1. Entente
2. The Sax Chronicles Part 1
3. Song For Strayhorn - Cool Jazz Hot Summer
4. The Sax Chronicles Part 2
5. K-4 Pacific

February 6-7, 1987

 LINER NOTES

The dictionary definition of entente is: an understanding or agreement, and that's what I was aiming for, a meeting of the minds between the solo instrument for jazz and the symphony.

"K-4 Pacific" and "Song for Strayhorn" are numbers that I like to do with my Quartet. I scored the arrangement of "K-4" and I am bowled over by the way Erich and the Houston Symphony Orchestra (and the Quartet, too, for that matter!) play it here. I adapted an arrangement by Tom Fay of my "Song for Strayhorn", which is of course dedicated to the memory of Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington.

"The Sax Chronicles" came about because Harry Freedman got tired of my complaining that Bach and Mozart (among others) never wrote anything for the baritone sax. He determined to make settings for some of my melodies in the styles of various favorite composers. There are some jazz elements in "The Chronicles", especially in the Bach, but mostly Harry just lets me enjoy being part of the orchestral sonorities of the various styles and eras. Altogether "The Chronicles" are a sort of revisionist (and imaginary) history of the role of the baritone sax in classical music.

When I asked Steve Vining, who supervised this whole project, whether he intended to include any audience reaction on the album, he assured me that his past experience told him that listeners would rather not have applause on their albums. I can appreciate this I told him, but don't forget, the listener may get tired of hearing the applause, the performer. . never!

-Gerry Mulligan

GERRY MULLIGAN
One of the most widely respected and admired jazz musicians of our time, Gerry Mulligan occupies a unique place in the American musical scene. Soloist, composer, arranger and conductor, he has played a most important role in the history of modern jazz and contemporary music. Stints with the big bands of Thornhill and Krupa, performances with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis, Charles Mingus, and Thelonius Monk, his development of the "pianoless quartet" with Chet Baker spawning the West Coast 'cool school' and his work on the seminal Miles Davis 'Birth of the Cool' recording have made the name of Gerry Mulligan synonymous with innovative music worldwide.

As well as his activities in jazz, he is also building the repertory of symphonic music for the baritone sax and in 1984 completed his first composition for symphony orchestra and solo saxophone, entitled Entente for Baritone Saxophone and Orchestra.

In February 1985 the Entente was performed in New York by the American Composer's Orchestra under the direction of Dennis Russell Davis at Alice Tully hall.

Gerry Mulligan commissioned Harry Freedman, the eminent Canadian composer, to write a piece for him, entitled "The Sax Chronicles," arranging some of Mulligan's melodies in the styles of Bach, Brahms, Mozart, etc., as if the baritone sax existed in their days.

In October 1984, he opened his European tour at the Royal Festival Hall in London with the London Symphony Orchestra, where he performed the Entente and The Sax Chronicles.

ERICH KUNZEL
Conductor of the Rochester Pops, The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Indianapolis Pops, Buffalo Philharmonic Pops, Toronto Symphony Promenades, and the Winnipeg Symphony Pops, Erich Kunzel, also appears regularly on the podiums of the Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Cleveland Orchestra. He has appeared as guest conductor of the Boston Pops every year since his debut there on June 10, 1970, which has included over seventy performances in Symphony Hall and on tour in the United States and England.

His many chart topping recordings on ProArte with the Rochester Pops Orchestra attest to the magic Erich Kunzel works and his popular status as 'King of Digital Pops' as was noted by Digital Audio Magazine.

from the LP

As well as his activities in jazz, Gerry Mulligan is helping to build the repertory of symphonic music for the baritone sax and in 1984 completed his first composition for symphony orchestra and solo saxophone ("Entente"). "Entente" and "The Sax Chronicles" were first performed in a series of concerts with the Philharmonia Veneta (Treviso, Italy) conducted by the American conductor, Rico Saccani (June, 1984). In October, 1984, he opened his European tour at the Royal Festival Hall in London with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michel Sasson of La Scala, Milan, where he performed both the Entente and the Chronicles.

Besides the Houston concerts, Erich Kunzel has conducted the music in this album in Cincinnati (October, 1985) and two evenings at Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (August, 1984). "Entente" was first performed in New York (February, 1985) at a concert of the American Composer's Orchestra under the direction of Dennis Russell Davies. Mr. Davies also conducted "Entente" at Saratoga, New York with the Philadelphia Orchestra (August, 1986). Other performances include the National Symphony, Washington, D.C., conducted by Fabbio Machetti, the Reading Symphony, conducted by Henry Goss and the 1987 carnival in Venice with the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice.

Zubin Mehta conducted "Entente" and "K-4 Pacific" in a concert of the Israel Philharmonic on July 4th, 1987 in Tel Aviv. An unexpected highlight of this program occurred when Itzhak Perlman joined the Gerry Mulligan Quartet for an improvisation. Additional performances have been with the Stockholm Philharmonic in Sweden and Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg in Munich in April, 1987.