Gerry Mulligan's "Age Of Steam" DVD!!!

[Captain Bacardi]

I finally picked up Gerry Mulligan's The Age Of Steam DVD, and is this ever an incredible documentary!

There is a CD of the album, as well as a two-sided DVD, which also includes the album in either stereo or surround sound. There is also interviews of several key contributors of the album, such as trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, and A&M alumni Tom Scott and Roger Kellaway. Kellaway also plays a solo piano piece of the tune "Golden Notebooks", which is gorgeous. The producer of the album was Stephen Goldman, who talked at length about the album, and how Herb Alpert was constantly trying to get Mulligan to sign with A&M and do the album. Lots of Alpert stories here!

There is also a documentary of Mulligan's life and his contributions to jazz, plus a "master class", or "clinic" (as we used to call them) by Mulligan himself shortly before he died. He talks about arranging (especially his work on the Miles Davis album Complete Birth Of The Cool, which was actually Gerry's album), listening to and appreciating jazz. While most remember Mulligan for his baritone sax he also plays some very nice piano, and has a great way of voicing chords.

This is a must for any Gerry Mulligan fan, especially if you dug The Age Of Steam, which Mulligan said was his favorite album. There is also a letter that Gerry wrote to Herb Alpert in 1993 talking about the album (the Alpert Foundation helped fund this DVD).

Don't forget to check out the Gerry Mulligan website at www.gerrymulligan.com.


Capt. Bacardi

 

[LPJim]

Thanks for the heads-up. I definitely will look for this. Mulligan's other A&M album, LONESOME BLVD. (CD 5326) is also a great one but not easy to find any more. Maybe they'll give it the reissue/DVD treatment too.
JB

 

[PartyRico]

Thanks for the info. I love Gerry Mulligan's music. What a gorgeous tone he had! I also love the record he made with Chet Baker live at Carnegie Hall in the mid seventies. I believe Chet influenced Herb Alpert a whole lot. Especially with regards to singing.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

I just watched this whole thing again and it has some neat home movies by Mulligan. One of the films is from the early 50's when a very young Antonio Carlos Jobim visited Mulligan's NY apartment and Jobim introduces "One Note Samba" to Gerry and shows him how to phrase things in that "new" bossa style. There's also footage of a duet of Mulligan and Dave Brubeck on a couple of songs.

There's also a feature to be played on a DVD-Rom that contains sheet music to the songs on the album that can be printed out. Unfortunately, I don't have a DVD-ROM, so I guess I'll go without the sheet music.


Capt. Bacardi

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Artists House Music has just updated their website (www.artistshousemusic.com) and you can click on the Gerry Mulligan link and watch this whole thing on the web! I'd recommend watching producer Stephan Goldman's interview on how Herb Alpert wanted Mulligan to record on A&M, and listen to Roger Kellaway play a solo piano piece from the album. Great stuff!


Capt. Bacardi