Gerry Mulligan
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulliganwas an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also a notable arranger, working with Claude Thornhill, Miles Davis, Stan Kenton, and others. Mulligan's pianoless quartet of the early 1950s with trumpeter Chet Baker is still regarded as one of the more important...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSaxophonist
Date of Birth6 April 1927
CountryUnited States of America
I've always wanted a C trumpet on top, to have that same kind of facility without shouting.
Because if you've got the wit, you can make anything into a melody, ultimately.
In a way, I started out to be a baritone player.
The first reason for starting to do the symphony concerts was to play this new piece of mine.
People talk about innovations and evolutions and that kind of thing; I don't understand about that nonsense. It's like, all instruments are there to use all the time
So I played alto for quite a while until I saved up the money for the baritone
It's true I've always been attracted to the jazz band in an orchestral way, rather than a band way.
What I came back to is that jazz is a music to be played and not to be intellectualized on.
I would think, of all the saxophones, the baritone would be the most logical instrument if anybody was adding a voice to the symphony orchestra.