This newly discovered recording finds baritone sax maestro Gerry Mulligan in fine form and amidst good company in a no holds barred set notable for its fast pace and dextrous playing.

Mulligan is perhaps best remembered for his sinuous tunes and fine arrangements, including for Miles Davis’ Birth Of The Cool sessions, and also for his early quartet with trumpeter Chet Baker. This album comes from a slightly later time when Mulligan, by now an acclaimed star, was taking the chance to spread his wings and take advantage of the opportunities coming his way. A new quartet was formed with Art Farmer (trumpet), Bill Crow (bass) and Dave Bailey (drums). Following a successful appearance at Newport in 1958, they went into the studio to record What Is There To Say?, regarded as one of Mulligan’s finest. This is the band we hear here.

The set starts with a slightly unexpected introduction to the group members from drum star Gene Krupa. It turns out that Krupa’s Quartet was touring Europe on a Norman Granz package along with the Mulligan Quartet and the Jimmy Guiffre Three, with this Stockholm show on the programme. Now there’s an evening to savour! The band kicks in to As Catch Can, a spritely blowing vehicle at with Mulligan leading off. Art Farmer is a great partner on trumpet, more than capable of keeping up and adding brassy verve to the proceedings. Mulligan swings along with his soft tone belying the force of his playing. As with his previous quartet, this is a (mostly) chordless affair with no piano or guitar which means the horns have an extra role in hitting the harmonies and adding backing, which they do peerlessly.

Not entirely chordless though: Mulligan moves to the piano for I Can’t Get Started With You, with Farmer taking the melody in style. People sometimes talk about ‘arranger’s piano’, where a musician can play well enough to sort out an arrangement without particular virtuosity; Mulligan goes beyond this cliché with not just delicately chunky backings but also a well-paced solo laced with emotion as well as precision. Just In Time has the leader back on baritone, bouncing along with Bill Crow’s double bass underpinning the tune delightfully. It turns out that Crow is not only still with us at the age of 96, he also contributes sleeve notes recalling the band and the tour. Drummer Dave Bailey is a model of unshowy precision throughout.

Spring Is Spring is a classic Mulligan theme performed by the composer on piano. The altered blues sequences bounces along joyfully with a nicely played slowdown to close. Blueport is Farmer’s tune, a very unaltered blues which really pulls along with fine dynamics (Mulligan opens quietly and builds, plenty of outrageous quotes, Farmer picks up the baton until both are flat-out with breaks and swaps). The closing Utter Chaos is anything but, two and a half minutes of jaunty Mulligan magic, flirting with double time with all four musicians gelling marvellously.

This is a superb set, capturing the atmosphere of an evening more than 65 years ago as if it were yesterday. Bill Crow recalls that the Stockholm audience were particularly appreciative and friendly, which seems to have encouraged the musicians to a relaxed on-the-money performance. Well worth chasing up.

from https://ukjazznews.com