Gerry Mulligan - Night Lights (1963) {2025 Acoustic Sounds SACD Series}

This session recorded at New York’s Nola Penthouse Studios in 1963 is a little-known masterwork from the incredible Gerry Mulligan catalogue.

With its striking Oliver Hardimon designed cover, Night Lights is the very definition of refined cool jazz. Shimmering 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’. For this version of the release, we have included the 1965 version of ‘Night Lights’, which gives an interesting comparison, performed by his later day Quintet featuring the Wrecking Crew’s legendary Hal Blaine on drums amongst others.