AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Gerry Mulligan's New Sextet

Artist:Gerry Mulligan's New Sextet

Song:Out Back of the Barn

Album:Idol Gossip

Of course Gerry Mulligan is the main proponent of the baritone saxophone. There haven't been many guys who have played it over the years. After playing on Miles Davis' classic album Birth of the Cool, Mulligan moved to Los Angeles and had his greatest success playing with trumpeter Chet Baker in the 50s for Pacific Jazz Records. They changed their name to World Pacific in 1957. They were sold to Liberty Records in 1965. Like many jazz musicians, Mulligan went through a dry period in the 60s. He recorded for Verve, Philips and Mercury's Limelight label. It was a time when jazz was looking for a new direction that could also have commercial potential. That came with the 1969 album Bitches Brew by Miles Davis and the creation of jazz rock fusion. But Mulligan was one of many bebop or cool jazz musicians who weren't interested in fusion. So Mulligan bounced around a lot especially in the 70s. After Dave Brubeck's quartet split up in 1967, he formed a new band with Mulligan that lasted until 1973. They recorded for Columbia. After that, Mulligan recorded usually for small labels. This 1976 album by Gerry Mulligan's New Sextet was recorded for Chiaroscoro Records. This label was owned by Hank O'Neal. He started out a photographer and he started Chiaroscuro in 1970. He was good friends with Eddie Condon and those are the kind of musicians who recorded for Chiaroscuro. From what I could tell, Idol Gossip was Mulligan's only album for Chiaroscuro. The album cover is awful. The songs are mostly original compositions. The band is Dave Samuels on vibraphone, Tom Fay on piano, Mike Santiago on guitar, George Duvivier on bass and Bob Rosengarden on drums. Fay and Santiago worked regularly with Mulligan during this period. Samuels was just starting his career. Duvivier was a veteran sideman since the late 40s. Rosengarden was leading The Dick Cavett Show band at the time. It's easy to overlook an album on a small label. Mulligan seemed to prefer working with big bands and symphony orchestras in the 80s. He recorded occasionally except for 90s run on Telarc. He died on Jan. 20, 1996 at age 68. Here's Gerry Mulligan and his Big Band performing Out Back of the Barn at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague, The Netherlands July 16, 1982.