Ted Hogarth - Mulligan Champion

"There I was writing music on Gerry Mulligan's piano," said the 36-year-old baritone saxophonist, who leads the Chicago-based Mulligan Mosaics Big Band, a 13-piece group that plays music written, arranged and inspired by Gerry Mulligan. "I never imagined something like this happening."

Two years earlier, Hogarth's wife, Lisa, had given him a compilation of Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band when he received his master's degree in jaw composition from DePaul University, Having grown up on Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman records. Hogarth had played in big bands for more than two decades, and he understood Mulligan's enormous influence. Thepiano- and guitar-less Concert Jazz Band Mulligan formed in 1960 offered Hogarth something new. For the next nine months he listened to nothing else.

''Everything about it captivated me." Hogarth said.

Mulligan viewed music through the lens of his first job, and his publishing web sites includes the quote, "I'll always think as an arranger." It was that mind-set that drove him to create his big band; the complex and democratic quality of his writing entranced Hogarth.

Wanting to study Mulligan's compositions and orchestrations, Hogarth contacted the Library of Congress, which houses the Gerry Mulligan Collection, and inquired about getting his hands on some arrangements. They put him in touch with Ken Poston, director of the Los Angeles Jazz Institute, who gave Hogarth Franca Mulligan's phone number and encouraged him to call. It took Hogarth three months to muster the courage. When he did, however, she invited him to Darien.

Arriving at Mulligan's studio, Hogarth was overwhelmed. At first. Franca Mulligan watched over Hogarth while he found and studied compositions-making sure he put everything back in its proper place. But she saw the earnestness behind Hogarth's interest in studying and preserving her husband's music. With an invitation to return. Hogarth flew home thinking about how much he wanted to do more than study Mulligan's music. He wanted to play it with a big band, something Franca Mulligan soon indorsed.

"I knew that I could trust him with Gerry's music," she said.

Calling musicians that he'd played with for years, Hogarth had no trouble assembling the first big band he'd ever led, and launched the web site mulliganmosiacs.com. "Everyone said, 'This is a dream. I'm definitely in,'" he said. "It's the same reason garage bands were formed by guys who said, 'I'm into Van Halen.'"

The band played its first gig in 2006 and is scheduled to perform at the Chicago Jazz Festival over Labor Day weekend. Hogarth has been back to Darien twice for lengthier visits - partially aimed at preserving Mulligan's arrangements and making them available online via the Library of Congress. He also continues to write music inspired by the Mulligan compositions that he's played with the Mosaics. Franca Mulligan approves of what she's heard.

"It's amazing how Ted has memorized Gerry's phrasing," she said. "The sound is Ted Hogarth and the Mulligan Mosaics, but the phrasing is so close to Gerry's. It's lovely."

-Joshua Karp