazz composer-arrangers. He left his imprint on every bar of score paper he touched, and his influence as both a writer and a player will last as long as jazz does.

-Bill Kirchner
April 1998

Bill Kirchner is a composer-arranger, saxophonist, record producer, educator, and leader of the Bill Kirchner Nonet He thanks George Avakian, Bob Brookmeyer, and Howie Mann for information used in preparing these notes.

ADDENDUM TO LINER NOTES:

Gerry Mulligan's 1957 big band session for Columbia had a strange fate. After George Avakian produced the original session, which amounted to a bit more than 26 minutes of music, he assembled a mono master reel of "Thruway" (take 6), "Mullenium" (take 6), "All The Things You Are" (take 5) and "Motel" (takes 5 & 4). For "Motel," he used essentially take 5, but substituted the solos by Charlie Rouse, Bob Brookmeyer and Lee Konitz from take 4. The chosen takes were never pulled from the stereo session reels. Apparently no release plans were made.

In the early sixties, Teo Macero assembled an anthology entitled Who's Who In The Swinging Sixties (CS 8565) and used the stereo take 7 of "Thruway." Finally, in 1977, Gerry Mulligan and Henri Renaud produced an album using this session. They used Avakian's mono master reel, probably unaware that stereo tape existed. To fill out the album, they added four charts that Mulligan had arranged for Columbia sessions by the bands of Elliot Lawrence and Gene Krupa. That album was aptly titled Gerry Mulligan-The Arranger (JC 34803).

For this release, we've gone back to the stereo originals, presenting both takes of "Motel" in full as they were performed (Zoot's solos alone are worth it) and using both takes of "Thruway." Since take 6 was the first chosen and take 7 the first issued, it seems silly to proclaim one the master and another the alternate, so we've used the take numbers for identification.

The forties Mulligan charts have been retained and newly transferred. In the process of going through the original acetates, we found a first take of "Disc Jockey Jump." which is decidedly faster than we are used to hearing it. It presents an interesting contrast to the celebrated master and is included here.

-Michael Cuscuna

April 1998