By Matt Micucci
Dot Time Records released the first of a series of recordings by Chuck Israels and the National Jazz Ensemble titled “Legends” series.
“Gerry Mulligan with the National Jazz Ensemble” documents a concert that took place on November 2, 1977 at the New School in New York City. At the time, the National Jazz Ensemble had only been in existence for three years. Being joined by saxophonist and clarinetist Gerry Mulligan regaled them with their first ever sell out show in New York City.
The anticipation for this concert was partially due to the fact that Gerry Mulligan had made himself scarce over the previous decade. Trumpet player David Berger remembers, “There were lines around the block, in fact there were enough people on line to fill a second show.”
Mulligan died in 1996, and in 2001 the Gerry and Franca Mulligan Foundation was established to fulfill Gerry’s wish of supporting young musicians with enrollment in music schools and donations of music instruments to inner city schools. Dot Time Records will support the Foundation by contributing $5 from any sale through the Dot Time Records website, http://dottimerecords.mfmmedia.nl/