GERRY MULLIGAN, PAUL DESMOND & THE DAVE BRUBECK TRIO- The Complete 1972 Berlin Concert
Domino Records: 891231 (Double CD set)
Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax) Paul Desmond (alto sax) Dave Brubeck (piano) Jack Six (bass) Alan Dawson (drums) plus Jackie Byard (piano) Milt Hinton (bass) and The University of Illinois Orchestra on bonus tracks.
Recorded live at the Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin November 4th 1972 and New Orleans Jazz Festival, June 1969.
Dave Brubeck disbanded his `classic quartet` featuring Paul Desmond at the end of 1967 ostensibly to concentrate of composition but it wasn’t long before he was back treading the boards and pounding the ivories in his familiar magisterial fashion. This time he hooked up with baritone saxist Gerry Mulligan and they made their first record together in 1968 and billed themselves as `The Dave Brubeck Trio featuring Gerry Mulligan`, an association that was to last until 1972, the year in which this live recording was made. Joining them on this occasion was Brubeck’s old sparring partner Desmond who was to to feature in a number of such re-unions up until the time of his death in 1977 including the quartet’s 25th Anniversary Concert. No stranger to playing alongside Mulligan –they made the celebrated `Two of a Mind` in 1962 – he is in perfect sync with the musical environment and even though Alan Dawson’s proto jazz-rock drumming occasionally tries to push him to the edge of his comfort zone it never rattles his famous composure.
Brubeck aficionados who already have the live concert compilation that was issued by Atlantic as `We Are All Together Again For The First Time` will already have three of the tracks featured here which include a 16 minute version of `Take Five` which serves as a showcase for Dawson’s tumultuous drumming; a piece called `Truth`, a theme taken from one of Brubeck’s religious oratorios , containing a powerful but unsettling piano solo made up of dissonant block chords; a plodding version of Mulligan’s `Unfinished Woman`, an endearing theme drawn from his concert band repertoire , in which Desmond resists Dawson’s percussive provocation to force him into R&B mode but serenely rides above the tumult to create an effective and pleasing contrast.
The remaining tracks are all previously unissued including seven bonus tracks recorded at the New Orleans Jazz Festival in 1969 which capture Desmond and Mulligan with a different rhythm section and Mulligan as a soloist with a pretty potent student big band. It is, however, the Berlin tracks that make this such a desirable issue and there are fine performances from all concerned: Brubeck is at his piano punishing extrovert best, Mulligan blows up some thunderous blues riffs and Desmond spins out logical lines of pure, clear minded improvisation whilst the rhythm section burns away merrily. There are the familiar Brubeck trademarks of slick contrapuntalism and time signature trickery as in the shifting underlay that sits beneath Brubeck’s staccato solo in `Someday My Prince Will Come`. Mulligan and Desmond don’t perform together on every track, retaining for themselves tunes from their personal repertoire; thus Mulligan is featured on `Blessed are the Poor` and `Mexican Jumping Bean`, two tunes he performed at an earlier Berlin concert in 1970, and Desmond takes ownership of `For All We Know` , a favourite from his college concert days, whilst both horns sit out a piano trio version of `These Foolish Things` which serves as a showcase for the talents of bass man , Six.
It is a great boon for dedicated Brubeck fans, like myself, that this superb music has been unearthed and is presented in such a vibrant recording: can I now petition the folks at Domino to re-issue the other Brubeck /Mulligan collaborations, namely `Compadres` and `Blues Roots` which to my best knowledge never appeared on CD and which Columbia/Sony seem to be sitting on.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Domino Records: 891231 (Double CD set)
Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax) Paul Desmond (alto sax) Dave Brubeck (piano) Jack Six (bass) Alan Dawson (drums) plus Jackie Byard (piano) Milt Hinton (bass) and The University of Illinois Orchestra on bonus tracks.
Recorded live at the Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin November 4th 1972 and New Orleans Jazz Festival, June 1969.
Dave Brubeck disbanded his `classic quartet` featuring Paul Desmond at the end of 1967 ostensibly to concentrate of composition but it wasn’t long before he was back treading the boards and pounding the ivories in his familiar magisterial fashion. This time he hooked up with baritone saxist Gerry Mulligan and they made their first record together in 1968 and billed themselves as `The Dave Brubeck Trio featuring Gerry Mulligan`, an association that was to last until 1972, the year in which this live recording was made. Joining them on this occasion was Brubeck’s old sparring partner Desmond who was to to feature in a number of such re-unions up until the time of his death in 1977 including the quartet’s 25th Anniversary Concert. No stranger to playing alongside Mulligan –they made the celebrated `Two of a Mind` in 1962 – he is in perfect sync with the musical environment and even though Alan Dawson’s proto jazz-rock drumming occasionally tries to push him to the edge of his comfort zone it never rattles his famous composure.
Brubeck aficionados who already have the live concert compilation that was issued by Atlantic as `We Are All Together Again For The First Time` will already have three of the tracks featured here which include a 16 minute version of `Take Five` which serves as a showcase for Dawson’s tumultuous drumming; a piece called `Truth`, a theme taken from one of Brubeck’s religious oratorios , containing a powerful but unsettling piano solo made up of dissonant block chords; a plodding version of Mulligan’s `Unfinished Woman`, an endearing theme drawn from his concert band repertoire , in which Desmond resists Dawson’s percussive provocation to force him into R&B mode but serenely rides above the tumult to create an effective and pleasing contrast.
The remaining tracks are all previously unissued including seven bonus tracks recorded at the New Orleans Jazz Festival in 1969 which capture Desmond and Mulligan with a different rhythm section and Mulligan as a soloist with a pretty potent student big band. It is, however, the Berlin tracks that make this such a desirable issue and there are fine performances from all concerned: Brubeck is at his piano punishing extrovert best, Mulligan blows up some thunderous blues riffs and Desmond spins out logical lines of pure, clear minded improvisation whilst the rhythm section burns away merrily. There are the familiar Brubeck trademarks of slick contrapuntalism and time signature trickery as in the shifting underlay that sits beneath Brubeck’s staccato solo in `Someday My Prince Will Come`. Mulligan and Desmond don’t perform together on every track, retaining for themselves tunes from their personal repertoire; thus Mulligan is featured on `Blessed are the Poor` and `Mexican Jumping Bean`, two tunes he performed at an earlier Berlin concert in 1970, and Desmond takes ownership of `For All We Know` , a favourite from his college concert days, whilst both horns sit out a piano trio version of `These Foolish Things` which serves as a showcase for the talents of bass man , Six.
It is a great boon for dedicated Brubeck fans, like myself, that this superb music has been unearthed and is presented in such a vibrant recording: can I now petition the folks at Domino to re-issue the other Brubeck /Mulligan collaborations, namely `Compadres` and `Blues Roots` which to my best knowledge never appeared on CD and which Columbia/Sony seem to be sitting on.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
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