Gerry Mulligan - The Pacific Jazz Collection (2017)

Widely respected and revered inside and out of jazz circles, Gerry Mulligan retains a reputation as one of the foremost figures on the West Coast scene, as a musician, an arranger and a composer. Primarily a baritone saxophonist, Mulligan was also an accomplished pianist, and could play too numerous other reed instruments. Although he often worked closely with many other legendary players - including Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington - it was on his albums as bandleader that Mulligan laid the foundations for his continuing legacy. His quartets throughout the early 1950s produced some of the most important recordings of the cool jazz genre, and some of the very best of these were released during his tenure at Pacific Jazz records, between 1952 and 1959. This collection, spanning four CDs, containing in completion over five hours of music, collates Gerry Mulligan s output for the Pacific Jazz label. Featuring nine original releases, all remastered to the highest possible quality and spanning from his earliest 10 records for the label to his final albums put out by their World Pacific arm - contained within are some of the most important records in the development of West Coast jazz, a selection that has guided and informed this sub-genre since. Featuring appearances too from Chet Baker, Bob Brookmeyer, Zoot Sims, Lee Konitz and Chico Hamilton among others, this compilation serves as the perfect introduction to this esteemed musician and arranger, and as a welcome reminder of how the great Gerry Mulligan fitted into and helped develop the entire history of post-WW2 American music.