One of a handful of Big Bands in Chicago, Ted Hogarth’s Mulligan Mosaics Big Band is centered around the work of Gerry Mulligan. Born in 1927, he was instrumental (pun intended) in Miles Davis’ album The Birth of the Cool. Seeing this big band, based on Mulligan’s work, perform yesterday at Winter’s Jazz Club in Chicago, I was struck by the depth of layers and textures. The bandleader explained that this is in part due to the “piano-less” ensemble approach. Without piano or guitar holding down basic comp changes, the winds, in this case a combination of baritone, tenor and alto saxophones, and bass clarinet and clarinet, all work together to create texture similar to a chamber style of composition (meaning like a chamber orchestra or small ensemble of strings like cello, viola and violin where all the instruments are more or less equal rather than having distinct roles).
Songs such as “I’m Gonna Go Fishing” retained an upbeat atmosphere and the music was fun and affable. The soloists were great, and I heard some incredible solos by Matt Wilfer on clarinet, Mark Colby on saxophone, and others. The music never got into the “jazzier than thou” range and while clearly there’s a ton for intellectuals to dig into, the band and presentation was accessible while also being very stimulating. No doubt due to the solid compositions and approach they were working with, but also the passions of the players themselves, made this a band to put on your list of ones to see. One of the tenets of Mulligan’s approach, per the bandleader as he was addressing the crowd, was allowing many musicians to solo. The approach is well worth it with some of the finest musicians in the city. You can purchase their album online here.
The bandleader Ted Hogarth is a baritone saxiphonist, as was Gerry Mulligan. Mulligan was a player, composer and arranger, not just a sideman as might be expected when thinking of the baritone sax. In his career, from approximately 1940s-1990s, Mulligan made baritone sax come into its own as a lead/solo instrument in a way that other performers adn listeners could not have imagined. By tackling many aspects of presentation from composing and arranging (not to mention the logistics of getting a big band of 13 players together) Mulligan created a strong, wide ripple in music that can still, thankfully, be felt to this day.