Gerald Joseph “Gerry” Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996) from Quee… Read Full Bio ↴Gerald Joseph “Gerry” Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996) from Queens, NY was an American jazz baritone saxophonist, composer and arranger.

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

Speak Low
Gerry Mulligan Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Speak low when you speak, love,
Our summer day withers away
Too soon, too soon.

Speak low when you speak, love,
Our moment is swift, like ships adrift,
We're swept apart too soon.

Speak low, darling speak low,
Love is a spark lost in the dark,
Too soon, too soon,
I feel wherever I go
That tomorrow is near, tomorrow is here
And always too soon.

Time is so old and love so brief,
Love is pure gold and time a thief.
We're late darling, we're late,
The curtain descends, ev'rything ends
Too soon, too soon,
I wait darling, I wait

Will you speak low to me,
Speak love to me and soon.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Gerry Mulligan's song Speak Low speak about the fleeting nature of love and how it can disappear so quickly. The song encourages the listener to whisper sweet nothings, to love deeply but quietly because time is short, and love can be gone before we know it. The song starts with the instruction to speak low when speaking of love, a suggestion that speaking too loudly about love may bring an end to the relationship. The following lines describe how the summer days wither away, a metaphor for the relationship ending abruptly or before its time. The metaphor of ships adrift and being swept apart emphasizes the importance of enjoying the moment while it lasts because love can disappear quickly.

The chorus, "Speak low, darling speak low, Love is a spark lost in the dark, Too soon, too soon," is a reminder that love can be extinguished suddenly, and the singer implores their lover to speak of it quietly to preserve it. The second verse continues the metaphor of time and the brevity of love. The singer feels as though tomorrow is always near, emphasizing the urgency of living in the moment. "Time is so old and love so brief, Love is pure gold and time a thief," is a line that highlights the preciousness of love and how time can take it away. The last part of the song describes the end of the relationship as the curtain descends and everything ends too soon. The singer waits for their lover to speak low, to speak of their love before it's too late.

Line by Line Meaning

Speak low when you speak, love,
Lower your voice when you speak of love

Our summer day withers away
Our time together is fleeting and quickly fading

Too soon, too soon.
Our time together is ending too quickly

Our moment is swift, like ships adrift,
Our time together is short and unsteady, like a ship without an anchor

We're swept apart too soon.
Our time together is coming to an end too quickly

Speak low, darling speak low,
Whisper to me softly, my dear

Love is a spark lost in the dark,
Love is a fleeting feeling that can disappear quickly

I feel wherever I go
No matter where I am, I feel

That tomorrow is near, tomorrow is here
The future is always close, almost here

And always too soon.
And it always comes too quickly

Time is so old and love so brief,
Time has been around for ages, but love is fleeting