Jazz Lines Publications
Presents
the jeffrey sultanof master edition

rockerAs Performed Live by Charlie Parker
at Carnegie Hall, September 17, 1950

Arranged by gerry mulligan
edited by jeffrey sultanof

full scorefrom the original manuscript

Music by Gerry Mulligan© 1953 & 1988 by Jeruvian Music. Renewed
All Rights Reserved
Used by Permission
Layout, Design, and Logos © 2009 Hero Enterprises Inc. DBA Jazz Lines Publications and ejazzlines.com
Published with the authorization and full support of the GERRY AND FRANCA MULLIGAN FOUNDATION.

Jazz Lines Publications
PO Box 1236
Saratoga Springs NY 12866 USAcharlie parker with strings series

rocker (1950)
Background:Charlie Parker with Strings, an album arranged by Jimmy Carroll (Caruana) that Parker recorded in November, 1949 with asmall string orchestra, oboe and rhythm section was a major success. A second album with arrangements by Joe Lipman wasrecorded in the summer of 1950, and soon after, Parker was performing these arrangements in public. Along with thearrangements recorded, additional pieces were written by Carroll, Lipman, legendary arranger Jimmy Mundy (veteran of theGoodman, Shaw, James, Basie and several other top big bands) and Gerry Mulligan.
Parker first met Mulligan in Gerry's home town of Philadelphia whenMulligan was still a teen. Both participated in the same concert at theAcademy of Music where Parker's group included Dizzy Gillespie andSarah Vaughan; Mulligan was playing tenor sax at the time. Parker invited Gerry to join him at a post-concert jam session, the young musician believing that he was a guest. Parker handed Mulligan the tenor
and told him to play. Scared to death, Mulligan did his best. Even though
Mulligan's saxophone playing was not as developed as his arranging
ability at the time, Parker was kind and encouraging. They next met at
Gil Evans' 55th Street apartment, where musicians of all types wereinvited to crash anytime they wanted. Parker came to sleep and tolisten to the concert music Evans was borrowing from the library. By
that time, Mulligan was well established as a major compositional voicein the new jazz, and would be one of the main architects of the Miles
Davis Nonet. By 1950, many musicians were scuffling, so the commission from Parker was most welcome.
This was probably Mulligan's first experience writing for strings, oboe, harp and rhythm section. It is an adequate job given
the nature of the tune, consisting of a rhythmic figure that is repeated throughout and then 'footballs' (half notes and wholenotes). Mulligan was to write a second arrangement for the same ensemble, but it was never finished.

The Music:
Mulligan originally wrote Rock Salt in March of 1950 for the Miles Davis Nonet, scored it for Parker and strings, and for theElliot Lawrence Orchestra. The nonet recording is well-known, coming from the last recording session of that ensemble.
Lawrence recorded an album of Mulligan arrangements in 1954 that included Rock Salt when the saxophonist was on thewest coast, but Mulligan was displeased with the tempo of that recording. The Charlie Parker with Strings version comes froma live performance of the ensemble at Carnegie Hall. The sources for this publication are the actual parts in Mulligan's hand,
except for the bass part, which is in an unidentified hand. It is clear that these parts were copied quickly in that there weremany shortcuts taken.

The publisher has tried to make this publication as user-friendly as possible, so the following alternate parts have been
included so that this arrangement can be played without strings.
• 2 Alto Saxes for Violins A and B• 2 Tenor Saxes or Trumpets for Violin C and Viola• Baritone Sax for Cello• The Cello part can also be played by Trombone.
• The Oboe solo is cued in the Guitar part.

Notes to the Conductor:
During the summer of 1995, Gerry Mulligan and I met on a weekly basis
to prepare lead-sheets for two play-along volumes that would be publishedby Hal Leonard. At the time, I was an editor on-staff, and one of myresponsibilities was to supervise jazz product. Mulligan was a particularhero of mine, not just because I had great admiration for him as a composer/arranger, but because I had been a baritone saxophonist myself. Sittingwith him for several hours at a time was an amazing experience; between
many stories that he shared about his life, the people who he worked
with, and our give and take about composers, improvisers and any numberof other non-musical issues, we discussed his large catalog of music. I told
him of the many scores I had edited and corrected, and we discussed
doing the same thing with his many big band and combo arrangements sothey could finally be properly published. Without the words being spoken,I saw that he wanted me to understand how he thought musically andwhat his values were. He was very specific about tempo and notation, andwe spent many hours on certain pieces to get them just right (he HATED
fakebooks of standard tunes, rightly convinced that many of them had
simplified or incorrect melodies and chord changes). Corrections in his music have still never been incorporated in publishedversions of some of his most famous pieces, and they will be made in the years to come.
When it came time to discuss Rock Salt, Gerry first played it for me on the piano. He was being mentored by Gil Evans at
the time of its composition, and Evans was working with him to develop the linear aspects of his music. Consequently, themelody often creates dissonances with the chords. The chord names on Mulligan's original lead sheet did not reflect thesepitches. As an example, I told Gerry that in the first bar of letter A, the G had to be represented in the Ebmi7 chord to let
the player know that the Gb was present, or else some players would think that Ebmi7 was an error and the chord shouldbe Eb7. Mulligan laughed and reflected on the fact that all he was trying to do was to write a piece where the melody stayed
the same as the chords moved in parallel motion up and down. He didn't dream that this would create an entire discussion
on notation, which he found fascinating since he was being asked to look at the piece in an entirely different way afteralmost fifty years. He agreed that the melody needed to be reflected in the chord names, and that is why some of them areunusual. As edited in this publication, there is no question as to what Mulligan wanted. Unfortunately, I was not as carefulwhen preparing the version of Rock Salt in the Birth of the Cool folio as published by Hal Leonard due to time constraints,
but one day the chord names will be fixed there as well.
Bowings were written in the parts by the string players and are included here. Even though the parts are fairly straightforward,
some rehearsals without the soloist will be fruitful. The common problem of strings with a rhythm section is that moststring players tend to play behind the beat. The more practice they have listening to the bass and drums, the better thesynchronization will be.

Jeffrey Sultanof- November 2009

the jeffrey sultanof master edition

Jazz lines PubLications

JlP-8011

rocker [Aka rock saLt](As Performed Live by Charlie Parker
Carnegie Hall, September 17, 1950)

Score
fast Swing

Solo Alto Sax.

   Music By Gerry Mulligan
Arranged by Gerry Mulligan
Edited by Jeffrey Sultanofq = 300Oboe

Violin A

Violin B

Violin C

Viola



Cello

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Harp

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 ’ ’’’’’’
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’’’’{E`n`d` `S`o`l`o`}

’’

’’3

© 1953 & 1988 by Jeruvian Music. Renewed
All Rights Reserved
Used by Permission
Layout, Design, and Logos © 2009 Hero Enterprises Inc. DBA Jazz Lines Publications and ejazzlines.com
Published with the authorization and full support of the GERRY AND FRANCA MULLIGAN FOUNDATION.

’4’’’rocker [AKA rock saLt]

JlP-8011

Jazz lines PubLications

Score - Page 2[A]Solo A. Sx.

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