Listening to a large, talented musical group with lots of
horns playing jazz makes me smile from the beginning of a tune all the way
through to the last note. Fine jazz
bands with great horn sections are exciting with their rich swell of sound, the
quality and variety of soloists, and the artistry of their instrumental
arrangements. Combine that with the opportunity to see and hear the man who was
credited as being one of the creators of West Coast/Cool Jazz and you might
well understand that catching The Gerry Mulligan Concert Orchestra live became
a must for me.
The Royal Arms was a jazz club in Buffalo, NY that brought
in many big names in jazz. It wasn’t a
particularly large place and it usually hosted smaller combos. It was a whole
new world the night Gerry Mulligan’s ensemble took the stage...and then some.
From the moment you walked past the doorkeeper, it was clear
this was going to be a unique experience there. People were standing two and
three deep at the bar and the tables in the raised seating area were crowded
together with extra chairs barely leaving enough room for servers to pass
through. If you made it inside, you didn’t care about any of that; you were
just thrilled to squeeze in.
The music filled every inch of the room and I immediately scanned
the stage to see the player I so admired.
He wasn’t there.
But, that couldn’t be, because I heard him. The deep
expertly rendered tones of the baritone sax were definitely coming from Gerry
Mulligan. It took some repositioning, and even one jump in the air to spot him
on the floor to the right of the stage. Another band member was with him there,
while a couple more shared the steps leading up on the left side of the stage. And,
all across the stage were the rest of the musicians.
At first it was hard to understand how this huge talent, the
headliner, was not in full view of the audience. He played as if he were,
though, as if he were front-and-center of the grandest music venue of all. The
entire group did the same and it was a performance that has never diminished in
memory.
Funny how we learn some of the neatest life lessons when we
least expect them, isn’t it? I went to see a favorite artist and enjoy fine
jazz played by great musicians, and it was all that. Gerry Mulligan put on a
terrific show and also showed that what’s important is making the best music
you possibly can. He didn’t need to be the center of attention; he let the
music take that place on the stage. Years later he said:
“There are some words
that have been kind of lost from modern usage and these are the things that I
would like to bring to my music and have striven all my life to do, beauty,
grace, nobility, these are the things that music can bring to us as human beings
and I think that it is well that we who make music keep that in our
consciousness.” Gerry Mulligan. An Interview in Verona, Italy.
March 26, 1990
Gerry Mulligan’s music delivers all that with excellent, tight,
beautiful and/or swinging arrangements. Give
a listen here to his Concert Jazz Band—all 13 members— playing another moderate-sized
club, The Village Vanguard in NYC, and see how you feel about it.
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