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Red Garland

Largely self-taught, Red Garland established a reputation as a solid post-bop mainstream player in the 50s, playing with many of the most famous jazz musicians of the time. He achieved international fame in the late 50s as part of the Miles Davis quintet. He went on to lead his own groups, but then retired in 1968, a victim the declining demand for jazz. He reemerged in 1976 and performed regularly until his death in 1984.

Garland was known for his eloquent middle-of-the-road style. A fertile, often moving improvisor, he developed a characteristic block chord sound by combining octaves with a fifth in the middle in the right hand over left-hand comp (accompanying) chords. The style has been much imitated.

Origins

William M. "Red" Garland was born March 13, 1923, in Dallas, Texas. He came from a non-musical family: his father was an elevator operator at the First National Bank. His first instrument was clarinet and studied alto saxophone with Buster Smith, a well-known Texas saxophonist, who was a strong influence on Charlie Parker. Garland only started on piano in 1941, when he was 18, and in the Army. Stationed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, he heard a pianist named John Lewis play night after night in the recreation room-this was not the famous John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Finally giving in to his fascination with the instrument, Garland asked the pianist to teach him. Since he had learned to read music under Buster Smith he didn't have to start from zero. Garland his entire days practicing and made rapid progress. At that time he was also a semi-professional prizefighter, a welterweight, and once lost to Sugar Ray Robinson. There was a time when he had to decide whether to follow boxing or music as a career, and although he chose music, he was left with a broken knuckle as a souvenir of his road not taken.

Garland also studied with another Army pianist, Lee Barnes. By the time Garland left the service, he was learning on his own from recordings. His main influences at that time were Count Basie and Nat Cole, from whom he drew lessons in touch, phrasing and conception. He also learned from James P. Johnson, Luckey Roberts, Teddy Wilson, Bud Powell and Art Tatum. Tatum was his favorite, and he knew he cold never play like he could.

Professional Debut

In 1945 Garland played his first gig on piano with Fort Worth tenor player Bill Blocker. It was less than five years after he had begun studying piano. Then traditional jazz trumpeter Oran "Hot Lips" Page came through town. Word spread around that Page's pianist had quit and he was looking for a new one. Garland had intended to attend the dance Page was playing at anyway, so after his gig he stopped by. Four pianists, including Garland, played for Page that night, right out of Page's book of arrangements. Garland went home to bed after the dance and thought no more about it.

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19
Album Review

Miles Davis: 2nd Session 1956 Revisited

Read "2nd Session 1956 Revisited" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


The Miles Davis Quintet's 2nd Session 1956 Revisited revitalizes the iconic recordings from a pivotal year in jazz history. These original sessions, featuring Davis alongside luminaries like John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones, stand as timeless classics that have indelibly shaped the course of jazz.This revisited edition captures the very essence and vitality of those legendary sessions while infusing them with a fresh perspective. The music's hallmark traits--the melodic sophistication and improvisational brilliance--are expertly ...

8
Album Review

Miles Davis: Workin' With the Miles Davis Quintet

Read "Workin' With the Miles Davis Quintet" reviewed by Mark Corroto


1955/56 was an inflection point in the career of Miles Davis. The trumpeter and bandleader went from a promising talent to the high profile face of jazz and popular music. The two marathon sessions, May 11 and October 26, 1956, that created Workin' With the Miles Davis Quintet along with Cookin', Relaxin' and Steamin' might have been written off by Davis as a mere fulfillment of his contract duties for Prestige Records. He had signed a more lucrative contract with ...

1
Radio & Podcasts

Red Garland Centennial, Bigger Band Works, $8 Finds

Read "Red Garland Centennial, Bigger Band Works, $8 Finds" reviewed by David Brown


Join us for another week of the Jazz Continuum. Old, new, in, out, where ever the music takes us. Each week we explore the elements of jazz form a historical perspective. This week we take a look at some new releases form Artemis, Lesley Moc and Michael Formanek, celebrate the centennial birthday of Red Garland, and check out some more larger bands with Thad Jones / Mel Lewis, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Shirley Scott and more. Enjoy! Playlist Thelonious Monk ...

14
Album Review

Miles Davis Quintet: 2nd Session 1956 Revisited

Read "2nd Session 1956 Revisited" reviewed by Chris May


Rough round the edges some of the performances might be, but that is part of their real-time, first-take charm. The twelve tracks collected on 2nd Session 1956 Revisited are, nonetheless, arguably the most perfect Miles Davis ever recorded. Over the years they have been issued and reissued, anthologised and repackaged, almost as often as Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Hot Sevens. But never with as much attention to sonic detail as on this album, remastered by the ezz-thetics label's Michael ...

12
Reassessing

Red Garland's Piano

Read "Red Garland's Piano" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Pianist Red Garland follows up his debut recording A Garland of Red (Prestige, 1956) with what might be his finest statement leading a jazz trio, Red Garland's Piano. Garland continues his association with bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Art Taylor forming his most durable rhythm section, and one that would record with him on ten of his 45 recordings as a leader. The trio recorded the sides that would become Red Garland's Piano in December 1956 and March 1957 at ...

7
Reassessing

A Garland of Red

Read "A Garland of Red" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Like pianist Wynton Kelly and Kelly's debut recording New Faces -New Sounds (Blue Note, 1951), William McKinley Red Garland performed for years as a sideman before releasing his first recording as a leader, A Garland of Red. Originally from jny: Dallas, Texas, Garland migrated to jny: New York City after a stint with Hot Lips Page in 1946. There, Garland recorded with Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis and Charlie Parker, basically just kicking around until drummer Art Blakey heard him one night ...

11
Album Review

Red Garland: Swingin’ on the Korner: Live at Keystone Korner

Read "Swingin’ on the Korner: Live at Keystone Korner" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


It's often been written about many (sometimes less deserving) artists, but in his case it's genuinely true: Pianist Red Garland played on too many classic jazz albums--especially in bop quintets led by Miles Davis and John Coltrane--to fully count. Swingin' on the Korner, a 1977 trio date with bassist Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Philly Joe Jones recorded live at Keystone Korner, adds one more title to this uncountable list. Swingin' reunites Garland with drummer Jones, who teamed with Garland and ...

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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Red Garland

Jazz Musician of the Day: Red Garland

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Red Garland's birthday today!

Largely self-taught, Red Garland established a reputation as a solid post-bop mainstream player in the 50s, playing with many of the most famous jazz musicians of the time. He achieved international fame in the late 50s as part of the Miles Davis quintet. He went on to lead his own groups, but then retired in 1968, a victim the declining demand for jazz. He reemerged in 1976 and performed regularly until ...

1

Video / DVD

Backgrounder: Red Garland's A Garland of Red

Backgrounder: Red Garland's A Garland of Red

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

The centenary of Red Garland's birth is on Saturday. The pianist was born on March 13, 1923 and died on April 23, 1984. To celebrate Garland, I selected his tasty 1956 debut trio album A Garland of Red (Prestige) as a Backgrounder—the full album without ad interruption. The album features Garland, Paul Chambers on bass and Art Taylor on drums. I saw Garland just once, at the Village Vanguard, in early 1978 and remained for all three sets. At the ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Red Garland

Jazz Musician of the Day: Red Garland

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Red Garland's birthday today!

Largely self-taught, Red Garland established a reputation as a solid post-bop mainstream player in the 50s, playing with many of the most famous jazz musicians of the time. He achieved international fame in the late 50s as part of the Miles Davis quintet. He went on to lead his own groups, but then retired in 1968, a victim the declining demand for jazz. He reemerged in 1976 and performed regularly until ...

Video / DVD

Red Garland: Rojo

Red Garland: Rojo

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Red Garland's Rojo doesn't exist as a download. It also hasn't been released for streaming at Spotify, though it is available at Deezer, the free, French streaming platform. Recorded in 1958 and released in 1961, the album made it onto CD 30 years ago but was never remastered and fell through the cracks for some reason as the digital era advanced. Which is a shame, since it's one of my favorite recordings by the pianist, especially on You Better Go ...

1

Video / DVD

YouTubers Dig Red Garland 2

YouTubers Dig Red Garland 2

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Back in 2018, I posted on a bunch of young musicians who love pianist Red Garland and recorded themselves on YouTube playing his solos. I recently found that this wasn't a one-time deal, that others were doing this, too. Rummaging around YouTube yesterday, I found another group of Garland enthusiasts who recorded themselves this year playing his solos. Hats off to the Class of '21: Here's A Foggy Day... Here's Blues by Five... Here's Stompin' at the Savoy... Here's Almost ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Red Garland

Jazz Musician of the Day: Red Garland

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Red Garland's birthday today!

Largely self-taught, Red Garland established a reputation as a solid post-bop mainstream player in the 50s, playing with many of the most famous jazz musicians of the time. He achieved international fame in the late 50s as part of the Miles Davis quintet. He went on to lead his own groups, but then retired in 1968, a victim the declining demand for jazz. He reemerged in 1976 and performed regularly until ...

Recording

Red Garland with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis

Red Garland with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

One of the greatest pairings of piano and tenor saxophone was pianist Red Garland and saxophonist Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis. Both artists were steeped in the blues and knew how to feed a blues and coax it up on its hind legs. And yet, they only recorded one album together, and only four tracks for that album, one of which didn't even make the final cut. It was used later as filler on a Davis compilation album that's now out of ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Red Garland

Jazz Musician of the Day: Red Garland

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Red Garland's birthday today!

Largely self-taught, Red Garland established a reputation as a solid post-bop mainstream player in the 50s, playing with many of the most famous jazz musicians of the time. He achieved international fame in the late 50s as part of the Miles Davis quintet. He went on to lead his own groups, but then retired in 1968, a victim the declining demand for jazz. He reemerged in 1976 and performed regularly until ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Red Garland

Jazz Musician of the Day: Red Garland

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Red Garland's birthday today!

Largely self-taught, Red Garland established a reputation as a solid post-bop mainstream player in the 50s, playing with many of the most famous jazz musicians of the time. He achieved international fame in the late 50s as part of the Miles Davis quintet. He went on to lead his own groups, but then retired in 1968, a victim the declining demand for jazz. He reemerged in 1976 and performed regularly until ...

1

Video / DVD

YouTubers Dig Red Garland

YouTubers Dig Red Garland

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Whenever I'm searching around YouTube, I'm always amazed when I come across pianists around the world playing convincingly in the style of a jazz giant. Or convincingly enough that they sound like they're having a ball. Yesterday, I found a bunch of Red Garland wannabes. I play some piano, but if I were to take lessons again, I'd aspire to play like Red. Who wouldn't? Here's Hey Now... Here's A Foggy Day... Here's If I Were a Bell... Here's Billy ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

2nd Session 1956...

Ezz-thetics
2023

buy

Workin' With the...

Craft Recordings
2023

buy

Swingin' on the Korner

Elemental Music
2015

buy

Eight Classic Albums

Continuum Records
2011

buy

The 1956 Trio

Essential Jazz Classics
2010

buy

The 1956 Trio

Continuum Records
2007

buy

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