Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band

Jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, and arranger Gerry Mulligan was born on April 6, 1927 in Queens, New York. His father’s engineer job led to the band moving quite frequently. While attending high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he founded a school big band and wrote the musical arrangements. At the age of 16, he was approached by a local radio station to write arrangements for their house band. This led to him dropping out of school and pursuing a career as a musician. After a few high-profile gigs, he returned to New York and, in 1948, he was recruited into Miles Davis’ nine-piece band. While the band performed and recorded infrequently, the tracks were compiled on the Miles Davis album Birth of the Cool. In 1950, he released the album Mulligan Plays Mulligan, his first album as a leader. Relocating to Los Angeles, California in 1952, Gerry Mulligan began writing arrangements for Stan Kenton. During his spare time, he began performing at a small jazz club called The Haig. A young trumpeter by the name of Chet Baker began sitting in with Gerry Mulligan, inspiring him to form a piano-less quartet. Recruiting bassist Bob Whitlock and drummer Chico Hamilton, the Gerry Mulligan quartet became the talk of the town. However, Mulligan was arrested on drug charges in 1953 and spent six months in jail, bringing the early quartet to an end. By the time Gerry Mulligan was released from jail and ready to play with his band again, Chet Baker had already built an audience of his own and was unable to rejoin the quartet. With a fluid line-up, the Gerry Mulligan Quartet continued to record and tour throughout the 1950s and into the early 1960s. In 1960, in an attempt to revive big band music in a smaller setting, he formed his first Concert Jazz Band. While the band varied in size and personnel during their lifespan, some of jazz music’s finest players passed through their ranks including Bob Brookmeyer, Clark Terry, Doc Severinsen, Zoot Sims, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Phil Woods, Nick Travis, and many others. The band’s lifespan was relatively short – 1960 to 1964 – but they toured frequently and releases five albums including Gerry Mulligan Presents a Concert In Jazz (1961), At the Village Vanguard (1961), Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band on Tour (1962) and Gerry Mulligan ’63 (1963). Gerry Mulligan died on January 10, 1996 after suffering complications following routine surgery.