Nocturne [CD]

Gerry Mulligan - Nocturne In the role of leader, Mulligan prepared scores that always made jazz a conversation between musicians. Playing was first and foremost an exchange of ideas. Mulligan had an unwavering sense of logic and had shown it from a very young age. The first great result came in the historic recordings of "Birth of the Cool": the leader was Miles Davis but the éminence grise was above all this boy in his early twenties. "It was a concert recorded in Bologna exactly the day after Jeru's sixty-fifth birthday. For that evening in Bologna Mulligan had brought his trusty Dean Johnson and RonVincent, who accompanied him in the last part of his career (he would die a little less than four years later). At the piano sat Harold Danko, whose contribution in mainstream contexts has always been first-rate. And yet his gaze, his sense of humor, his style - and anyone who attended one of his concerts can confirm this - everything has remained lively: as if the crew cut was no longer in his head but somewhere in his soul. Furthermore, while maintaining his sense of logic unchanged, this mature Mulligan knows how to get to the heart of things on stage. If he has to swing, he does it with all the warmth possible. Of the compositions from his golden years, such as Line for Lyons and Walkin' Shoes, he gives us versions that bring memory back to life. But it is in the more intimate pieces that we find the art of the latest Mulligan at it's best. Among these stands out Song for Strayhorn, a tribute to Duke Ellington's right-hand man. Billy Strayhorn was perhaps the musician who influenced him the most in his youth as a composer and arranger. For us who listen to him in Bologna, Mulligan finds the sincerest and most emotional notes to honor that little great man. "