Jazz Records Mulligan Revisited

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29984, 20 November 1962, Page 18

Jazz Records Mulligan Revisited

For more than a decade now Gerry Mulligan has been the epitome of grace and wit in modern jazz. He has danced (musically) so long and so nimbly on a fine line between invention and selfparody. It was Mulligan who, after proving himself one of the best young arrangercompoeers in the late 19405, set about the task of transforming the baritone saxophone from a gauche and rather cumbersome instrument into a flexible melodic voice. There were others before him (notably Harry Carney of the Ellington orchestra), but none with Mulligan’s supple technique and solo skill.

There was a single-minded-ness about the way Mulligan set about his task; and this illuminates a retrospective collection issued by the Record Society under the bravura title “The Genius of Gerry Mulligan’’ (mono only).

New Tracks For this informal portrait of the artist as a younger man, Richard Bock of Pacific Jazz records has assembled a set of 11 performances, recorded between June, 1952. and December, 1957. Some were available previously and some are new. Among tihem are two classics “Bernie’s Tune” from 1952 and "Five Brothers” from 1953), which have grown beyond comment over the years, but the most iluuminating tracks are two which appear to be new—- “ Gold Rush,” recorded at a concert in Paris in 1954 and “Blue at the Roots,” recorded in 1956. The former has some wonderful interplay between Mulligan and the trombonist. Bob Brookmeyer, and a lovely, sofit-shoe-like solo by the saxophonist; the latter has some casual trombone-play-ing and equally casual, but graceful piano-playing by Mulligan. Four of the tracks, from 1952 and 1953, feature Chet Baker, the gifted trumpeter whose career has been interrupted by personal problems. Another features the good singing of Annie Ross: but the most consistently unpredictable talent on the record is that of Mulligan himself, progressing from the rather shy innovator of 1952 to the mature soloist of 1957, Mulligan has been neglected recently, although he continues to win polls because there are few other baritone saxophonists with comparable technical gifts; his music has an unfashionable lack of angst. He also committed ■the cardinal sin of becoming ! popular, so it must be frustrating for him to have climbed to the top of the jazz world only to find that no-one is listening to him except tire public. Miles Davis

Miles Davis’s “Someday My Prince Will Come” (Coronet mono and stereo) has been around for several months now. There is not too much to say about it, really; it is simply the result of six of the best jazzmen playing together and “making it.” Davis is in wonderful form, fluent and sparkling on the ballads and authoritatively crisp on the

blues. “Pfrancing.” He seems almost completely to have overcome his technical problems; there are few fluffed notes in this collection. John Coltrane, who plays on only two tracks, also is in splendid form, marvellously lyrical on the title piece and building long, sinuous lines on “Teo." Hank Mobley, softer-toned and less adventurous than Coltrane. performs adequately on the other tracks and the pianist, Wynton Kelly, glistens both in solo and accompaniment. Two of the tracks, incidentally ("Pfrancing” and “Teo”), appeared on the two-disc set, recorded at the Blackhawk Club in San Francisco and issued here earlier this year, as "No Blues” and “Neo” respectively. The reasons for the changes of names are not clear. The absence of sleeve notes from the current release is presumably at Davis’s own request. Erratic Form

“Sketches of Spain.” featuring Davis with a large ochestra of brass and woodwinds conducted by Gil Evans, was the subject of a few tentative comments when it first appeared here as an imported pressing about a year ago. Coronet have now pressed it locally in both mono and stereo; and subsequent hearing confirms the paradoxical first impression of it as an interesting failure. Davis is in erratic form. Some of his improvisations (including long passages in the “Concerto de Aranjuez” and “The Pan Piper”) are strikingly beautiful. while others are blurred and careless. The concerto, originally written for guitar and orchestra, is a charming though rather diffuse work reorchestrated in craftsmanlike fashion by Evans, a selftaught musician with remarkable gifts for exploring the textures and sonorities of brass. "The Pan Piper” is a colourful piece based by Evans on a melody he heard on an ethnic recording, and two of the other pieces are based on common flamenco patterns, the solea and the saeta.

Film Soundtrack Among the other recent releases is the soundtrack of the British film, “All Night Long” (Philips 680.971. TL), which is said to be a jazz version of ‘“Othello.” Most film music, away from the ccreen, is superfluous, so it is a pleasure to be able to report that this time the quality—except on the really fragmentary pieces—is rather high. Charlie Mingus can be heard, briefly, on "Noodlin’,” which also features pretty vibes playing by Tubby Hayes, and Dave Brubeck thunders his way through his own “It’s a Raggy Waltz,” but is in reflective mood on “Blue Shadows in the Street,” a quite delicate performance. Ironically, however, it is the British trumpeter, Bert Courtley, who takes the best solos on both these tracks. The rest of the music is a good, straightforward cross-section of British modern jazz.