Jump to content

Mulligan's "Utter Chaos"


medjuck

Recommended Posts

According to AMG the Lp release of the Village Vanguard recordings had "Utter Chaos" as the last cut. But it's not on the cd, nor is it in the Mosaic box set. Was it really on the Lp?

And though the booklet in the Mosaic box contains a listing of unrecorded-by-Verve CJB arrangements, the list doesn't mention "Utter Chaos" even though it obviously existed-- it leads off the "Swiss Radio Days" cd. (It's a very short piece-- Mulligan's theme I think.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

'Utter Chaos' was not on the original LP 'Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band at Village Vanguard' (Verve MGV8396). It was included in 'The Essential Gerry Mulligan' LP anthology (Verve MGV8567). And it was also the last track on the French Barclay LP edition of the GMCJB at VV which I foolishly gave away after I bought the Verve original.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Is it possible that Mulligan used "Utter Chaos" only a brief signature piece or theme to signal the end of a set? If it's only a few bars, then the recording may not include the tune among the selections performed. "Utter Chaos" is one of the tunes included in the Mulligan collection of published duets. It's a full-fledged tune, but he may not have always treated it as a performance piece.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is it possible that Mulligan used "Utter Chaos" only a brief signature piece or theme to signal the end of a set? If it's only a few bars, then the recording may not include the tune among the selections performed. "Utter Chaos" is one of the tunes included in the Mulligan collection of published duets. It's a full-fledged tune, but he may not have always treated it as a performance piece.

'Utter Chaos' was indeed Gerry Mulligan's signature theme. He played it at the end of most of his sets. And this from the very start of his 1952 quartet with Chet Baker. A couple of short versions are in the Gerry Mulligan Pacific Jazz/Capitol Mosaic box. The tune is listed there as being in the public domain.

Mulligan would play longer versions if the mood was right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...