Getz Meets Mulligan in Hi-Fi - Gerry Mulligan and Stan Getz

Getz Meets Mulligan in Hi-Fi brings together two of the leading saxophonists of the West Coast and cool jazz movements — Stan Getz on tenor and Gerry Mulligan on baritone — for a session recorded on October 12, 1957 and released on Verve Records. The rhythm section features Lou Levy on piano, Ray Brown on bass, and Stan Levey on drums. The eight-track program mixes standards like Cole Porter's "Anything Goes," Rodgers and Hart's "This Can't Be Love," and Charlie Parker's "Scrapple from the Apple" with Mulligan's original ballad. A notable feature of the session is that Getz and Mulligan swap instruments on some tracks, with Getz playing baritone and Mulligan picking up a tenor — an unusual move that highlights both players' versatility and competitive spirit. The album captures two musicians with distinct but compatible approaches: Getz's silky, flowing tenor lines against Mulligan's drier, more rhythmically angular baritone playing. Brown's bass and Levey's drums provide a solid, swinging foundation. The session exemplifies producer Norman Granz's fondness for pairing star soloists in the studio and letting them blow, a format that defined much of Verve's 1950s catalog.