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
When I began listening to saxophones, I was first attracted to Coleman Hawkins
People are approaching electronic levels in music; although not all of it happens to tickle my fancy
Then, of course, I played alto and tenor, wherever there were jobs.
The other saxophones, except as solo instruments, really don't have much point in the orchestra
You can make a saxophone into an electric organ; you can do everything with it
The baritone can serve functions that the alto and tenor cannot, in orchestral voicing
Life on the road is murder. It's as though life begins and ends when you have your horn in your mouth.
This life of being a transient human being has gotten to a point when it's very hard to bear
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