Wealth & Money Quote by Gerry Mulligan

It is a joke with a paycheck inside it: Mulligan frames his origin story as a simple gear upgrade, but the line smuggles in a whole ethic of jazz musicianship. The alto is the starter instrument, the baritone the oddball commitment. By saying he "saved up", he makes artistry sound like thrift, not destiny, quietly puncturing the myth that great players are born pre-equipped with the right horn, the right sound, the right path.

The subtext is about choosing the less crowded lane. In the bebop era, alto was a glamour chair, already dominated by towering voices; baritone was the lumbering underdog, more often relegated to section work than front-line imagination. Mulligan’s phrasing implies he didn’t stumble into a niche, he budgeted his way into it, which is funny because it also reads as strategic: he literally bought himself a distinct identity. The baritone becomes a form of authorship.

There’s also a class note here. Jazz history loves romantic hardship, but Mulligan compresses economic reality into a wry aside: instruments cost money; originality can require capital; ambition often waits on a payday. The calm, matter-of-fact tone is the tell. He’s not selling suffering or genius. He’s telling you how a sound gets made in the real world: one practical decision at a time, until practicality turns into style.