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Over the past 30 years, almost every jazz poll imaginable—from Playboy to Down Beat to Japan's Swing Journal—has chosen Gerry Mulligan, 55, as one of its top saxophonists. But last month New York Philharmonic Conductor Zubin Mehta, 46, offered Mulligan his first chance to get his licks in as a sideman in a classical orchestra. Mulligan promptly accepted a choice seat in the Philharmonic's woodwind section and the soprano-saxophone solo from Ravel's Bolero. The jazzman found one problem with his four-performance gig, which ended last week. "I'm used to standing up when I play," he said. "It's difficult for me to breathe sitting down." Still, Mulligan thought his sax appeal was intact. Said he: "I played it as well as it can be played.'' —By E. Graydon Carter