10 Tributes to Gerry Mulligan

Gerry Mulligan's contributions to jazz are monumental. As an arranger, the baritone saxophonist pulled drummer and bandleader Gene Krupa into the bebop era in the mid-1940s, gave bandleader Claude Thornhill a hip sound in the late 1940s, made major contributions to the Miles Davis “Birth of the Cool" recording sessions at the tail end of the '40s, created a revolutionary pianoless quartet with Chet Baker in Los Angeles in 1952, influenced arrangers Bill Holman and Shorty Rogers on the West Coast in the early '50s and yanked bandleader Stan Kenton off of his neo-classical kick and helped him shift to a more swinging modern sound. For the balance of the decade, Mulligan revolutionized the tentet, sextet and concert band. And we haven't even discussed his influence as a player or composer.

Jazz paid Mulligan back starting in 1954 as artists recorded tribute albums featuring his compositions and arrangements. Here are 10 of the best albums. All are killer and available at Amazon except where noted:

Vic Lewis's Mulligans Music (1954). Here's Westwood Walk...



Elliot Lawrence Plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements (1955). Here's Mulligan's fabulous arrangement of By e Bye Blackbird by the Elliot Lawrence band...



Gene Krupa Plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements (1958). Here's Mulligan Stew, with Phil Woods on alto saxophone...



Bill Charlap's The Gerry Mulligan Songbook (1996). Here's Rocker...



Three Baritone Saxophone Band Plays Mulligan (1997). Here's Elevation...



Paolo Favini's Tribute to Gerry Mulligan (2009). Here's Gerry's Samba...