Album of the Week: October 12- 18

[Soulstation1]

i know a few of us have this classic set.

any fav songs?

ss1

[jacknife]

We're talking about this one right, the 2cd West Coast classic set. Geez, I forgot I even had this, I'll have to pull it out give it a spin. I don't even remember what it's like.

[Chuck Nessa]

Had a couple 10" and 12" lps, the Mosaic lps and now the BN set. Very fine playing in the "sewing machine" mode. Worthwhile, but not essential.

[JohnS]

There's a danger of overdosing on Mulligan at the moment, my CJB Mosaic has just arrived. Rather than play the PJ 2cd set I gave a listen to the GNP and Fantsay sides. It was some of the first jazz I heard and enjoyed some small popular success in the mid-fifties. Anyway I loved this music then and I love it now. It's always pleasurable, not too demanding and,in places, swings like mad.

I can't really imagine anyone not enjoying this fine quartet.

[JSngry]

This was a group that ws greater than the sum of its parts, I'd say, and perhaps most importantly, a true group, due to Mulligan's arrangements. He was a fine player, but I've always enjoyed his writing more than his playing. The writing for this group is superb - inventive, daring in its use of dissonances (check out the ending tag to "Makin' Whoopee" for a good example), and quite often rule-breaking (such as having the bari voiced above the trumpet). Nobody really got more variety of sounds and textures out of a simple two-horn front line than Mulligan, at least not for quite some time. Factor in Chico Hamilton's minimalistic yet sometimes totally wack drum punctuations and the willingness to let the varying bassists stand totally alone in spots, not for a solo, but for a part, and you get a sound that was pretty radical for its day, and onethat still sounds distinctive.

Chuck's "sewing machine" comment is dead-on - this was not a group of heavy duty improvisors who pushed any improvisatory boundaries. If anything, they were somewhat retro (I believe the term "bopsieland" was used on more than one occasion to describe them), and yeah, the whole thing just chug-chug-chugged along. But that's not what draws me to this music - it's the sounds themselves, the way that the whole group weaves in and out of itself within that constant chugging. Nobody leaps out, they just kinda jog back and forth, yet within that sameness, there's a LOT of movement going on internally. A very "wholistic" group, I think. Again, the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. I don't find it to be anything life-changing, but there's more than enough going on to intrest and entertain me for any number of pleasurable stretches. It's real, and it's still different, and that's enough to make me grin.

Favorite tune?

"Walkin' Shoes".

Why?

Just because.

It's that kind of music, and that kind of a band.

[danasgoodstuff]

"Utter Chaos #2", great for filling small gaps at the end of tapes, great title and just plain great!

[Late]

I don't think this music was ever intended to be life-changing. "Wholistic," though, I think is a good term for what Gerry achieved with the music of this group. Considering its proximity historically to Birth of the Cool, and also factoring in the hugely dominant influence of Charlie Parker's musical aesthetic at the time, I think this music is essential, and, at times, somewhat ground-breaking. It's far more melodic than bebop, and nevertheless maintains most of bebop's ethos. What's not ground-breaking to me is the omission of the piano, which a lot of writers seem to marvel at. It simply wasn't necessary. Having no piano allows you to better hear Bob Whitlock or Carson Smith (or Joe Mondragon), and to what extent they do, or do not, have an interplay with Baker or Mulligan. Baker never sounded as puckish as in this quartet, and Mulligan's playing with this group, I think, is still vastly under-examined. Listen to how he's nearly the complete polar opposite of Pepper Adams. Adams usually drives you into the wall with one dynamic marking (forte) for an entire solo, whereas Gerry, strangely like Cannonball Adderley after him, makes a dramatically wide use of dynamics throughout his solos. The tail-ends of pitches are often inflected with a vibrato not unlike Louis Armstrong's, and Mulligan also has the ability to smear some of his pitches (rather than attacking them head-on), again like Armstrong.

Chuck, you astound me. I like your comments about WTF people are listening for in recordings like The All Seeing Eye (which I love), and now I wonder WTF you listen for in this group's original recordings.

[BruceH]

This music took me a while to warm up to. Back in '91 I got the Mosaic set, but only a few of the tracks moved me; for most I felt 'outside' the music looking in, so to speak. (In fact, I actually---horror of horrors---sold it.) But I've listened to a lot more "West Coast"-type jazz since then and when I found this double-CD used and bought it on a whim recently I found the music instantly accessable. Just shows how your ears can stretch over time. Perhaps what left me cold a dozen years ago was the kind of "third streamy" (to use an absurd neologism) element to the music. Now that doesn't bother me at all. One thing I really like is the sense of clarity and space to the arrangements. You feel as if you can hear every note distinctly and follow every instrumental line at all times. That may be an illusion, but it's nice.

(JSnry, Late---good comments!!)

[DrJ]

Hard to add much more of substance, things have been expressed so well here. I have the Complete PJ Recordings of Mulligan/Baker 4 CD set that came out a few years back and quite enjoy it, even if it's not in my top drawer stuff category.

I particularly like Baker's playing from this era. Not perhaps very novel observations but here goes: sometimes he gets flack for being a Miles imitator, and other than having a soft-ish tone, I don't hear it at all. His approach to improvisation sounds completely different to me, he's one of those guys who you can really hear was literally playing it by ear rather than thinking a lot about how to approach a tune harmonically (even at his most melodic, I find Miles from this era still generally approached improv with a heavily harmonic approach). A lot of the time it resulted in some pleasantly "out of left field" ideas, both in terms of note choice and a tendency to cross bar lines - maybe not particularly heavy stuff but smile inducing and suprising. As the other side of that particular coin: sometimes you can literally hear himself getting wedged into and then hastily backing out of corners he finds himself in. And then there were some pitch problems, too. But you find yourself forgiving and even ROOTING for him because he comes up with so many of those little victories. A populist jazzer.

I would have liked a more daring bassist and drummer to push this music along at more than that "chug chug" pace, for sure, but it's generally delightful stuff.

[Clunky]

I have the 4CD set from a few years ago. I find myself listen to it in little bites and often wondering why I dont know the material better than I do. I can understand the concerns re "Chug chug" but sometimes thats just great to listen to. The Annie Ross sides don't do much for me though. I spun it the other night after the CJB materials and the original 4tet did seem limited by comparison. That said it sometimes just hits the right spot. ( of my left cerebral hemisphere)

[Larry Kart]

A passage from John Litweiler's "The Freedom Principle" that may have some bearing on Chuck's "sewing machine" remark:

"The relaxed, subdued atmosphere of West Coast jazz had a healthy acceptance of stylistic diversity and innovation, but it also accepted the emotional world of pop music at face value; even original themes are treated like more hip, more grown-up kinds of pop music. In bop's freest flights it could not escape reality, but these Californians were not aware of the conflict of values that was the source of bop."

I know, Mulligan and Baker were not really Californians, but I still think this makes a lot of sense. Also, Mulligan as a soloist usually strikes me as pretty earthbound, rhythmically and melodically; I think Baker is the real player of the two, though they do fit together damn well in what is undoubtedly Mulligan's concept.

[Chuck Nessa]

Chuck, you astound me. I like your comments about WTF people are listening for in recordings like The All Seeing Eye (which I love), and now I wonder WTF you listen for in this group's original recordings.

Happy to astound anyone.

As I stated in my earlier post, I've purchased this music in damn near any format created. I did not trash the music and much of my listening is to music I consider "not essential".

[Late]

That sewing machine sure made some fine clothes.

Chuck, I think I hear where you're coming from now. (Happy you're happy — q.v. Betty Davis ) The concision and relative ambiguity of your post let me read that statement — "worthwhile, but not essential" — as somewhat of a flip comment. So I flipped.

I've never really understood the parallel that writers frequently make between this quartet's music and "California" — as if Gerry were ostensibly trying to conjure images of the surf at Marina del Rey. To that I say: .

Chet Baker played like a Coppertone maiden, kissed by the sun and forever carefree.

[Chuck Nessa]

"Concision and relative ambiguity" are wonderful tools.

[GA Russell]

I had long wondered about this music, but had never seen it in a store. Mosaic sent me a catalogue, and I order the Monk and Mulligan boxes right away.

When I called to place the order, I spoke with Charlie Lourie, and I asked him how he got my name and address. "The jazz police."

What struck me about the Mulligan box was how influential the music was for French (and probably other European) movies a few years later. It was the sound of pianoless jazz.

It is my view that without this Quartet (and its popularity), we wouldn't have had West Coast jazz. Sure the Kenton alums would have made records and found Hollywood work, but the Mulligan Quartet is what made the style hip and popular.

So for its influence and its popularity, I will disagree with Chuck and say that it qualifies as essential in my book.

[Leeway]

Had a couple 10" and 12" lps, the Mosaic lps and now the BN set. Very fine playing in the "sewing machine" mode. Worthwhile, but not essential.

Sort of the Vivaldi of Jazz.

[danasgoodstuff]

i've got a spare copy of the Mosaic if any one here is interested...

[Kyo]

This was my first taste of West Coast jazz. I love it. Their quintet disc with Lee Konitz added is fantastic, too.

[fomafomic65]

I have the 4CD set from a few years ago. I find myself listen to it in little bites and often wondering why I dont know the material better than I do. I can understand the concerns re "Chug chug" but sometimes thats just great to listen to. The Annie Ross sides don't do much for me though. I spun it the other night after the CJB materials and the original 4tet did seem limited by comparison. That said it sometimes just hits the right spot. ( of my left cerebral hemisphere)

I had this cd box when it come out in 1996 too -very soon OOP. Then I remember I was already looking for "original" Mulligan quartet with Chet Baker's music, but had no hope to find all the original issues nor the Mosaic box. I fell in love with this music -and still I am. Remember the annoyed expression of my back-then-girlfriend when I used to listen to this music in the car... I had all the Mulligan classic recordings I could find after these cds. This music -even if I am a Big Band music lover and love Mulligan's CJB too- is timeless and like someone already said this group was more of the sum of its already great members.

I love ALL the first three cds tracks; a very favourite for me may be "Nights At The Turntable"