Mulligan swings
Rick loves jazz | Sacramento, Ca | 02/02/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I really like almost anything that Gerry Mulligan has recorded, but his recordings from the 1950's are arguably his best. In California Concerts, Gerry was fronting an unusualy large horn line (Zoot Sims on tenor, Mulligan on bari, Jon Eardly on trumpet and Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone) which gave the group more punch and swing than Mulligan sometimes pushed out of his smaller groups, such as the pianoless quartets featuring Chet Baker or Art Farmer. Obviously, the personnel is great and lends itself to top improvisation and great swing. The down side to this disc is that the solos are sometimes regretably short and the sound quality of the recording isn't top. Well worth owning, though."