Westport Public Library MOVIE & MUSIC Blog

Friday, April 6, 2007 marks the 80th birthday anniversary of the great jazz saxophonist Gerry Mulligan. He was an influential figure in the history of modern jazz and contemporary music and was gifted as an arranger, composer, conductor, and performer. He played with such notable jazz musicians as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, etc. His accolades included twenty-nine consecutive Down Beat Readers Poll awards, a Grammy Award for his album Walk on the Water, a 1982 Connecticut Arts Award, the Viotti Prize, the Duke Ellington medal, induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame for the milestone album Birth of the Cool, The American Jazz Hall of Fame, the Down Beat Hall of Fame, and the Lionel Hampton School of Music's Jazz Hall of Fame.

Mulligan expanded the repertory of symphonic music for baritone sax by commissioning the Canadian composer Harry Freedman, to write The Sax Chronicles and by commissioning Cincinnati composer Frank Proto to compose The Saxophone Concerto. Mulligan's first composition for symphony orchestra and solo saxophone, Entente for Baritone Saxophone and Orchestra was performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. His first piece for orchestra alone, Momo's Clock, was premiered by the Concordia Orchestra in 1991.

One of his most memorable appearances was at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1992 with other famous saxophonists.

The Library invites you to try his music including Gerry Mulligan Quartets in Concert, Little Big Horn, and the 1969 All-Star White House Tribute to Duke Ellington.