Gerry Mulligan

Gerald Joseph Mulligan(April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known asJeru,was an Americanjazzsaxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger.Though primarily known as one of the leading jazzbaritone saxophonists—playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era ofcool jazz—Mulligan was also a significant arranger working withClaude Thornhill,Miles Davis,Stan Kenton, and others. His piano-less quartet of the early 1950s with trumpeterChet Bakeris still regarded as one of the best cool jazz ensembles. Mulligan was also a skilled pianist and played several otherreed instruments. Several of his compositions including "Walkin' Shoes" and "Five Brothers", have become standards.
Gerry Mulligan was born inQueens Village, Queens, New York, the son of George and Louise Mulligan. His father was aWilmington, Delaware, native of Irish descent; his mother aPhiladelphianative of half-Irish and half-German descent. Gerry was the youngest of four sons with George, Phil and Don preceding him.
George Mulligan's career as an engineer necessitated frequent moves through numerous cities. When Gerry was less than a year old, the family moved toMarion, Ohio, where his father accepted a job with the Marion Power Shovel Company.
With the demands of a large home and four young boys to raise, Mulligan's mother hired an African American nanny named Lily Rose, who became especially fond of the youngest Mulligan. As he became older, Mulligan began spending time at Rose's house and was especially amused by Rose'splayer piano, which Mulligan later recalled as having rolls by numerous players, includingFats Waller. Black musicians sometimes came through town, and because many motels would not take them, they often had to stay at homes within the black community. The young Mulligan occasionally met such musicians staying at Rose's home.
The family's moves continued with stops inSouth Jersey(where Mulligan lived with his maternal grandmother),Chicago, andKalamazoo, Michigan, where Mulligan lived for three years and attendedCatholic school. When the school moved into a new building and established music courses, Mulligan decided to play clarinet in the school's nascent orchestra. Mulligan made an attempt at arranging with theRichard Rodgerssong "Lover", but the arrangement was seized prior to its first reading by an overzealous nun who was taken aback by the title on the arrangement.
When Gerry Mulligan was 14, his family moved toDetroitand then toReading, Pennsylvania. While in Reading, Mulligan began studying clarinet with dance-band musician Sammy Correnti,who also encouraged Mulligan's interest in arranging. Mulligan also began playing saxophone professionally in dance bands inPhiladelphia, an hour and a half or so away.
The Mulligan family next moved to Philadelphia, where Gerry attended theWest Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boysand organized a schoolbig band, for which he also wrote arrangements. When Mulligan was sixteen, he approached Johnny Warrington at local radio stationWCAUabout writing arrangements for the station's house band. Warrington was impressed and began buying Mulligan's arrangements.
Mulligan dropped out of high school during his senior year to pursue work with a touring band. He contacted bandleaderTommy Tuckerwhen Tucker was visiting Philadelphia's Earle Theatre. While Tucker did not need an additional reedman, he was looking for an arranger and Mulligan was hired at $100 a week to do two or three arrangements a week (including all copying). At the conclusion of Mulligan's three-month contract, Tucker told Mulligan that he should move on to another band which was a little less "tame". Mulligan went back to Philadelphia and began writing forElliot Lawrence, a pianist and composer who had taken over for Warrington as the band leader at WCAU.
Mulligan moved to New York City in January 1946 and joined the arranging staff onGene Krupa'sbebop-tinged band.Arrangements of Mulligan's work with Krupa include "Birdhouse", "Disc Jockey Jump" and an arrangement of "How High the Moon", quotingCharlie Parker's "Ornithology" as acountermelody.
Mulligan next began arranging for theClaude ThornhillOrchestra, occasionally sitting in as a member of thereedsection.Thornhill's arranging staff includedGil Evans, whom Mulligan had met while working with the Krupa band.Mulligan eventually began living with Evans; this was at the time that Evans' apartment on West55th Streetbecame a regular hangout for a number of jazz musicians, working on creating a new jazz idiom.
In September 1948,Miles Davisformed a nine-piece band that used arrangements by Mulligan, Evans andJohn Lewis.The band initially consisted of Davis on trumpet, Mulligan on baritone saxophone, trombonistMike Zwerin, alto saxophonistLee Konitz,Junior CollinsonFrench horn, tubistBill Barber, pianist John Lewis, bassistAl McKibbon, and drummerMax Roach.
The band only played a handful of live performances (a two-week engagement at theRoyal Roostand two nights at the Clique Club). However over the next couple of years, Davis reformed the nonet on three occasions to record twelve pieces for release as singles byCapitol Records. They formed theBirth of the Cool12-inch album released in 1957. Mulligan wrote and arranged three of the tunes recorded ("Rocker", "Venus de Milo", and "Jeru", the last named after himself), and arranged a further three ("Deception", "Godchild", and "Darn That Dream").
He was also one of only four musicians who played on all the recordings, with Davis, Konitz and Barber. Despite the chilly reception by audiences of 1949, the Davis nine-piece has been judged by history as one of the most influential groups in jazz history, creating a sound that, despite itsEast Coastorigins, became known asWest Coast Jazz.
During his period of occasional work with the Davis nonet between 1949 and 1951, Mulligan also regularly performed with and arranged for trombonistKai Winding. Mulligan's composition "Elevation" and his arrangement of "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" were recorded by Mulligan's old boss, Elliot Lawrence. It brought Mulligan additional recognition. Mulligan also arranged for and recorded with bands led byGeorgie AuldandChubby Jackson.
In September 1951, Mulligan recorded the first album under his own name,Mulligan Plays Mulligan. By that point, he had mastered a melodic and linear playing style, inspired byLester Young, that he would retain for the rest of his career.
In early 1952, seeking better employment opportunities, Mulligan headed west to Los Angeles with his girlfriend, pianist Gail Madden. Through an acquaintance with arrangerBob Graettinger, Mulligan started writing arrangements forStan Kenton's Orchestra.While most of Mulligan's work for Kenton were somewhat pedestrian arrangements, that Kenton needed to fill out money-making dance performances, Mulligan was able to throw in some more substantial original works along the way. His compositions "Walking Shoes" and "Young Blood", stand out as embodiments of thecontrapuntalstyle that became Mulligan's signature.
While arranging for Kenton, Mulligan began performing on off-nights atThe Haig, a small jazz club onWilshire Boulevardat Kenmore Street inHollywood, Los Angeles. During the Monday night jam sessions, a young trumpeter namedChet Bakerbegan sitting in with Mulligan. Mulligan and Baker began recording together, although they were unsatisfied with the results. Around that time, vibraphonistRed Norvo's trio (with guitar and bass) began headlining at The Haig, thus leaving no need to keep the grand piano that had been brought in forErroll Garner's stay at the club.
Faced with a dilemma of what to do for a rhythm section, Mulligan decided to build on earlier experiments and perform as a pianoless quartet with Baker on trumpet,Carson Smithon bass, andChico Hamiltonon drums (later Mulligan himself would occasionally double on piano).These early live dates were recorded by Richard Bock on a portable reel-to-reel tape deck. Bock along withRoy Hartewould soon after, start thePacific Jazzlabel and release Mulligan's records.Mulligan's first recording sessions inLos Angeleswere produced by Bock for Pacific Jazz. These three informal sessions took place in June, July, and August 1952 at the Hollywood Hills home studio of recording engineer Phil Turetsky. At these sessions, Mulligan, Chet Baker, and others recorded the material that was released as Pacific Jazz PJ LP-1 and later on PJ-8.
Baker's melodic style fit well with Mulligan's, leading them to create improvised contrapuntal textures free from the rigid confines of a piano-enforced chordal structure. While novel at the time in sound and style, this ethos of contrapuntal group improvisation hearkened back to the formative days of jazz. Despite their very different backgrounds–Mulligan, a classically trained New Yorker, and Baker, fromOklahomaand a much more instinctive player–they had an almost psychic rapport and Mulligan later remarked that: "I had never experienced anything like that before and not really since." Their dates at the Haig became sell-outs and the recordings they made in late 1952 became major sellers, that led to significant acclaim for Mulligan and Baker. The recordings included singles such as "Motel" (1953) labelled as 'The Gerry Mulligan Quartet Featuring Chet Baker'.
The fortuitous collaboration came to an abrupt end with Mulligan's arrest on narcotics charges in mid-1953, leading to six months at Sheriff's Honor Farm. Both Mulligan and Baker had, like many of their peers, become heroin addicts. However, while Mulligan was in prison, Baker transformed his lyrical trumpet style, gentle tenor voice and matinee-idol looks into independent stardom. Thus, when upon his release Mulligan attempted to rehire Baker, the trumpeter declined the offer for financial reasons.They did briefly reunite at the 1955Newport Jazz Festivaland would occasionally get together for performances and recordings up through a 1974 performance atCarnegie Hall. But in later years their relationship became strained as Mulligan, with considerable effort, would manage to kick his habit, while Baker's addiction bedevilled him professionally and personally almost constantly until his death in 1988.
Mulligan continued the quartet format with valve trombonistBob Brookmeyerreplacing Baker,although Mulligan and Brookmeyer both occasionally played piano. The quartet played at the third Paris Jazz Fair in 1954, withRed Mitchellon bass andFrank Isolaon drums. This quartet structure remained the core of Mulligan's groups throughout the rest of the 1950s,with sporadic personnel changes and expansions of the group with trumpetersJon EardleyandArt Farmer; saxophonistsZoot Sims,Al CohnandLee Konitz; and vocalistAnnie Ross. In 1957, Mulligan and his wife, Arlyne Brown Mulligan (daughter of composerLew Brown), had a son, Reed Brown Mulligan.
Mulligan also studied piano with Suezenne Fordham, who was a member of the inner circle of jazz players in New York. She was sought out by jazz musicians of the era to coach them to improve their piano technique. She and Mulligan also had a personal relationship from 1966 through 1972.
Mulligan also performed as a soloist or sideman (often in festival settings) with a variety of late-1950s jazz artists:Paul Desmond,Duke Ellington,Ben Webster,Johnny Hodges,Jimmy Witherspoon,André Previn,Billie Holiday,Marian McPartland,Louis Armstrong,Count Basie,Stan Getz,Thelonious Monk,Fletcher Henderson,Manny Albam,Quincy Jones,Kai Winding, Miles Davis, andDave Brubeck. Mulligan appeared inArt Kane'sA Great Day in Harlemportrait of 57 major jazz musicians taken in August 1958.
Mulligan formed his first "Concert Jazz Band" in the spring of 1960. Partly an attempt to revisitbig band musicin a smaller setting, the band varied in size and personnel, with the core group being six brass, five reeds (including Mulligan) and a pianoless two-piece rhythm section (though as in the earlier quartets Mulligan or Brookmeyer sometimes doubled on piano). The membership included (at various times, among others): trumpetersConte Candoli,Nick Travis,Clark Terry, Don Ferrara, Al Derisi,Thad JonesandDoc Severinsen; saxophonistsZoot Sims, Jim Reider,Gene Allen, Bobby Donovan,Phil Woods, andGene Quill; trombonistsWillie Dennis; Alan Raph andBob Brookmeyer; drummersMel LewisandGus Johnson; and bassists Buddy Clark andBill Crow. The band also recorded an album of songs sung by Mulligan's girlfriendJudy Hollidayin 1961. The band toured and recorded extensively through the end of 1964, eventually recording five albums forVerve Records.
Mulligan resumed work with small groups in 1962 and appeared with other groups sporadically (notably in festival situations). Mulligan continued to work intermittently in small group settings until the end of his life, although performing dates started to become more infrequent during the mid 1960s. AfterDave Brubeck's quartet broke up in 1967, Mulligan began appearing regularly with Brubeck as the "Gerry Mulligan / Dave Brubeck Quartet" through 1973.After that Mulligan and Brubeck worked together sporadically until the final year of Mulligan's life.
In 1971, Mulligan created his most significant work for big band in over a decade, for the albumThe Age of Steam.At various times in the 1970s, he performed withCharles Mingus. The Concert Jazz Band was "reformed" with younger players, including a full-time pianist inMitchel Forman, in 1978, and toured during the 1980s.
Mulligan, like many jazz musicians of his era, occasionally recorded with strings. Dates included 1957 recordings withVinnie Burke's String Jazz Quartet, a 1959 orchestra album withAndré Previnand a 1965 album of the Gerry Mulligan Quintet and Strings. In 1974, Mulligan recorded inItalythe albumSummitwith Argentine tango musicianÁstor Piazzolla. While inMilanfor the recording sessions, Mulligan met his future wife, Countess Franca Rota Borghini Baldovinetti, a freelance photojournalist and reporter. In 1975, Mulligan recorded an album with Italian pianist / composerEnrico Intra, bassist/arrangerPino Presti, flutist Giancarlo Barigozzi, and drummerTullio De Piscopo.
Mulligan's more classical work with orchestras began in May 1970 with a performance of Dave Brubeck's oratorio,The Light in the WildernesswithErich Kunzeland theCincinnati Symphony.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Mulligan worked to build and promote a repertoire of baritone saxophone music for orchestra. In 1973, Mulligan commissioned composerFrank Prototo write aSaxophone Concertothat was premiered with the Cincinnati Symphony. In 1977, theCanadian Broadcasting CorporationcommissionedHarry Freedmanto write the saxophone concertoCelebration, which was performed by Mulligan with the CBC Symphony. In 1982,Zubin Mehtainvited Mulligan to play soprano saxophone in a New York Philharmonic performance ofRavel'sBoléro.
In 1984, Mulligan commissionedHarry Freedmanto writeThe Sax Chronicles, which was an arrangement of some of Mulligan's melodies in pastiche styles. In April of that year, Mulligan was a soloist with theNew American Orchestrain Los Angeles for the premiere ofPatrick Williams'Spring Wings.
In June 1984, Mulligan completed and performed his first orchestral commission,Entente for Baritone Saxophone and Orchestra, with theFilarmonia Venetia. In October, Mulligan performedEntenteandThe Sax Chronicleswith theLondon Symphony Orchestra.
In 1987, Mulligan adaptedK-4 Pacific(from his 1971Age of Steambig band recording) for quartet with orchestra and performed it besideEntentewith theIsrael PhilharmonicinTel AvivwithZubin Mehtaconducting. Mulligan's orchestral appearances at the time also included theHouston Symphony,Stockholm PhilharmonicandNew York Philharmonic.
In 1988, Mulligan'sOctet for Sea Cliffwas premiered. A chamber work, it was commissioned by the Sea Cliff Chamber Players. In 1991, the Concordia Orchestra premieredMomo's Clock, a work for orchestra (without saxophone solo) that was inspired by a book by German authorMichael Ende.
Throughout Mulligan's orchestral work and until the end of his life, Mulligan maintained an active career performing and recording jazz – usually with a quartet that included a piano.
In June 1988, Mulligan was invited to be the first Composer-in-Residence at theGlasgow International Jazz Festivaland was commissioned to write a work, which he titledThe Flying Scotsman. In 1991, Mulligan contacted Miles Davis about revisiting the music from the seminal 1949Birth of the Coolalbum. Davis had recently performed some of his Gil Evans collaborations withQuincy Jonesat theMontreux Jazz Festivaland was enthusiastic. However, Davis died in September and Mulligan continued the recording project and tour withWallace RoneyandArt Farmersubstituting for Davis.Re-Birth of the Cool(released in 1992) featured the charts fromBirth of the Cool, and a nonet which included Lewis and Barber from the original Davis band. Mulligan appeared at theBrecon Jazz Festivalin 1991. Mulligan's final recording was a quartet album (with guests),Dragonfly, recorded in the summer of 1995 and released on theTelarclabel. Mulligan gave his final performance on the 13th Annual Floating Jazz Festival, Caribbean Cruise, November 9, 1995.
Mulligan died inDarien, Connecticut, on January 20, 1996, at the age of 68, following complications from knee surgery. His widow Franca–to whom he had been married since 1982–said he had also been suffering from liver cancer. Upon Mulligan's death, his library and numerous personal effects (including a gold-plated Conn baritone saxophone) were given to theLibrary of Congress.'The Gerry Mulligan Collection' is open to registered public researchers in the library's Performing Arts Research Center.The library placed Mulligan's saxophone on permanent exhibit in early 2009.
Mulligan's first film appearance was probably with Krupa's orchestra playing alto saxophone in theRKOshort filmFollow That Music(1946). Mulligan had small roles in the filmsI Want to Live!(1958), as a jazz combo member;Jazz on a Summer's Day(1960), featuring his performance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival;The Rat Race(1960), in which he appears as a tenor saxophonist instead of his usual instrument;The Subterraneans(1960) andBells Are Ringing(also 1960) with his then partner,Judy Holliday. Mulligan also performed numerous times on television programmes during his career.
As a film composer, Mulligan wrote music forA Thousand Clowns(1965, the title theme), the film version of the Broadway comedyLuv(1967), the French filmsLa Menace(1977) andLes Petites galères(1977, withÁstor Piazzolla) andI'm Not Rappaport(1996, the title theme).
In 1974, Mulligan collaborated on a musical version ofAnita Loos' playHappy Birthday. Although the creative team had great hopes for the work, it never made it past a workshop production at the University of Alabama. In 1978, Mulligan wrote incidental music forDale Wasserman's Broadway playPlay with Fire.
In 1995, theHal Leonard Corporationreleased the video tapeThe Gerry Mulligan Workshop – A Master Class on Jazz and Its Legendary Players.
Mulligan married Jeffie Lee Boyd in 1953, but the marriage was annulled. Later that same year he married Arlyne Brown, the daughter of songwriterLew Brown.Their son, Reed Brown Mulligan, was born in 1957.The couple divorced in 1959.
Mulligan spent the next six years with actress and singerJudy Holliday, with whom he recorded an album,Holliday With Mulligan. Holliday died of cancer in 1965.After Holliday’s death, Mulligan met actressSandy Dennis. According to her manager, Bill Treusch, Dennis and Mulligan never officially married, but were together from 1965 to 1976.In 1974, Mulligan met Countess Franca Rota Borghini Baldovinetti, through their mutual friendAstor Piazzolla,although they didn’t marry until 1982.They remained together until his death.
WithDave Brubeck
WithCharles Mingus
WithBilly Taylor
With Others