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I started my octet 5 years ago with the goal of playing some of these marvellous arrangements that have become the mainstream of jazz listening over the last 70 years. One of our projects was the performance of Miles Davis’s seminal recordings, Birth Of The Cool, from 1948, which is seen as the starting point of the whole cool scene.
During this time, they put together a couple of Irish gigs and a recording for RTE radio. Mulligan carried a suitcase of charts with him and gifted them to Chas, who in turn left them to my brother, Ronan, who has kindly lent them to me for the occasion, and we will be playing some of them for the
Gerry Mulligan by Alessandro Curadi
ith his octet playing The Music Of Gerry Mulligan at The Whale 
on Saturday, October 21st, Conor Guilfoyle pays tribute to the jazz legend…
ith his octet playing The Music Of Gerry Mulligan at The Whale 
on Saturday, October 21st, Conor Guilfoyle pays tribute to the jazz legend…Gerry Mulligan is one of the greats of jazz.
The sound of his baritone sax along with Chet Baker’s trumpet is one of the iconic sounds of the 1950s and ’60s representing a west coast sound – or cool jazz, as it became known later.
Guilfoyle
Up to that point, jazz was an urban affair played at lightening speed in the small smoky clubs of Manhattan. Cool jazz moved to the beach settings of California, with the big band sound now reduced to octets, with the emphasis placed on the ensemble writing rather than long solos.
I started my octet 5 years ago with the goal of playing some of these marvellous arrangements that have become the mainstream of jazz listening over the last 70 years. One of our projects was the performance of Miles Davis’s seminal recordings, Birth Of The Cool, from 1948, which is seen as the starting point of the whole cool scene. 
It was then that I realised Mulligan, though not given the same credits, had done much of the writing.
On further exploration, I discovered he did much more and even had an Irish connection through a mutual friend, the late Chas Meredith, known professionally as Rockfox.
In 1969, Chas had heard that Mulligan was staying at the Shelbourne Hotel and took a chance and called and introduced himself. They quickly became pals, and the following summer, Mulligan stayed with Chas for a couple of months using Dublin as his European touring base.
Baker & Mulligan
first time in over 50 years at the Whale, something I’m very excited and proud to do.
