Gerry Mulligan – Night Lights: 2024 (AS Verve Vinyl LP)

Gerry Mulligan’s Night Lights on 180g LP. Mastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound from the Original Analog Tapes, Pressed at QRP and Packaged in a Stoughton Printing Gatefold Old-Style Tip-On Jacket.

Night Lights is a captivating jazz masterwork from the incredible Gerry Mulligan catalog. Originally released in 1963, this album showcases Mulligan’s baritone sax talents as a true icon of jazz, and a prominent musical force on the West Coast scene through the 1950s until his death in 1996. Voted No. 1 musician in his instrument by Downbeat Magazine for 42 years in a row, Mulligan was on the front line of what was hip, from periods in the Birth of the Cool era Miles Davis lineup as well as forming a piano-less quartet with Chet Baker.

The album’s striking Oliver Hardimon-designed cover shimmers with a late-night beauty that perfectly evokes a sophisticated New York City in the early 1960s. Gerry and his sextet fuse slow burning jazz noir alongside emerging, contemporary Brazilian rhythms with the interplay between Mulligan and guitarist Jim Hall a particular standout throughout. Title track “Night Lights” is a wonderfully smooth, low light tune, while the Latin tinged “Morning of the Carnival” really finds the band in their finest and most swinging form. A cover of jazz standard “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning” followed by Chopin’s “Prelude in E Minor” continues the delightful groove before we finish out with Mulligan originals “Festival Minor” and “Tell Me When.”

Recorded at New York’s Nola Penthouse Studios in 1963.

Seeking to offer definitive audiophile grade versions of some of the most historic and best jazz records ever recorded, Verve’s vinyl reissue series utilizes the skills of top mastering engineers and the unsurpassed production craft of Quality Record Pressings. All titles are mastered from the original analog tapes, pressed on 180-gram vinyl and packaged by Stoughton Printing Co. in high-quality gatefold sleeves with tip-on jackets.

Musicians:
Gerry Mulligan, baritone saxophone, piano
Jim Hall, guitar
Bill Crow, bass
Dave Bailey, drums
Art Farmer, trumpet
Bob Brookmeyer, trumpet

1. Night Lights
2. Morning of the Carnival From “Black Orpheus”
3. Wee Small Hours
4. Prelude in E Minor
5. Festive Minor
6. Tell Me When