Gerry Mulligan

February 1 - 8, 1 9 9 6

*** Gerry Mulligan

THE GERRY MULLIGAN SONGBOOK

(Pacific Jazz)

Baritone-saxophonist Mulligan, who died, at 68, on January 20, used diverse jazz sounds -- big-band massed horns, New Orleans polyphony, bebop harmonic complexity -- to create his own: fleet, economical, lyric, brainy yet brawny. For my money, you still can't beat the rhythmic muscle and linear clarity of the "pianoless" quartets, but this reissue of 1957 studio dates shows Mulligan in his prime as a composer and player and in the primo company of fellow reed giants Lee Konitz, Allen Eager, Al Cohn, and Zoot Sims. Basie-ite Freddie Green's guitar adds extra swing-era finesse to the rhythm section. The Mulligan-like arrangements are by Bill Holman. A quiet chorus of horns call-and-respond to Lee Konitz's solo on "Crazy Day." The hairpin turns of the unison theme of "Turnstile" splits into countermelodies, unites for a slick bridge five horns strong, and breaks for solos. Details abound in the backing for solos and in the quicksilver shifts of soloist to soloist. Unfortunately, Nat Hentoff's 1958 liner notes to the original stereo recording don't apply to this mono master-tape reconstruction, which has different edits. Four intriguing oddities from an aborted Mulligan/string-quartet session fill out the CD.

-- Jon Garelick