Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known as Jeru,[6] was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger.

[7] Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz—Mulligan was also a significant arranger working with Claude Thornhill, Miles Davis, Stan Kenton, and others.

Mulligan went back to Philadelphia and began writing for Elliot Lawrence, a pianist and composer who had taken over for Warrington as the band leader at WCAU.

Mulligan moved to New York City in January 1946 and joined the arranging staff on Gene Krupa's bebop-tinged band.

[10] The band initially consisted of Davis on trumpet, Mulligan on baritone saxophone, trombonist Mike Zwerin, alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, Junior Collins on French horn, tubist Bill Barber, pianist John Lewis, bassist Al McKibbon, and drummer Max Roach.

During his period of occasional work with the Davis nonet between 1949 and 1951, Mulligan also regularly performed with and arranged for trombonist Kai Winding.

In early 1952, seeking better employment opportunities, Mulligan headed west to Los Angeles with his girlfriend, pianist Gail Madden.

While arranging for Kenton, Mulligan began performing on off-nights at The Haig, a small jazz club on Wilshire Boulevard at Kenmore Street in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Around that time, vibraphonist Red Norvo's trio (with guitar and bass) began headlining at The Haig, thus leaving no need to keep the grand piano that had been brought in for Erroll Garner's stay at the club.

These three informal sessions took place in June, July, and August 1952 at the Hollywood Hills home studio of recording engineer Phil Turetsky.

[11] Baker's melodic style fit well with Mulligan's, leading them to create improvised contrapuntal textures free from the rigid confines of a piano-enforced chordal structure.

Their dates at the Haig became sell-outs and the recordings they made in late 1952 became major sellers, that led to significant acclaim for Mulligan and Baker.

The fortuitous collaboration came to an abrupt end with Mulligan's arrest on narcotics charges in mid-1953, leading to six months at Sheriff's Honor Farm.

However, while Mulligan was in prison, Baker transformed his lyrical trumpet style, gentle tenor voice and matinee-idol looks into independent stardom.

But in later years their relationship became strained as Mulligan, with considerable effort, would manage to kick his habit, while Baker's addiction bedevilled him professionally and personally almost constantly until his death in 1988.

Mulligan also performed as a soloist or sideman (often in festival settings) with a variety of late-1950s jazz artists: Paul Desmond, Duke Ellington, Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, Jimmy Witherspoon, André Previn, Billie Holiday, Marian McPartland, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Stan Getz, Thelonious Monk, Fletcher Henderson, Manny Albam, Quincy Jones, Kai Winding, Miles Davis, and Dave Brubeck.

Mulligan appeared in Art Kane's A Great Day in Harlem portrait of 57 major jazz musicians taken in August 1958.

The membership included (at various times, among others): trumpeters Conte Candoli, Nick Travis, Clark Terry, Don Ferrara, Al Derisi, Thad Jones and Doc Severinsen; saxophonists Zoot Sims, Jim Reider, Gene Allen, Bobby Donovan, Phil Woods, and Gene Quill; trombonists Willie Dennis; Alan Raph and Bob Brookmeyer; drummers Mel Lewis and Gus Johnson; and bassists Buddy Clark and Bill Crow.

Mulligan continued to work intermittently in small group settings until the end of his life, although performing dates started to become more infrequent during the mid 1960s.

While in Milan for the recording sessions, Mulligan met his future wife, Countess Franca Rota Borghini Baldovinetti, a freelance photojournalist and reporter.

In 1975, Mulligan recorded an album with Italian pianist / composer Enrico Intra, bassist/arranger Pino Presti, flutist Giancarlo Barigozzi, and drummer Tullio De Piscopo.

Mulligan's more classical work with orchestras began in May 1970 with a performance of Dave Brubeck's oratorio, The Light in the Wilderness with Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Symphony.

In 1977, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation commissioned Harry Freedman to write the saxophone concerto Celebration, which was performed by Mulligan with the CBC Symphony.

In April of that year, Mulligan was a soloist with the New American Orchestra in Los Angeles for the premiere of Patrick Williams' Spring Wings.

In 1987, Mulligan adapted K-4 Pacific (from his 1971 Age of Steam big band recording) for quartet with orchestra and performed it beside Entente with the Israel Philharmonic in Tel Aviv with Zubin Mehta conducting.

In June 1988, Mulligan was invited to be the first Composer-in-Residence at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival and was commissioned to write a work, which he titled The Flying Scotsman.

Davis had recently performed some of his Gil Evans collaborations with Quincy Jones at the Montreux Jazz Festival and was enthusiastic.

In 1995, the Hal Leonard Corporation released the video tape The Gerry Mulligan Workshop – A Master Class on Jazz and Its Legendary Players.

[18] In 1974, Mulligan met Countess Franca Rota Borghini Baldovinetti, through their mutual friend Astor Piazzolla,[19] although they didn’t marry until 1982.