> December 25, 2003 > Arts > Disc Reviews

GERRY MULLIGAN
THE COMPLETE VERVE GERRY MULLIGAN
CONCERT BAND SESSIONS
***
Mosaic

The music of Gerry Mulligan's first pianoless quartet holds up so well nearly 50 years hence due largely to the rich sound it created with such spare instrumentation. Mulligan's knack for adept arranging kept the music light but definitely full. The baritone saxophonist might get more ink in conjunction with his frontline partner from that group -- the late trumpeter Chet Baker -- but Baker's successor, trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, actually spent more time working with Mulligan, serving as a virtual co-leader at various points. One such time came during the brief period in the early 1960s when Mulligan formed his Concert Band. The six-brass/five-saxophone/rhythm section group merged the feel of the quartet with the striking voicings that Mulligan brought to what is now known as Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool sessions. Although Mulligan had the final say with everything, Brookmeyer organized the band, providing arrangements and those by Al Cohn, Johnny Mandel and Bill Holman. Bankrolled initially by Verve's Norman Granz, the group was able to tour the U.S. and abroad, and record a total of five albums. Mosaic compiles all of them, including four unreleased tracks, two of which originate from an early, otherwise lost session. Together under one roof for the first time, the collection will excite any Mulligan enthusiast. It also provides a glimpse of the forces that lead to the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, since drummer Lewis played on most of these sessions. The band's first album truly sounds like the Mulligan Quartet backed by extra horns. This quality was reinforced by Brookmeyer and Mulligan handling all the solos, with the rest of the group providing color. According to the detailed notes, the arrangements were never fully written down, resulting in a spontaneous feel that comes across in the performances. They rework "Broadway" and "My Funny Valentine," two cornerstones from the Baker era. The latter reprises the structure of the earlier version with the horns slowly unfolding behind Mulligan. As with many of the tracks throughout the set, the group doesn't return to the theme after the solos, instead playing a different ensemble part to take it out. It proves that Mulligan, a vet arranger for big band leaders Stan Kenton, Gene Krupa and Claude Thornhill, rarely settled for standard big band maneuvers, like radical dynamic shifts or vamps. The second session consists of concert recordings in Berlin, Milan and Santa Monica that added tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims as a featured soloist. "Come Rain or Come Shine" is one of the arrangements penned by Mulligan and, as such, it's one of the most impressive, casting a completely reharmonized, lush light on the tune. Two versions of the slow blues "Go Home" show how a tune could change from night to night. The first begins with Brookmeyer soloing on piano -- the instrument missing on all but a few tracks -- before the theme is played; the second starts off at a quicker pace with no piano and a few choruses of group. After punchy solos from Brookmeyer, back on trombone, and Sims, the theme closes the song. Another live session, from the Village Vanguard, continues in the same spirit. Mulligan and trumpeter Clark Terry have an extended exchange of fours in "Blueport" that, while a bit flashy, nevertheless sounds astounding in its speed and musical references. "Lady Chatterley's Mother," one of several arrangements done by saxophonist Al Cohn, is one of the highlights of the whole box, marked by a group solo by the saxophone section, warm backing and shout choruses. By the time of the final two sessions, the group had their sea legs and began pushing the harmonic envelope. George Russell's "All About Rosie," gives them a three-part suite that included polyrhythms, a vamp worthy of Charles Mingus and more animated solos. Gary McFarland, another arranger and composer who had moved to New York in 1960, also adds to the cerebral quality of the these sessions with his pieces like "Chuggin'" and "Bridgehampton South." Guitarist Jim Hall was added for the final Gerry Mulligan '63, but the real surprise comes from the leader. Mulligan, who rarely doubled on any instrument besides the occasional piano, shows his skill on clarinet during "Big City Blues" and "Pretty Little Gypsy," which has a haunting texture similar at points to Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain album. Mulligan, who died of cancer in 1996, was an artist who was never satisfied with his work, much to the frustration of his cohorts, according to this box's deluxe biography. When that drive yields music like this, such a temperament is appreciated. All recordings are available solely through Mosaic Records, 35 Melrose Place, Stamford, CT 06902; 203.327.7111. Please check www.mosaicrecords.com for more information.

-- MIKE SHANLEY

IGGY POP
SKULL RING
***
Virgin

You've come to see a rock show," Iggy Pop screams on Skull Ring, the best album he's recorded in 10 years. "A big gigantic cock show," he adds, just to let you know he still knows what rock and roll is really all about. Once again, the power and charisma of his live show has survived the transition to the studio. After a string of mediocre releases, Pop seems to be reenergized. Part of this has to be credited to his reunion with Ron and Scott Asheton, two of the original Stooges. After more than 30 years, they have been playing together again live, and four of the tracks on Skull Ring, including the title track, are credited to Iggy and the Stooges. The classic sound is still there, bringing something to Pop's songs that has been missing for a while. The singer declined a full-fledged reunion album, saying that he wanted it to be more representative of everything he is doing. His touring band, now dubbed the Trolls, backs him on several tracks. Green Day, who owe their whole careers to following a path the Stooges forged, appear on two of the CD's strongest songs, "Private Hell" and "Supermarket." He is also joined by Sum 241 and Canadian gender-bending rap star Peaches -- who originally recorded "Rock Show." The result is one of the most musically varied Iggy Pop albums in years. His lyrics can still be a little ridiculous, and someone in the studio decided it was a good idea for Pop to strain his voice well past its normal range -- it wasn't. Still, Skull Ring stands above a lot of his past albums. True, it's not Raw Power, but then again, nothing is.

-- WAYNE WISE

CHARALAMBIDES
UNKNOWN SPIN
***
Kranky

CLEAR HORIZON
CLEAR HORIZON
***
Kranky

Texas, the very landscape which brought us the 1960s' most legitimate psychedelia in the form of the 13th Floor Elevators and the earliest, and strangest, incarnation of the Red Crayola -- before the crayon company had them change the C to a K -- continues to be a natural source of open sound vistas. Originally a duo featuring Tom Carter, formerly of Houston psych legends the Mike Gunn, and his wife Christina Carter, the Lone Star state's Charlambides has recently become a trio with Christina's other musical partner, Heather Leigh Murray, of the free folk duo Scorces. On Unknown Spin, they explore -- with three guitars, two voices and 60 minutes -- an unhurried, string-based tranquility that suggests what avant-hillbilly Henry Flint might have sounded like if he'd had an endless, near-desert flatness as a backdrop. Originally recorded in 2002 and released on Wholly Other in a batch of 300, the album's drones massage earholes. The title track creeps along for 30 minutes, building tension so slowly as to seemingly avoid climax altogether. Murray's pedal steel tickles and cajoles as the Carter duo's picking patterns mutate subtly and deliberately. The women's voices harmonize so low to the ground that their presence goes almost unnoticed until after they've finished, leaving a hum-like residue in their place.

Clear Horizon's debut is nearly as single-minded and transcendental, a feat made all the more amazing by the fact that the duo, David Pearce and Jessica Bailiff, traded tapes across the Atlantic Ocean for two years in order to arrive at this album. With vocals and guitars as their main ingredients, suffused with the assistance of pianos, percussion and odd effects, Bailiff and Pearce have created a murky, somewhat elusive disc of drones and whispers. It's as if Charlemagne Palestine got a hold of a Broadcast demo and re-worked it to suit his ear.

-- BRUCE MILLER