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 end, as the club emptied out around 2 a.m., I went over to say hi. Garland was most gracious. I asked why he no longer played You Better Go Now, given how beautiful it was on his album Rojo. He sat back down at the piano and played a bit of the song. “Oh, wow," he said, “I totally forgot about that one. We'll have to record it." Imagine my surprise when the song popped up on his next release, Feelin' Red, which came out later that year.
If you dig Garland, WKCR-FM in New York will honor Garland with a 24-hour radio tribute beginning at midnight tonight, continuing all day Saturday. To listen from anywhere in the world, go here.
Here's the full A Garland of Red without ad interruptions...
I saw Garland just once, at the Village Vanguard, in early 1978 and remained for all three sets. At the end, as the club emptied out around 2 a.m., I went over to say hi. Garland was most gracious. I asked why he no longer played You Better Go Now, given how beautiful it was on his album Rojo. He sat back down at the piano and played a bit of the song. “Oh, wow," he said, “I totally forgot about that one. We'll have to record it." Imagine my surprise when the song popped up on his next release, Feelin' Red, which came out later that year.
If you dig Garland, WKCR-FM in New York will honor Garland with a 24-hour radio tribute beginning at midnight tonight, continuing all day Saturday. To listen from anywhere in the world, go here.
Here's the full A Garland of Red without ad interruptions...
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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