The Gerry Mulligan Quartet, founded in Los Angeles in 1952, was widely acclaimed as the first small ensemble in jazz that did not include a chordal instrument such as a piano or guitar. Using original scores and detailed transcriptions of Mulligan's work, The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets offers an intimate look at Mulligan's musical development from the initial quartet with Chet Baker to its successors with Bob Brookmeyer, Jon Eardley, and Art Farmer. The backdrop is an unparalleled account of his musical life from his teen- age years to adulthood, analyzing the ways in which his compositions and arrangements evolved through collaborations with Elliot Lawrence, Gene Krupa, and Claude Thornhill, culminating with Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool nonet. Featuring original interviews with many of Mulligan's associates, author Alyn Shipton presents a fresh take on Mulligan's harmonic creativity, in the process tracing the ups and downs of Mulligan's heroin addiction, imprisonment, sobriety, and eventual musical triumph. "Alyn Shipton has produced a well-researched, excellently detailed study of Mulligan's quartets. A very enjoyable read." -- Bill Crow, author of From Birdland to Broadway: Scenes from a Jazz Life and bassist in the Mulligan quartet "Mulligan's brainy but playful artistry gets the attention it deserves in this valuable study by Alyn Shipton. His writing teems with clear, meticulous scholarship, musical understanding, and a desire to make his subject appealing and accessible to everyone from casual jazz lovers to musicians. With Shipton's book in hand, readers will set forth on a beautiful voyage of discovery." -- James Gavin, award-winning music journalist and author of Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker "Highly recommended." -- Lance Liddle, bebop spoken here "With forensic attention to detail Alyn Shipton reveals fresh and original material about a group that created a totally new ensemble sound. Famously pianoless the quartet was dominated by Gerry Mulligan's baritone saxophone not only as a soloist but also as an accompanying voice. In his Preface, the author makes it clear to being "fascinated by Mulligan's playing, writing and band-leading" since his schooldays. The research he undertook in 2002 for a four-part series on Mulligan's music for BBC Radio 3 allowed him to meet many "musicians and associates from all periods of his career". His "comprehensive sweep through newspaper and magazine reports" uncovers much that is new in the quartet's evolution." -- Gordon Jack, The Jazz "Meticulously detailed but intensely readable analysis of the baritone sax giant's creative heyday." -- Ben Thompson, Mojo magazine "The book places Gerry Mulligan's 1950s pianoless quartet in its historical and musical context by a detailed discussion of its recordings." -- Gordon Jack, Jazz Profiles "This becomes the most useful book on Mulligan so far, and an appropriate celebration of his unique contribution." -- Brian Priestley, Jazzwise "A worthwhile addition to the literature on Gerry Mulligan and a valuable aid to understanding a transformative period of modern jazz." -- Ian Patterson, All About Jazz "The jazz world has not been blessed with many books about Gerry Mulligan that are commensurate with his stature as one of the most important jazz musicians and composers. Shipton's book is an exception: it is excellent and essential." -- Jack Kenny, Jazz Views "With this book, Alyn's gift to all of us is to remind us of that genius and how and why Gerry Mulligan's Quartets both reflect it and, at the same time, pave the way for thirty more years or so of Jeru's artistic brilliance.The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets joins and expands the ever growing works about Gerry Mulligan." -- Jim Farrington, ARSC Journal "With this book, Alyn's gift to all of us is to remind us of that genius and how and why Gerry Mulligan's Quartets both reflect it and, at the same time, pave the way for thirty more years or so of Jeru's artistic brilliance." -- Steven A. Cerra, Association for Recorded Sound Collections Journal. Alyn Shipton is a writer, publisher, broadcaster and researcher, as well as a jazz musician. Since 2012 he has hosted BBC Radio 3's "Jazz Record Requests", the longest running jazz programme in the world. He previously hosted the BBC World Service show "Jazzmatazz" reaching over 150 million listeners worldwide, and earning him the Marian McPartland/ Willis Conover Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz Broadcasting from the Jazz Journalists' Association. Throughout his career he has been a publisher, specialising in music, and was responsible for the Grove musical dictionaries during the 1980s including being Associate Editor for the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (1988). His books Groovin' High: The Life of Dizzy Gillespie (1999) and Nilsson: The Life of a Singer Songwriter (2013) each won Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) Awards for Excellence; and he is fur