COMPOSERS: Gerry Mulligan
LABELS: RTE Europe
ALBUM TITLE: Gerry Mulligan
WORKS: The Concert Jazz Band featuring Zoot Sims: 19 November 1960
PERFORMER: Mulligan (bar); Don Ferra, Conte Condoli, Nick Travis (tpt); Bob Brookmeyer (v tbn); Willie Dennis, Allen Ralph (tbn); Gene Quill, Bob Donovan (alt); Jimmy Reider, Zoot Sims (ten); Gene Allen (bar); Buddy Clark (bs); Mel Lewis (d)
CATALOGUE NO: 1 710382 ADD
Mulligan’s concert band fought a rearguard action for melody, harmony and rhythm against the rise of ‘Free Jazz’ in the Sixties. It recorded all too few albums, but gained a reputation as one of the finest post-Swing Era ensembles.
Balancing the written and the improvised, the Concert Jazz Band was a logical extension of Mulligan’s memorable Fifties quartets and the ‘Birth of the Cool’ recordings in 1949. The arrival of a hitherto unreleased concert by the band at its peak, impeccably recorded, makes this one of the most important of recent issues. Stuart Nicholson