© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.
Telarc was founded by Jack Renner and Robert Woods, two classically trained musicians and music teachers, in 1977 and was initially focused on Classical music. The label is renowned for its high end audio quality. Telarc subsequently added Jazz recordings with the addition of artists such as Erroll Garner, Dave Burbeck, Ray Brown and Gerry Mulligan to the label’s line-up.
With John Snyder admirably serving in the role of producer on all of them, Gerry Mulligan produced three late-in-his career recordings for Telarc that I’d like to highlight for you mainly because - like fine wine - Jeru’s playing mellowed on all of them to produce some of the most sublime soloing over the course of his 50+ year career.
Ironically, for many Jazz Masters who reach a high level of creativity in the latter years of their playing, there is no record company interested in documenting such maturity.
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case with Gerry as John Snyder was able to muster the necessary resources to bring Mulligan in the Telarc studios to record Paraiso: Gerry Mulligan with Jane Duboc Vocals - Jazz Brazil [CD-83361] in 1993, Dream A Little Dream of Me, The Gerry Mulligan Quartet [CD-83364] in 1994 and Dragonfly, The Gerry Mulligan Quartet [CD83377] in 1995.In addition to the superb artistry represented on these recordings, Telarc’s timing couldn't have been better as Gerry died in 1996.
Gerry wrote the insert notes to Dream A Little Dream of Me, The Gerry Mulligan Quartet[CD-83364]. It’s always nice to hear the artist’s perspective on the music and, not surprisingly, Gerry was as articulate in his writing as he was in his playing. He uses each tune on the album as a point-of-departure for his comments.
Nobody Else But Me
I fell in love with this tune the first time I heard it. Jerome Kern, who wrote the song with Oscar Hammerstein II, had a knack lor injecting harmonic interest in a tune, and yet making it sound simple. A great example of this is "All the Things You Are," which wanders all over the place but still is a melody that everyone can remember. In this tune there is a modulation in the harmonic progression in the fifth and sixth bars that's unusual and very satisfying.
Home (When Shadows Fall)
Our rendition of this tune is perhaps a little more down-home than the original intention of the author. I remember hearing the tune on the radio as a child, and, as a matter of fact, it was written by Peter Van Sleeden who was the band leader on the Fred Allen Radio Show.
Dream a Little Dream
Mama Cass made this song her own when she recorded it some years ago, and understandably so. It's a tune that is fun to play and has more harmonic and melodic interest than one might first suspect. There's a little harmonic twist right in the fourth bar that makes it all worthwhile.
I'll Be Around
Alec Wilder was often a neighbor of mine at the Algonquin Hotel in New York. We became great friends, and he wrote two pieces for chamber groups, featuring baritone saxophone. I'll Be Around is probably his best-known song, for which he wrote both words and music. Ted and I play it here as a duet, just baritone and piano.
They Say It's Wonderful
Irving Berlin had a long career in songwriting, and his songs reflect the period in which they were written. For instance, this song is from a later period of his writing from a show called Call Me Madam, which I remember very well. I always thought it was a very hip-sounding tune from Berlin, and I think that it represents the fact that he kept listening to what was going on around him.
The Real Thing
This is a tune of mine for which Mel Torme wrote a lyric. We play it here for the first time as an instrumental.
Noblesse
Ray Noble was a songwriter and a band leader for whom I had great admiration. He came here in the Thirties from England, and subsequently his band was home to many famous musicians of the time, including Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey. Jimmy Dorsey, Claude Thornhill, and many more. He wrote a number of memorable tunes of which the best known to jazz audiences is "Cherokee." Noblesse is my tribute to Ray Noble.
Here's That Rainy Day
This is another complex song that doesn't sound complex. As you may gather, I love songs that have some interesting twists in the harmonic progression but manage to sound accessible all the same, and this is another example with modulations right in the first couple of bars. Even though it goes through a number of keys, it's still very memorable.
Georgia On My Mind
This is a wonderful song by Hoagy Carmichael that I first played on a record date with Jay McShann, and I think of Jay every time I play it.
My Funny Valentine
Our original version of this featured Chet Baker on trumpet and was one of the first recordings of the piano-less quartet. It's a wonderful Rodgers and Hart song that I enjoy doing here as a duet with Bill Mays on piano.
As Close as Pages in a Book
Bill Mays has played with the Quartet many times over the years, and so when he came to visit us at the studio when we were recording this album, I immediately sat him down and recorded a pair of duets with him; the above mentioned My Funny Valentine and As Close As Pages In a Book. This piece by Sigmund Romberg is interesting and unusual to me because I always think of Sigmund Romberg as a writer of operettas, and he is certainly much better known for pieces in the "Stout-Hearted Men'' genre. So this very American-sounding song is unexpected.
My Shining Hour
This is a very pretty tune by two of our finest songwriters, Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. I always regret not getting to write with Johnny. We talked of it many times but the opportunity never arose.
Walking Shoes
This is another tune that was recorded by the original piano-less quartet. I also wrote an arrangement of it for the Stan Kenton Band, among others. The title derived from the fact that I had recently hitchhiked to California.
Song For Strayhorn
I had great admiration for Billy Strayhorn and his music. He wrote beautiful melodies and could then turn around and write a swinging band chart such as "Take the A Train." I'll always remember Billy playing and singing "Lush Life" at home in the living room in the late fifties. Song For Strayhorn is my tribute to him.
— Gerry Mulligan
Gordon Jack wrote the following review of the recording for JazzJournal.
GERRY MULLIGAN QUARTET DREAM A LITTLE DREAM
(1) Nobody Else But Me; Home When Shadows Fall; Dream A Little Dream; I’ll Be Around; They Say It's Wonderful; The Real Thing; Noblesse; Here's That Rainy Day; Georgia; (2) My Funny Valentine; As Close As Pages In A Book; (1) My Shining Hour; Walkin' Shoes; Song For Strayhorn (66.35)
(1) Gerry Mulligan (bar); Ted Rosenthal (p); Dean Johnson (b); Ron Vincent (d).
(2) as (1) omit Rosenthal, Johnson, Vincent. Add Bill Mays (p). NYC, April 14,16, 28, 29,1994
(Telarc CD-83364)
“For many listeners of a certain age the Gerry Mulligan Quartet will always mean the piano-less group he led off and on from 1952 to 1965. However for fifteen years prior to his death in 1996 he often performed in the context heard here with piano, bass and drums. I once asked him about this instrumental change and he said that playing with a piano gave him the chance to play the melody a little more.
For this reissue he chose a well balanced set of superior standards (both well known and fairly obscure) together with four originals. Of the latter, Walkin’ Shoes of course needs no introduction. Noblesse comes from his 1986 album with Scott Hamilton; Song For Strayhorn is a deeply felt homage to one of his major influences and dates from a 1974 concert with Chet Baker and The Real Thing is a poignant ballad he co-wrote with Mel Torme in 1980. It was introduced when he was a guest on the singer's Live At Marty's CD, sadly now unavailable.
Elsewhere he concentrates on classics from The Great American Songbook displaying an almost feather-like touch on the baritone, an instrument not
noted for its delicacy. It should also be remembered that when soloing, he rarely ventured into the bottom fifth of the instrument (Ab concert) preferring to construct long, lyrical lines in the middle and upper registers.
Even so the gravitas of the baritone often gives even his slightest phrase the profundity of an epigram. This is especially true on ballads, as he demonstrates throughout this enjoyable set where tempos rarely move above a gentle stroll, except Nobody Else But Me, They Say It's Wonderful (both 44 bars to the minute) and My Shining Hour (48 bars to the minute).
The superb rhythm section had toured extensively with Mulligan for two years prior to this recording and was well attuned to his needs. Dean Johnson, a brilliant bass player, had actually been with him since 1987 and on two titles the leader is joined by his former pianist Bill Mays for a duet. This reissue features superlative ballad playing by one of the masters and is recommended.”
- Gordon Jack