Gerry Mulligan

Gerry Mulligan earned recognition as the most celebrated and likely finest baritone saxophonist jazz has produced, a commanding presence whose adaptable improvisations allowed him to collaborate fluidly with everyone from traditional Dixieland ensembles to cutting-edge bop innovators. He brought an unusually airy tonal approach to his inherently cumbersome instrument and executed phrases with the agility and quickness typical of alto players.

Mulligan began his instrumental studies on piano before taking up clarinet and all the saxophones. Early acclaim came chiefly for his skills as an arranger, starting with charts he supplied in 1944 to Johnny Warrington’s radio orchestra and soon extending to contributions for Tommy Tucker and George Paxton. Relocating to New York in 1946, he joined Gene Krupa’s orchestra in the role of staff arranger, where his standout score was “Disc Jockey Jump.” On the infrequent occasions he performed with Krupa, it was on alto, a pattern that repeated during his 1948 stint with Claude Thornhill.

Mulligan’s initial prominent baritone work on record occurred with Miles Davis’s Birth of the Cool nonet (1948-50), although his arrangements—“Godchild,” “Darn That Dream,” and the originals “Jeru,” “Rocker,” and “Venus de Milo”—proved more consequential than his concise solos. Throughout much of 1949 he supplied material for Elliot Lawrence’s orchestra while sitting anonymously in its saxophone section. Attention for his baritone playing finally surfaced in 1951, when he recorded with his own nonet for Prestige and unveiled an already distinctive sound. After moving to Los Angeles he contributed arrangements to Stan Kenton (“Youngblood,” “Swing House,” and “Walking Shoes”), appeared at the Lighthouse, and secured a weekly Monday-night slot at the Haig. Around this period Mulligan discovered he preferred the freedom of performing without piano, a realization that led him to jam with trumpeter Chet Baker; their intuitive chemistry soon defined the pianist-less quartet that propelled both musicians to stardom in 1952.

A drug-related arrest interrupted Mulligan’s activities and disbanded the group, yet upon his release from jail in 1954 he formed an equally successful partnership with valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. Trumpeter Jon Eardley and tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims periodically expanded the ensemble to a sextet, while in 1958 trumpeter Art Farmer became a regular member of Mulligan’s quartet. Ever open to other approaches, Mulligan sought out recording opportunities with admired peers: at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival he exchanged phrases with baritonist Harry Carney on “Prima Bara Dubla” alongside the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and between 1957 and 1960 he made separate albums with Thelonious Monk, Paul Desmond, Stan Getz, Ben Webster, and Johnny Hodges. He also participated in the landmark Sound of Jazz television broadcast in 1958 and appeared in the films I Want to Live and The Subterraneans.

From 1960 to 1964 Mulligan directed his Concert Jazz Band, affording him chances to compose, play baritone, and occasionally double on piano; the lineup at various times featured Brookmeyer, Sims, Clark Terry, and Mel Lewis. After the orchestra dissolved he maintained a lower profile yet continued extensive touring with the Dave Brubeck Quartet (1968-72), maintained a part-time big band during the 1970s called the Age of Steam, briefly doubled on soprano, led a mid-1970s sextet that included vibraphonist Dave Samuels, and in 1986 recorded with Scott Hamilton. In the 1990s he traveled globally with his “no-name” quartet and assembled a Rebirth of the Cool Band to revisit and document the Miles Davis Nonet repertoire. Until his final years, Mulligan remained eager to perform.

Among his original pieces were “Walkin’ Shoes,” “Line for Lyons,” “Bark for Barksdale,” “Nights at the Turntable,” “Utter Chaos,” “Soft Shoe,” “Blueport,” “Song for Strayhorn,” “Song for an Unfinished Woman,” and “I Never Was a Young Man,” the last of which he frequently sang. Over the decades he recorded prolifically for Prestige, Pacific Jazz, Capitol, Vogue, EmArcy, Columbia, Verve, Milestone, United Artists, Philips, Limelight, A&M, CTI, Chiaroscuro, Who’s Who, DRG, Concord, and GRP.