May 17, 1957

#1 Lists these as a 1955 recording

#5 has them as (The Tonight Show - New York, August 6, 1966)

 LINER NOTES

Born in 1927, Gerry was only a teenager when he joined the Gene Krupa Orchestra for which he wrote the famous Disc Jockey Jump. In 1948, he played with the legendary Miles Davis combo at the Royal Roost, and he took part in and arranged for this band when it made the great Capitol dates in 1949. He also played and arranged for Elliot Lawrence, Claude Thornhill and other important leaders before he moved to California in 1952. It was in that year that he formed the famous quartet that originally combined his baritone sax with Chet Baker's trumpet, Bob Whitlock's bass and the drums of Chico Hamilton. This piano-less group was regarded as something quite revolutionary in those days, and even if there had been important small groups making jazz history without piano before that, notably the great Bechet-Spanier Big Four in 1940, no doubt the Mulligan Quartet created something new and experienced an almost instant and deserved success.

THE YEAR-LONG Mulligan-Baker collaboration must be regarded as one of the truly great partnerships in modern jazz and when it came to an end, nobody believed it possible that Mulligan would be able to find the replacement necessary to maintain his particular brand of highly inventive and musically satisfying chamber jazz. But in valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer he found the man he needed.

While the restless and energetic Mulligan has worked with many formats and formulas, including a brilliant big band, he has again and again returned to the Quartet that was and still is such an important part of jazz lore.

The edition presented in Sweden in May, 1957 was one of the best versions ever put on display. Not only was the Swedish audience charmed by the beautiful sound of the quartet and the intricacies of its music, but it also turned out that Mulligan was quite a witty and intelligent showman with an effortless ability to slyly give his public the gentle put on and still not make it sound patronizing. You can check for yourself on these records!

THOUGH GENERALLY A PIANO-LESS QUARTET, the 1957 group really had two piano players, (Brook and Gerry) though only Mulligan can be heard on this performance. He plays piano on I Can't Get Started and Blue at The Roots. Of course, there was never a law against piano in Mulligan's music, but I think in the quartet he was aiming for the kind of instrumental interplay that would have been clogged if fed by heavy keyboard chords.

In the Stockholm concert, Mulligan presented a lot of well known quartet material, and it is very interesting to compare several of these numbers with their earlier studio versions. Most of the time the quartet is stretching out on the live performance, allowing more space for momentary improvisations, even if the group's sure sense of form never permits anything to get out of hand.

IT IS A VERY GOOD THING INDEED to have these great performances brought back to us. For the younger generation they might be quite a revelation. For many they will happily recall he enthusiasm that still prevailed on the jazz scene in the late Fifties. And again for others they might be a memento gloriously telling how rewarding this music really was, even if you might have felt a little cool to it 30 years ago.

LEIF ANDERSON (1987)

BIRTH OF THE COOL

Born in New York City on 6 April 1927, and brought up in Philadelphia, Gerry Mulligan started his career as a jazz pianist before graduating to playing alto and baritone saxophone, and also establishing a solid reputation for himself as a musical arranger. Gene Krupa and Claude Thornhill were among the bandleaders who identified his considerable musical talents and made full use of them during the late Forties.

While arranging for Thornhill, Mulligan met with another respected musical arranged Gil Evans and it proved to be the beginning of a long and successful association for the two men. In 1948 Mulligan and Evans worked extensively with Miles Davis, writing material for him as well as playing on recording sessions. During the early part of the following decade Mulligan also did musical arrangements for the legendary Stan Kenton as well as fronting his own jazz outfits.

In 1952 Mulligan teamed up with Chet Baker to form a quartet, although it proved to be a relatively short-lived outfit with Baker leaving the line-up the following year. Mulligan went on to form several other jazz outfits including one with Bob Brookmeyer later in the Fifties. As a composer, Mulligan's compositions during this period included Walkin' Shoes, Night At The Turntable, Jeru and Soft Shoe.

During the Sixties Gerry Mulligan's musical reputation continued to grow. He formed his own Concert Jazz Band and also worked and recorded with such respected jazz names as Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and Theolonius Monk. In the Seventies Mulligan formed a big band called Age of Steam but also continued to work with small jazz outfits, appearing in concert around the world. He also recorded a succession of quality albums that attracted good plaudits from the jazz critics and fans alike.

Gerry Mulligan's popularity has spanned six decades and his music has attracted the attentions of several generations of jazz music lovers. His career may never have hit the heights of commercial success achieved by some of his contemporaries but his name and music is revered among aficionados of the musical genre. This new collection is a well-deserved tribute to one of jazz music's great unsung heroes and a worthy addition to any jazz CD.