Mulligan started on the piano before learning clarinet and the various saxophones. His initial reputation was as an arranger. In 1944 he wrote charts for Johnny Warrington's radio band and soon was making contributions to the books of Tommy Tucker and George Paxton. He moved to New York in 1946 and joined Gene Krupa's Orchestra as a staff arranger; his most notable chart was "Disc Jockey Jump." The rare times he played with Krupa's band was on alto and the same situation existed when he was with Claude Thornhill in 1948.
Gerry Mulligan's first notable recorded work on baritone was with Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool nonet (1948-50) but once again his arrangements ("Godchild," "Darn That Dream" and three of his originals "Jeru," "Rocker" and "Venus de Milo") were more significant than his short solos. Mulligan spent much of 1949 writing for Elliot Lawrence's orchestra and playing anonymously in the saxophone section. It was not until 1951 that he began to get a bit of attention for his work on baritone. Mulligan recorded with his own nonet for Prestige, displaying an already recognizable sound. After he traveled to Los Angeles, he wrote some arrangements for Stan Kenton (including "Youngblood," "Swing House" and "Walking Shoes"), worked at the Lighthouse and then gained a regular Monday night engagement at the Haig. Around this time Mulligan realized that he enjoyed the extra freedom of soloing without a pianist. He jammed with trumpeter Chet Baker and soon their magical rapport was featured in his piano-less quartet. The group caught on quickly in 1952 and made both Mulligan and Baker into stars.
A drug bust put Mulligan out of action and ended that quartet but, when he was released from jail in 1954, Mulligan began a new musical partnership with valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer that was just as successful. Trumpeter Jon Eardley and Zoot Sims on tenor occasionally made the group a sextet and in 1958 trumpeter Art Farmer was featured in Mulligan's Quartet. Being a very flexible player with respect for other stylists, Mulligan went out of his way to record with some of the great musicians he admired. At the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival he traded off with baritonist Harry Carney on "Prima Bara Dubla" while backed by the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and during 1957-60 he recorded separate albums with Thelonious Monk, Paul Desmond, Stan Getz, Ben Webster and Johnny Hodges. Mulligan played on the classic Sound of Jazz television special in 1958 and appeared in the movies I Want to Live and The Subterraneans.
During 1960-64 Mulligan led his Concert Jazz Band which gave him an opportunity to write, play baritone and occasionally double on piano. The orchestra at times included Brookmeyer, Sims, Clark Terry and Mel Lewis. Mulligan was a little less active after the big band broke up but he toured extensively with the Dave Brubeck Quartet (1968-72), had a part-time big band in the 1970s (the Age of Steam), doubled on soprano for a period, led a mid-'70s sextet that included vibraphonist Dave Samuels, and in 1986 jammed on a record with Scott Hamilton. In the 1990s he toured the world with his excellent "no-name" quartet and led a "Rebirth of the Cool Band" that performed and recorded remakes of the Miles Davis Nonet classics. Up until the end, Gerry Mulligan was always eager to play. Gerry Mulligan died on January 20th, 1996 in Darien, CT.
Among Mulligan's compositions were "Walkin' Shoes," "Line for Lyons," "Bark for Barksdale," "Nights at the Turntable," "Utter Chaos," "Soft Shoe," "Bernie's Tune," "Blueport," "Song for Strayhorn," "Song for an Unfinished Woman" and "I Never Was a Young Man" (which he often sang). He recorded extensively through the years for such labels as Prestige, Pacific Jazz, Capitol, Vogue, EmArcy, Columbia, Verve, Milestone, United Artists, Philips, Limelight, A&M, CTI, Chiaroscuro, Who's Who, DRG, Concord and GRP. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
Jeru
Gerry Mulligan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Bring all of your fam'ly and I will bring mine
If I should bring my brothers, and you bring the others
Then I can sing a song like Jeru, just for you
Just for all the lovely people that you see in the road
We'll sing them a song in Jeruvian mode
If I can have a pref'rence, I'll even make ref'rence
Then if you'd be kind enough to tell me why you
write these extended bridges
can it be romance that always
haunts me in my reverie?
So why not come on over 'bout a quarter to eight
If you can come early I'll never be late
And now you're all invited, I hope you're delighted
To sing a little song like Jeru, just for you
just for me too
Gather around, tale to be told
Maybe it's new, maybe it's old, listen my friend
Blowin' away, doin' alright
Plain' all day, workin' all night, listen again
Movin' along, coverin' ground
Singin' the song, lovin' the sound, listen and then
blow together birds of a feather
Out playin' the blues and "I Got Rhythm"
All at once a moment came without a warning
Got so hot we had to cool it
Go for glory, tell you the story
Out payin' our dues until we found we were
assisting at an unexpected borning
'twas the birth of the Cool
So now I can tell you why I'm always
Trying to tell you, listen, come with me,
New York, and we're together in my reverie
So why don't you come over 'bout a quarter to two
Forget all the others, just me and just you
And while we're versifying
We'd better start trying
To write another song just for me
Just for you, one more Jeru
The lyrics to Gerry Mulligan's song "Jeru" depict a scene where the singer invites a group of people over to sing a song "like Jeru" just for them. The song is a nod to the musician Miles Davis, who Mulligan played with in the late 1940s and early 1950s. "Jeru" is a nickname for Davis, referring to his middle name, Jerome. The lyrics reflect on the birth of the cool jazz movement that was pioneered by Davis, Mulligan, and other musicians in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The song emphasizes the importance of community and shared experience, with the singer inviting both their own family and friends as well as the other's. The lyrics also contain a reference to the extended improvised solos that were common in bebop and cool jazz music, with the singer asking why these "extended bridges" are always present and suggesting that it may be due to the romantic influence on the musician's reverie.
Line by Line Meaning
Why don't you come over 'bout a quarter to nine
Let's meet at around 8:45 in the evening
Bring all of your fam'ly and I will bring mine
Let's gather our respective families for the meeting
If I should bring my brothers, and you bring the others
If I bring my family members and you bring yours
Then I can sing a song like Jeru, just for you
I'll play Jeru for you and your family
Just for all the lovely people that you see in the road
For all the people we meet outside our meeting
We'll sing them a song in Jeruvian mode
We'll play Jeru for them
If I can have a pref'rence, I'll even make ref'rence
If possible, I'll reference Jeru in our discussion
To why you write a song like Jeru, just for you
Why I wrote a song like Jeru and played it for you and your family
Then if you'd be kind enough to tell me why you
If you could kindly explain why you
write these extended bridges
Use the extended bridges in your music
can it be romance that always
Is it because of romance
haunts me in my reverie?
That these memories of love and nostalgia come to me?
So why not come on over 'bout a quarter to eight
Why not come a little earlier, around 7:45 in the evening
If you can come early I'll never be late
If you come early, I won't be late for our meeting
And now you're all invited, I hope you're delighted
You and your family are invited, and I hope you're happy about it
To sing a little song like Jeru, just for you
We'll play Jeru for you and your family
just for me too
And for me as well
Gather around, tale to be told
Let's gather around and tell a story
Maybe it's new, maybe it's old, listen my friend
It may be new or old, but listen carefully
Blowin' away, doin' alright
Playing our music, doing well
Plain' all day, workin' all night, listen again
Playing music all day, working all night, listen once more
Movin' along, coverin' ground
Moving forward, making progress
Singin' the song, lovin' the sound, listen and then
Singing our song, loving the sound, and then listen
blow together birds of a feather
Play together, because we share the same interests
Out playin' the blues and "I Got Rhythm"
Playing the blues and "I Got Rhythm" outdoors
All at once a moment came without a warning
Suddenly, a significant event occurred
Got so hot we had to cool it
Things were getting too intense, so we had to take a break
Go for glory, tell you the story
Let's aspire for greatness and I'll tell you the tale
Out payin' our dues until we found we were
We were paying our dues until we finally realized
assisting at an unexpected borning
That we were assisting in the birth of something new and unexpected
'twas the birth of the Cool
It was the birth of this new sound, the Cool
So now I can tell you why I'm always
Now I can finally tell you why I always
Trying to tell you, listen, come with me,
Trying to tell you to listen and come with me
New York, and we're together in my reverie
To visit New York and be together in this nostalgic memory I have
So why don't you come over 'bout a quarter to two
Why don't you come around 1:45 in the night
Forget all the others, just me and just you
Just you and me, forget about everyone else
And while we're versifying
While we're writing our poetry
We'd better start trying
We should start trying
To write another song just for me
To write another song, just for me
Just for you, one more Jeru
Just for you, another performance of Jeru
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: GERRY MULLIGAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Ronald Unkel
Well Jarvis you’ve done it again. This a “cracker” album by mr GM and his very cool-swingers, and intermingled with the happy and sensual conga beat. Just a great LP and hopefully the young(er) generation will appreciate this swingin’ Jazz music from days gone by. Enjoy & Cheers!
Sello Bodibe
Ronald I am with you on this one Gerry with the familiar artists the like Ben, Tommy and Bailey the young generation should not have difficult appreciating this album. GM is causal playing soft and cool giving enough time to follow and create sufficient space enjoy and I love it.
Ronald Unkel
lastknowngood0 Well you got me stumped there LKG. I’m from Australia and the word cracker for us has different meanings. Like... “she’s a cracker”...meaning bloody good or even useless. Or it’s a “cracker of a day”. Or she/he gone “crackers”, meaning the’ve gone “bonkers”, in fact meaning the’ve gone silly or gone of the rails. I assume you are American and use different connotations. The original English language is not just confined to the Americanisation. Good talking to you and G’day! Nevertheless enjoy this “whitey” album & Cheers!
Ronald Unkel
Najponk Jazz Thank you my friend. We’ll keep swingin’ till the end of days.... cheers!
Najponk Jazz
Amen to that Ronald 👍
Rob Kay
I’ve been into Gerry since I was ten now I’m 67! He’s the best, ok so Ben Webster and Colman Hawkins are amazing but mulligan is —words fail me, Robbie.
Isaac Dugdale
Excellent sounds, thanks for the upload!
ROMUALDO MATEOS RAMOS
Sedoso bálsamo musical indicado para cualquier afección sentimental. Basta con dejarse llevar por los limpios y saludables acordes de la melodía. Sueñen,respiren hondo,lloren si así lo desean, descarguen todo aquello que les aprieta,les coarta,les impide verse.
Onserf Dez
Oh Jerry, when I think of Bari Saxophones, I think of YOU. Well, now, Leo P too. Love the sound and the joyful and lyrical concepts.!
Ronald Unkel
Onserf Dez My favourite bari-player is in fact Leo (Mad Lad) Parker. Who sadly died too young. His best (last 2 LP’s) are on Blue Note records. But i’m sure you know these. Cheers!