Gerry Mulligan Complete Studio Recordings CD

This Lone Hill Jazz CD compiles two separate studio sessions by Gerry Mulligan, originally issued separately as Night Lights and Butterfly with Hiccups, with pretty much identical personnel (Bob Brookmeyer, Art Farmer, Jim Hall, Bill Crow and Dave Bailey), except for an alternate version of one track. The master version of "Night Lights" is an elegant, dreamy ballad with the leader playing piano, while the latter version from two years later has a quintet with a completely different makeup and a string section, and Mulligan making a relatively rare appearance on clarinet. The snappy "Festive Minor" is easily the session highlight, with strong solos all around. The selections taken from Butterfly with Hiccups are just as strong, though this album was one of Mulligan's unjustly obscure efforts of the 1960s. The leader again plays a bit of piano on the quirky but catchy title cut and also on "Theme for Jobim," the latter dedicated to his good friend, the genius of bossa nova. The breezy "The Ant Hill" provides the sole extended workout of the session. The sequencing on this European reissue is a bit odd, as the Night Lights material is gathered in the middle of the disc, with four tracks each from Butterfly with Hiccups opening and closing the disc. But due to the difficulty of acquiring the original LPs, this compilation is an affordable alternative for Gerry Mulligan fans. ~ Ken Dryden

This release features the complete studio sessions of Mulligan's outstanding sextet with Farmer, Brookmeyer, Jim Hall, Bill Crow and Dave Bailey recorded during September and October, 1963 and released on Phillips' Night Lights album and Limelight's exceptional Butterfly With Hiccups LP. Also included here as bonus tracks is the complete quartet session featuring Brookmeyer, Crow and Bailey recorded on June 25, 1964 and released on Limelight's Butterfly With Hiccups LP. Disconfrome. 2005.