Gerry Mulligan's first session as a leader and one of the first to showcase his baritone was recorded in New York shortly before he relocated to Los Angeles and formed his famous pianoless quartet with
Chet Baker. There is a piano on this set (
George Wallington) but
Mulligan's writing (all seven selections are his) for a two-baritone nonet that also features trumpeter
Nick Travis and tenor-saxophonist
Allan Eager is already in his influential "cool style"; best-known among the originals is "Bweebida Bwobbida." Two numbers on the CD reissue feature a smaller unit out of the group with "Mulligan's Too" being an extended workout for the leader and
Eager.