Jazz Choir Boy

Is this what a modern jazz innovator looks like? Naw. This guy must be your Sunday School teacher. A very presentable Gerald Joseph Mulligan at age 36. Photo by Bachrach

Here's Gerry Mulligan's first session as a leader, recorded five months after the last "Birth of the Cool" date with Miles. It's been reissued several times, but here it is in a dub from the original LP. Posting it on Gems affords me another opportunity to share a collector story.

Each LP bore this stamp.

A decade or so ago, I got a call from a guy named Matt who does deliveries for the newspaper I work for. He knew me through my radio station gig, and knew that I was a jazz fiend. He said he had some boxes in his garage I might be interested in. When I got there, he took me out back and showed me what he was talking about – a huge cache of records. The "some boxes" was actually about 50 good-sized cartons of LPs from the '50, '60s and '70s, all lovely mainstream jazz in very clean shape, and all imprinted with the previous owner's curious rubber stamp. A record collector's bonanza! Where did these records come from, I asked him?

Matt told me that back in the '80s he'd met an older woman through a book club they both belonged to. She had recently moved to the area from New York City, and seemed kind of lonely. They became friends, and he found they shared many interests. She told him she had no family but was otherwise reticent to talk about her past. Matt found that mysterious and a bit odd, but he liked her and they stayed in touch even though the book club eventually disbanded. He told me that in recent years had taken to looking in on her every so often to make sure she was OK.

Then one day Matt got a call from someone who said he was a relative of the woman. The caller said that the woman had died and they were clearing out her house. On her deathbed, she had asked that her possessions be given to her book-club friend, and the family was getting in touch with Matt to see if he had any interest. 

After getting over his surprise, Matt went to the woman's modest bungalow where he found the floor covered with boxes of LPs. It turned out the old woman was a stone jazz fan and had a substantial collection of jazz records and books. She had never said a word about it to Matt. More mystery.

Matt was loathe to let such a trove be carted to the dump, so here it was, taking up one bay of his two-car garage. Did I want any of the records? He said I could take my pick and pay him whatever I thought was fair. Deal, said I. I left with a dozen cartons about two hours later.

Allen Eager in 1948.

So why Mulligan for this posting? Well, the mysterious collector lady seemed to have a thing for Gerry. She had nearly 50 of his LPs, far more than she had of any other artist. Maybe it was his boyish good looks? I don't know, but he was her fave.

This is one of the recordings from her collection. It features Mulligan with tenor player Allen Eager, the guy who had shared front line duties with Fats Navarro in Tadd Dameron's band in 1948 and who later decided he wanted to be a race car driver and ski instructor. Here he's in superb form, trading solos with Geru on a series of original compositions. George Wallington, too, sounds great.

One other thing – the closing tune in this set takes up the whole second side of the LP. At 17-plus minutes, I have to think this is perhaps the first extended performance recorded by a single group in jazz. The long-playing record was new technology in 1951, and here Mulligan takes full advantage of its ability to capture lengthy performances. And "Mulligan's Too" is a precursor to "Tenor Madness" for its saxophonistic parry-and-thrust.

As always, these tunes were ripped from the original vinyl with only a minor cleaning of sound.

Historically Speaking

Gerry Mulligan

Prestige 7251

1-6: Gerry Mulligan, Max McElroy, bar; Allen Eager, ts; Jerry Hurwitz, Nick Travis, tp; Ollie Wilson, tbn; George Wallington, p; Phil Leshin, b; Walter Bolden, d; Gail Madden, maracas.

7: Gerry Mulligan, bar; Allen Eager, ts; George Wallington, p; Phil Leshin, b; Walter Bolden, d; Gail Madden, maracas.

New York, NY; August 17, 1951

1. Funhouse

2. Ide's Side

3. Roundhouse

4. Kaper

5. Bweebida Bobbida

6. Mullenium

7. Mulligan's Too

Find it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?bpo90cbvce81a49

Jazz West Coast

The Gerry Mulligan Quartet performing on stage at Stockton High School's auditorium in November 1954. Mulligan left New York in the early '50s and helped to define the sound of West Coast jazz. From left, Chico Hamilton, Red Mitchell, Mulligan and Jon Eardley. Photo by William Claxton

A friend of mine used to trash West Coast drummers. He thought the "cool" sound from California was pure white bread, regardless of the ethnicity of its players, and it was his firm belief that West Coast rhythm sections were the pantywaists of jazz. He was a former student of Lee Konitz, so I would get out of the way and let him talk.

But it's true that those mid-'50s rhythm players from San Francisco and Los Angeles had a lighter sound. Chico Hamilton especially. Of course, when you compare a drummer to Max Roach, Art Blakey, Roy Haynes and the rest of the boys back east, he can't help but sound wimpy.

So here's a sampler that offers a snapshot of West Coast playing in 1957, the year the east-west debate was at its most passionate – and silliest. It's the third in a series of LPs issued by Pacific Jazz on the very limited Jazz West Coast imprint. I'm including only Vol. III even though I have Vol. II because III is all previously unissued material (I unfortunately don't have Vol. I). I believe most of these tunes remain unissued to this day.

There is some excellent playing on this vintage disc – Gerry Mulligan's sinewy sextet for starters, and Art Pepper's pre-downward spiral altoing. Check out Jim Hall's "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" with Carl Perkins, too. I think Jim's playing a Les Paul on it, if you can believe that.

My West Coast-disdaining pal would have ripped Bud Shank's "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" – the one real lightweight on the record. And "Sweet Georgia Brown" comes close with Bob Cooper's annoying oboe. Those ex-Kenton boys picked up some bad habits working with Stanley.

The cover of this album is more classic kitsch. Frothy surf surging under a bright blue sky, an emerging diver in a wet suit with speargun and – a trumpet? Jamming with the fishes perhaps. Richard Bock, Pacific Jazz's bossman, was responsible for the concept. It's another Claxton pic, by the way.

As always, the music is ripped from the original vinyl with only a gentle cleaning of pops and clicks. 














Jazz West Coast III, Jazz West Coast JWC-507
(Full personnel listed on cover included with download)

Gerry Mulligan Sextet, featuring Zoot Sims, Bob Brookmeyer
Stockton, CA; November 12, 1954 
1. There Will Never Be Another You  5:34

Chico Hamilton Quintet, featuring Carson Smith
Los Angeles, CA; October 26, 1956
2. Mr. Smith Goes to Town  2:57

Bud Shank Quartet
Los Angeles, CA; November 7, 1956
3. Polka Dots and Moonbeams  3:35

Art Pepper Quartet, featuring Pete Jolly
Los Angeles, CA; July 28, 1956
4. Old Croix  4:24

Chet Baker Sextet, featuring Art Pepper
Los Angeles, CA; July 28, 1956
5. Little Girl  4:15

Russ Freeman-Chet Baker Quartet
Los Angeles, CA; 1956
6. Love Nest  4:53

Bud Shank-Bob Cooper Quintet, featuring Howard Roberts
Los Angeles, CA; November 29, 1956
7. Sweet Georgia Brown  4:40

Jim Hall Trio, featuring Carl Perkins
Los Angeles, CA; January 24, 1957
8. Things Ain't What They Used to Be (alt. take)  5:44

Phil Urso-Bob Burgess Quintet, featuring Bobby Timmons
Los Angeles, CA; October 18, 1956
9. Too Marvelous for Words  3:44

Russ Freeman-Bill Perkins Quintet, featuring Bud Shank
Los Angeles, CA; February 15, 1956
10. Brother Can You Spare a Dime  4:43

Find it here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/4ej57c9cg0v2oer/Jazz_West_Coast_III.rar