Mulligan, Gerry: Night Lights (Verve Acoustic Sounds) LP

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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.