The Gerry Mulligan Songbook


The Gerry Mulligan Songbook is an album by American jazz saxophonist Gerry Mulligan featuring performances recorded in late 1957 and released on the World Pacific label.

Holman arrangements

This album features many arrangements by the composer/arrange Bill Holman. Gerry Mulligan kept the original parts and scores from this album which can be found in his special collection housed at the Library of Congress. Viewing the original scores housed at the Library of Congress, you will find that Holman had labeled the sax parts with the players he may have intended to perform this music. The sax parts are listed as follows:
After speaking with Bill Holman, he recalls that Richard Bock had come up with the idea for the album, but after Holman had finished the arrangements, Gerry Mulligan was not available in LA to record them. The music was recorded in New York in December 1957 with alternate players. The arrangement for Crazy Day, was not found in the collection with the other 6 arrangements. The finders guide for the Library of Congress lists Crazy Day in the collection, but has no score, only parts. The arrangements in this collection are pencil drawn in Bill Holman's handwriting. The parts were done by a copyist, unnamed, and are not in Mulligan or Holman's handwriting.

Critical reception

The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow stated "this was one of the rarer Gerry Mulligan albums. The original program consisted of seven Mulligan compositions played by a five-sax octet. The session has a few surprise touches, giving listeners the rare opportunity to hear Eager and Sims soloing on alto and Cohn doubling on baritone... Highly recommended for Gerry Mulligan fans".

Track listing

All compositions by Gerry Mulligan except as indicated
  1. "Four and One Moore" – 4:23
  2. "Crazy Day" – 7:05
  3. "Turnstile" – 7:53
  4. "Sextet" – 4:18
  5. "Disc Jockey Jump" – 4:35
  6. "Venus de Milo" – 5:08
  7. "Revelation" – 5:01
  8. "Mayreh" – 6:02 Bonus track on CD reissue
  9. "The Preacher" – 6:25 Bonus track on CD reissue
  10. "Good Bait" – 4:39 Bonus track on CD reissue
  11. "Bags' Groove" – 3:55 Bonus track on CD reissue

Personnel