1972 Gerry Mulligan – The Age Of Steam

Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger.  Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also a significant 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 best cool jazz groups. Mulligan was also a skilled pianist and played several other reed instruments. Several of his compositions, such as “Walkin’ Shoes” and “Five Brothers”, have become jazz standards.

In 1971, Gerry Mulligan created his most significant work for big band in over a decade, for the album The Age of Steam. At various times in the 1970s he performed with Charles Mingus. The Concert Jazz Band was “reformed” with younger players, including a full-time pianist in Mitchel Formann, in 1978, and toured at various times through the 1980s.