Jeru’s Journey is the first definitive biography of Gerry Mulligan. Most jazz fans likely know him as an outstanding baritone saxophone player but he was much more than that—arranger, composer and even a sometime theatrical actor. Author Sanford Josephson has done an excellent job of researching Mulligan’s work and career as well as interviewing many of Gerry’s musical collaborators.
In a telephone interview with the author, I learned that he had interviewed Mulligan in 1981 for a newspaper article which became a chapter in his 2009 book Jazz Notes: Interviews Across the Generations. Other valuable source material was the Library of Congress. Mulligan’s papers are deposited there along with his jazz instruments. There were a series of fourteen audiotapes that Mulligan had produced with an interviewer which were lent to Josephson by Mulligan’s wife Franca.
The Book
Mulligan’s career is succinctly laid out by the author and supplemented by comments from his collaborators.
The purpose of a book review is not to reveal the entire contents of the book but merely to provide an overview and enough insight for the reader to determine whether or not to proceed further. For those interested, the book will reveal aspects of Mulligan’s personality which are intriguing. For example, he had a relationship with theater and movie actress Judy Holliday. Mulligan played the part
