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New Gerry Mulligan Live


JohnS

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I'm not a Mulligan expert, but the starting place should be Miles's "Birth of the Cool" sessions.

Titles by Mulligan that I like include "Mulligan Meets Ben Webster" (Verve), "In Concert, Paris Olympia, 10/6/62" and "Concert Band" (RTE), and "Pleyel Concert" (Vogue) and his work with Chet Baker.

Hopefully, someone else will chime in, too...

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I have avoided the LPR series from Verve because they appear so shoddy. The one I have Dizzy's "Afro" comes in a flimsy cheap looking cover with poor printing , the music is pretty good but the sound is quite harsh. I am no audiofile so it must be quite bad for me to complain.

How is the sound the Mulligan issue and how likely is this box set ? :wacko:

Edited by Clunky
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Clunky,

It seems to me that the Dizzy "Afro" mini-lp was indeed in the flimsiest of jackets. The others are more sturdy, except maybe the Astrid Gilberto. I think they are replicating the actual dimensions and paper stocks of the original releases.

And I've found the sound on these to be quite thrilling for the most part. I'll have to relisten to the Gillespie disc again as I've not spent that much time with it. Alice Coltrane's "Universal Consciousness" has incredible sound, on my system. It makes my whole listening room vibrate. In a good way B)

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do these Verve LPR releases come with plastic inner sleeves like Japanese mini LP releases? that is smart so discs don't get all scuffed. The only mini-LP release I have is the Japanese CTI Summer Jazz At the Hollywood Bowl, I keep the discs in jewel cases and store the package in a plastic case.

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So, just out of curiosity, what would you buy first?  All I have is What is There to Say? and of course Monk Meets Mulligan.  What would you go with next?

The thread silthered off the topic a bit, but to answer Jazzmoose's question.. all the above are good recommendations, but I would suggest that the ONLY starting point for Muilligan are the Classic Pacific Jazz quartets. These are the recordings that established him, these contain the first recordings of many of his key compositions, and all are excellent, friendly to listen to performances ( was going to say Easy to listen to... but that might have given the wrong idea).But you can't go wrong with any of his Pacific Jazz recordings.

When I look at my record collection, I'm always surprised at how much Mulligan I have.. all the Quartets ? sextets are good.. hell it's all good

That being said the Concert Jazz band are often the discs I seem to turn to the most

Mosaic Select is projecting a 4 disc Mulligan, based arounfd the Gerry Mulligan Songbook vol 1 ( there never were any other volumes) which was a PJ set... so if you're into Mosaic selects, I'd by pass the Songbook.. excellent though it is, and wait for that.until

Edited by P.D.
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I agree with the above. Get the PJ Quartets with Chet Baker, post haste. Some of the recordings sound like they were made at the bottom of a well, but for the most part they are excellent and very important (there would be no Ornette Coleman pianoless quartets if it hadn't been for Mulligan). I also have the Concert Jazz Band CD and I agree that it is amazing. I also recommend any recording with Mulligan and Paul Desmond. They were great together. I also enjoy "Getz Meets Mulligan in Hi-Fi", although those Granz produced "meetings" can be a little tiring after a while (all those damned medleys!). This one has the novelty of Getz and Mulligan swapping horns for about half the album. Quite interesting. I think Mulligan was more comfortable with a tenor than Getz was with a bari, although he certainly doesn't suck! Also, check out the recordings Mulligan made with Dave Brubeck. "We're All Together Again For The First Time" boasts both Mulligan *and* Desmond, and has some very advanced soloing from Brubeck (he sounds like Cecil Taylor at times).

One Mulligan album I *don't* have is "What is There To Say", but I've been meaning to get it for a while.

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... but for the most part they are excellent and very important (there would be no Ornette Coleman pianoless quartets if it hadn't been for Mulligan).

Please elaborate on this comment. Are you saying that Ornette adopted this format (ie. no piano) because the Mulligan/Baker group made it somewhat "popular"? Is it not possible that Coleman could have (hypothetically) come to use the pianoless format, had the Mulligan/Baker group never existed. Your comment seems to hint that this group is one of major influence and pioneering in jazz and thus played a major factor in Ornette configuring his group in the way he did, back in the late fifties. In short, I guess I'm saying that although the connection between the groups may exist in the temporal sense (as Coleman's group arose shortly after Mulligan's), it doesn't necessarily connect in terms of the basic ideas the musicians had, in terms of the non-usage of piano. Or maybe I'm just totally oblivious to Ornette's motives and influences, I'm no expert in this area.

Edited by pryan
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Please elaborate on this comment...

At the very least, the popularity of the Mulligan quartet showed that it was possible to perform jazz without a chordal instrument (all small groups prior to the pianoless Mulligan quartet, to my knowledge, had either a piano or a guitar). It invited further exploration. Moreover, Coleman had spent time on the west coast during the heyday of the Mulligan group, so it is certainly not impossible to suppose that Coleman had at the very least listened to Mulligan and profited by his example.

I suppose it is possible that Coleman would have come to this conclusion on his own, without Mulligan's example, so I concede that you are right about my statement being a little strong. I meant to imply that Mulligan's band with Baker was an important one, and that it's influence was felt outside of "Cool" circles. There is a tendency (and I'm not accusing you of this) to assume that any and all developments in jazz have been made by African-American artists. As I'm sure you know, there are jazz demagogues who dismiss the Cool School out of hand: The music was too laid back. Not enough fire. It was, some would suggest, too WHITE. I'm certainly not suggesting that Coleman copied Mulligan, or that Mulligan is somehow more important to jazz than Coleman because he had the pianoless quartet idea first. And I'm not accusing you of reverse racisim. I just don't think that the idea that Mulligan could have influenced Coleman is so very far fetched. I also seem to recall reading in passing that Coleman *did* listen to and *was* influenced by Mulligan's quartet, although I don't remember the source at the moment. Any Coleman experts care to weigh in on this topic?

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Well, I'm no Coleman expert, but I can tell you that the piano was absent in the two groups for different musical reasons (and remember, just for history's sake, that Ornette's first album DID have a pianist (whether or not that was the label's doing, I don't know), and the whole original Coleman Quartet sprung out of a Paul Bley gigging group).

Going back to Mulligan's pre-Quartet work, it's quite apparent that he dug counterpoint and backgrounds to solos. QUITE a bit, actually. This manifests itself in how the guy constantly played behind everybody's solos. He didn't really play simple background riffs, and he didn't really do a collective improv thing either. He combined the two and did improvised background counterpoint. "Bopsieland", some called it. Having a pianist on hand would not just increase the density of the group's sound, it would result in the existence of another harmonic/rhythmic layer that would render Mulligan's penchant for melodic background counterpoint a little unnecessary and/or cluttered. In spite of Mulligan's persona today as a "cool" player and a "genial" West Coaster, by all accounts he was a very opinionated, dominant, sharp, and at times difficult personality who very much insisted on playing his bands' music his way, and his way only. (Gary McFarland told of bringing in some charts to the CJB, and Mulligan edited/rearranged them almost beyond McFarland's recognition, but McFarland willingly conceeded that the changes were for the better). The man wanted room to do what he did, and the man made it happen.

Ornette, otoh, was all about playing the song without playing the changes or the pre-existing form. As his later recordings with Geri Allen show, his concept of music allows for a pianistic presence just fine, but at the time, who was around to deal with the piano as simply another melodic instrument in the ensemble instead of a time-keeping, change making, form demarcating part of the rhythm section that only soloed when it's time came? I think it's revealing that AFTER Ornette, a bunch of pianists came to reevaluate their role in the ensemble. No Ornette, no Herbie w/Miles, that's my guess.

In both cases, the leaders found that a piano clashed with, or at the least inhibited, their overall musical conceptions. But the WAY in which it clashed, i.e., the musical reasons, was totally different. Not unlike the Tristano "free improvisations" of a decade before, somebody else got there first. But comparing what they did and why the did it with the whats and whys of Ornette's music suggests that parallel, not intersecting, paths were beng followed. If anything, I'd guess that Sonny Rollins' trio work might have had a bigger imact on Ornette's final path than Mulligan, simply because Rollins, not unlike Coleman, used the format to indulge and encourage his natural propensity for rhythmic and harmonic flexibility and elasticity. Listen to the occasions where Mulligan played w/a pianist - does he SOLO any differently than he does without one? Not much, I'd say. The same cannot be said of Rollins! And, as SOMETHING ELSE and to a lesser extent (Bley was not an agressive comper in this band), the Hillcrest Club recordings show, it cannot be said of Ornette either.

None of this is to minimalize Mulligan - his innovations were real, significant, and stand on their own. No doubt, the openess of his quartet's sound set many wheels to turning and put the idea of a more "airy" sound in the, well, air. It is just merely to point out that the same thing can be done by different people for different reasons. If Ornette had his own distinct idea of what he wanted to do early on (and it seems that he did - anybody who has not already done so, PLEASE read John Litwieler's Coleman biography), the odds are that the elimaination of the piano was inevitable, Mulligan precedent or not, simply for musical reasons.

Edited by JSngry
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Thanks for the detailed response, Jim. I must admit, I'm sorely lacking in knowledge of Mulligan's music (must change that soon!), but had heard, via the James Gavin Baker book, of his penchant for being a tough, 'dominant', as you say, leader.

Your last sentence pretty much sums up the point I was trying to get across to Alexander.

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People with a fuller awareness of prebop jazz than I can fill in the blanks, but there had been pianoless/chord instrumentless things done before Mulligan, if not that many of them. As for the Dorham thing, I really don't know what the impetus was it. I'd like to learn more about these things myself!

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Jim, thanks for this spot-on analysis!

For those who haven't seen yet: in the Mosaic section I posted what Mosaic has mailed me about the contents of the upcoming Mulligan-select.

This then would be one of my first recommendations for Mulligan.

The quartet with Baker made some more great sides (besides those on Pacific) for Prestige (available on an OJCCD) and GNP (also on CD together with the great Mulligan "Modern Sounds" tentet session, which was I believe originally made for Capitol), then one of my favorites is the disc which added Lee Konitz to the quartet

Then the line-ups with Bob Brookmeyer: there are 2 Volumes of "Pleyel Concerts" on Vogue, the two live "California Concert" sessions on Blue Note (adding Zoot Sims and John Eardley on some tracks) and the "Storyville" disc (also on Blue Note).

Then there are the encounters: the VME 2CD with Ben Webster is great. The Getz/Mulligan nice, and I like the two recordings with Paul Desmond quite a bit, too (they made one in the fifties for Verve with Mulligan billed as leader and a few years later they made one under Desmond's name for RCA, both of which should be available on CD). (Then I wait for the much-praised Mulligan/Hodges disc to be reissued, never heard it but read much in favor of it on the old board)

ubu

(By the way, Jazzmoose, keeping' my fingers crossed for your son-in-law. I don't post over in politics but I read the thread yesterday.)

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  • 3 years later...

We all want AGE OF STEAM to be reissued, don't we?

GREAT record, that one is.

I recently picked this up in this form:

B0007PCWQS.01-A2N73ZO1MK7B7A._AA180_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Product Description

This jam-packed CD/DVD pack features a standard audio CD of the original A&M recording of The Age of Steam as well as a DVD with over four hours of content, including: a master class a documentary a Dolby Digital stereo and surround sound mix of the original recordings and interviews with several participants in that recording (Bob Brookmeyer, Roger Kellaway, Tom Scott and Stephan Goldman). The DVD also includes the sheet music for each composition on the recording, including the parts for each instrument, which can be printed out from a PC.

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I'm not a Mulligan expert, but the starting place should be Miles's "Birth of the Cool" sessions.

Titles by Mulligan that I like include "Mulligan Meets Ben Webster" (Verve), "In Concert, Paris Olympia, 10/6/62" and "Concert Band" (RTE), and "Pleyel Concert" (Vogue) and his work with Chet Baker.

Hopefully, someone else will chime in, too...

The Mulligan to start with is the Quartet work with Chet Baker, same historical and musical relevance as Birth Of The Cool, much more -imho- to show Mulligan's naked skill as a baritone sax player and improviser. All the material from the early 1953 Pacific Jazz mono sessions -including "Lee Konitz Plays With The Gerry Mulligan Quartet"- is a must-listen. Avoid the postumous reunions, imho, and go straight to these early sublime quartet performances.

Edited by ArmandoPeraza
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