Gerry Mulligan

Gerry Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, and arranger born in 1927 in Queens, New York. He rose to prominence in the late 1940s as a baritone saxophonist in Miles Davis’s Birth of the Cool nonet and became a leading figure in the cool jazz and West Coast jazz movements. Mulligan formed his own pianoless quartet in the early 1950s, which helped define chamber-style jazz ensembles. He recorded extensively for Pacific Jazz, Columbia, and Verve, collaborating with Chet Baker, Dave Brubeck, and Stan Getz. His compositions such as “Bernie’s Tune” and “Walkin’ Shoes” became jazz standards. Mulligan remained active into the 1990s, receiving a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously after his death in 1996.