Gerry Mulligan/Thelonious Monk

Gerry Mulligan/Thelonious Monk: Mulligan Meets Monk

by David Rickert
December 11, 2003

Mulligan Meets Monk captures one of the most improbable encounters in jazz, one artist the standard bearer for the conservative cool school, the other a peddler of a more liberal style of jazz. Both were mavericks in their own way, and there’s an interesting symmetry in their approaches: Mulligan exploring the freedom available without a piano, Monk delving into new territory with one. However, the real appeal of the session is the “will this work, or won’t it?” quality that ...