Perfection: Red Garland & Eddie Lockjaw Davis (1960)

I've long wondered what was going through the mind of producer Esmond Edwards when he teamed the Red Garland Trio with tenor saxophonist Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis. My surprise hasn't been about the pairing. Bringing them together was a stroke of genius. My problem is they only released three tracks—We'll Be Together Again, Softly Baby and When Your Lover Has Gone. The rest were by the trio.

A fourth track, called Untitled Blues, was recorded but remained unreleased until 1995, when it turned up on the Lockjaw CD Gentle Jaws. Why the blues was dropped from the Moodsville album rather than added in exchange for one of the trio tracks remains a mystery.

Prestige's short-lived Moodsville label was set up in 1960 to serve as an imprint aimed at amorous couples kicking back in a candle-lit living room and at listeners weary after a long day. The goal was to provide jazzy, soothing background music. My guess is that by 1960, the Red Garland Trio was a big enough deal that it didn't pay to have them play second fiddle to anyone. Or Lockjaw was only available to record four tracks. Or maybe owner Bob Weinstock added the four Lockjaw tracks to the session to create diversity on an album of static trio ballads.

Whatever the reason, not recording an entire album (or several) of the trio with Lockjaw was an error in judgment. As you'll hear, the merger was a perfect fit. Imagine several additional LPs of these four musicians together on songs of varying tempos. A lost opportunity. But as they say, we should be grateful for what we have. Four is better than zero.

Here's Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis backed by Red Garland, Sam Jones on bass and Art Taylor on drums playing We'll Be Together Again. Pure perfection...



And here's the missing Untitled Blues, recorded during the Moodsville session in 1960 but not released until 1995, on the CD Gentle Jaws...