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| Photo by Dave Pell |
Sudden fame, being photogenic, and justified anger from Miles Davis and possibly other Afro-American musicians, have somewhat obscured the fact that the original Gerry Mulligan pianoless quartet with Chet Baker was quite a concept: a combo without piano, with an awkward front line of baritone sax and trumpet, who could and did play counterpoint, a counterpoint that at least sometimes sounded completely improvised. Bear in mind, too, that Mulligan was 25 (and Baker a mere 22) at the time and had already contributed half the arrangements to the studio recordings of Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool.
To be fair, in the same way this quartet has not been justly appreciated, Mulligan's and, especially, Baker's careers have been partially obscured by the recordings in today's playlist. I won't even enter in all the clichés about "cool" and/or "West Coast" jazz, or whether Baker could or could not play. Let the music speak for itself.
The recordings in this playlist were made in about nine months, between August 16th, 1952, and May 20th, 1953. They come from three labels, Pacific Jazz (which the group practically launched), Fantasy, and GNP Crescendo. A few curiosities: the band's theme, "Utter Chaos" is a poorly disguised "A Smo-o-o-oth One", a classic Benny Goodman/Charlie Christian tune (based itself on "Love Is Just Around the Corner"); also, you can hear members of the band singing long notes to complete the harmonies and make up for the lack of more instruments in "Darn that Dream" and "My Funny Valentine" (this version, arranged by bass man Carson Smith, 'made' Chet Baker and turned this ballad into a standard).
A note on discography: While I was preparing the playlist, I noticed that the double-CD set released by Lone Hill Jazz with all the master takes of this combo carries a version of "All the Things You Are", which doesn't appear in the discography I used, by Gérard Dugelay and Kenneth Hallqvist. I checked it, and it's an edit of a tune recorded in 1957, for a reunion album released by Pacific Jazz. The tune in the Lone Hill set is exactly the one from 1957, except that it's missing the first chorus in Chet Baker's solo, and Henry Grimes's solo (one chorus - you may not know it, but Grimes did have quite a pre-avant garde career; he celebrated his 75th on Wednesday, by the way). Richard Bock, owner and producer of Pacific Jazz was known for his editing, so that's probably the reason for that mistake. On the other hand, I've included "Aren't You Glad You're You" (recorded at The Haig) from that double CD because it's the only version I've found with Mulligan's spoken introduction.
Enjoy!
To be fair, in the same way this quartet has not been justly appreciated, Mulligan's and, especially, Baker's careers have been partially obscured by the recordings in today's playlist. I won't even enter in all the clichés about "cool" and/or "West Coast" jazz, or whether Baker could or could not play. Let the music speak for itself.
The recordings in this playlist were made in about nine months, between August 16th, 1952, and May 20th, 1953. They come from three labels, Pacific Jazz (which the group practically launched), Fantasy, and GNP Crescendo. A few curiosities: the band's theme, "Utter Chaos" is a poorly disguised "A Smo-o-o-oth One", a classic Benny Goodman/Charlie Christian tune (based itself on "Love Is Just Around the Corner"); also, you can hear members of the band singing long notes to complete the harmonies and make up for the lack of more instruments in "Darn that Dream" and "My Funny Valentine" (this version, arranged by bass man Carson Smith, 'made' Chet Baker and turned this ballad into a standard).
A note on discography: While I was preparing the playlist, I noticed that the double-CD set released by Lone Hill Jazz with all the master takes of this combo carries a version of "All the Things You Are", which doesn't appear in the discography I used, by Gérard Dugelay and Kenneth Hallqvist. I checked it, and it's an edit of a tune recorded in 1957, for a reunion album released by Pacific Jazz. The tune in the Lone Hill set is exactly the one from 1957, except that it's missing the first chorus in Chet Baker's solo, and Henry Grimes's solo (one chorus - you may not know it, but Grimes did have quite a pre-avant garde career; he celebrated his 75th on Wednesday, by the way). Richard Bock, owner and producer of Pacific Jazz was known for his editing, so that's probably the reason for that mistake. On the other hand, I've included "Aren't You Glad You're You" (recorded at The Haig) from that double CD because it's the only version I've found with Mulligan's spoken introduction.
Enjoy!
~~~~~~~
La fama repentina, la fotogenia y el enfado justificado de Miles Davis y, supongo, otros músicos afroamericanos, han eclipsado en cierta medida el hecho de que el primer cuarteto sin piano de Gerry Mulligan con Chet Baker era un concepto muy novedoso: un combo sin piano, con una primera línea chocante de saxo barítono y trompeta, que podía tocar y tocaba contrapunto, que además a veces sonaba improvisado... Téngase en cuenta, también, que Mulligan tenía 25 añitos cuando inauguró el grupo (Baker tenía 22), y que cuatro años atrás ya había aportado la mitad de los arreglos grabados en estudio por la banda de Miles Davis de Birth of the Cool.
Siendo justos, de la misma manera que este cuarteto no ha sido justamente valorado por los motivos correctos (los musicales), las grabaciones que conforman la selección de hoy también ha oscurecido parcialmente las carreras de Mulligan y, sobre todo, Baker. Ni me meto en disquisiciones sobre el jazz "cool" y/o "West Coast", o si Baker podía tocar o no. Que hable la música por sí misma.
Esta colección se grabó en apenas nueve meses, entre el 16 de agosto de 1952 y el 20 de mayo de 1953. Proceden de los archivos de tres sellos, Pacific Jazz (que nació con el grupo), Fantasy y GNP Crescendo. Un par de curiosidades: el tema de presentación del grupo, "Utter Chaos", es una versión de "A Smo-o-o-oth One", un clásico de 1941 del sexteto de Benny Goodman con Charlie Christian (basado a su vez en "Love Is Just Around the Corner"); además, se puede oír a miembros de la banda haciendo voces para completar las armonías en "Darn that Dream" y "My Funny Valentine" (versión arreglada por el bajista Carson Smith que lanzó a Chet Baker y convirtió esa balada en standard).
Un apunte discográfico: al preparar la lista, me di cuenta de que el doble CD publicado por Lone Hill Jazz con todas las tomas máster de este combo trae una versión de "All the Things You Are" que no aparece en la discografía que he utilizado, de Gérard Dugelay y Kenneth Hallqvist. Tras un par de escuchas, parece que no procede de estas primeras sesiones, sino que es una versión editada de una grabación de 1957, incluida en un disco de Pacific Jazz que reunía a Baker y Mulligan. El tema del disco Lone Hill es idéntico al de 1957, salvo dos vueltas que le faltan, la primera del solo de Chet Baker y la del solo de contrabajo de Henry Grimes (que tuvo una interesante carrera pre-avant garde y que anteayer cumplió 75 añitos). Richard Bock, propietario y productor de Pacific Jazz era conocido por su afición a editar cintas, así que es probable que el error parta de ahí. Por el contrario, de ese doble CD he incluido la versión de "Aren't You Glad You're You" (grabada en directo en The Haig) porque es la única que he encontrado que incluye unas palabras de presentación de Mulligan.
¡Que lo disfruten!
2 comments:
Caviar para los oídos, no le he he hecho todavía una entrada al primer LP de Pacific Jazz complementando lo que puse de McNeil-McHenry porque no lo tenía a mano.
Gracias, Caye. Por si alguien se pregunta qué es "lo que [Cayetano puso] de McNeil-McHenry", está en su blog.
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