Europa Jazz 1034

roseroom
Ruby Braff, Bud Freeman, Osie Johnson, Benny Moten, Gerry Mulligan, Billy Taylor

Live Recording - 1961

 LINER NOTES

The jam session of the group led by Gerry Mulligan must be listened to without expecting a precise orchestration, which it would be understandable to expect from Gerry, but with the pleasure of discovering what the soloists are able to invent around a well-known theme when they are stimulated solely by one another, often counting on the preceding soloist to give them the right idea to develop. This is not an easy task, but it gives excellent results when the musicians are the right ones, even if they are a very mixed group. Ruby Braff, for example, was an exponent of the Dixieland revival, while Bud Freeman was one of the most typical representatives of Chicago jazz, Billy Taylor and Osie Johnson were boppers, Benny Moten was a swinger and, finally, Gerry Mulligan, the most difficult to label, was a musician on the borderline between West Coast jazz and cool jazz. Finding a common language among musicians who spoke such different languages was very difficult, but the result is remarkable, particularly since each is gifted with such great class. There is no doubt that above and beyond every style there is a universal language which joins all jazz artists together.