The smart choices continue in Craft Recordings’ Original Jazz Classics reissue series. The latest entry, out April 26, is Groovy by the Red Garland Trio. Originally released by the Prestige label in 1957, it finds pianist Garland in the stalwart company of bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Art Taylor. This new remastered edition on 180-gram vinyl with a tip-on jacket brings truth to its title.
Going by the title alone might lead to the assumption that Groovy is Red Garland’s attempt to get hip with the R&R generation, knocking out versions of (for instance) “Windy,” a Lennon-McCartney, a Dylan, and with maybe a couple contempo movie themes sprinkled in. Or perhaps the record captures the pianist dabbling in soul-jazz a la Ramsey Lewis or Les McCann or later Horace Silver. Possibly it’s a boogaloo crossover.
But no, no and no; by 1963, Red Garland was essentially retired, at least as a recording artist, at some point returning to his native Texas, reportedly to care for his mother. A few more records with Garland as a leader were released as the ’60s progressed, but they were all collected material from ’62 or before. There was a successful if not especially celebrated ’70s comeback, but the music on which Garland’s reputation rests was cut between 1955-’62 and is primarily focused upon his work in the quintet of trumpeter Miles Davis and sessions with tenor saxophonist John Coltrane.
Garland frequently teamed with bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones, with the three designated as “The Rhythm Section.” The praise was specifically bestowed due to their work with Davis, but they also added value to Sonny Rollins’ Tenor Madness and were spotlighted in the title of Art Pepper’s Meets the Rhythm Section.
There is no consensus canonical pick from Garland’s albums as a leader, mainly due to the rather concentrated timeframe of Garland’s pre-comeback output and the lack of stylistic branching out across that span. It feels necessary to separate the three quintet albums with Coltrane and trumpeter Donald Byrd, the two quartet sessions with Ray Baretto on congas, the two solo piano sets, the handful of LPs combining tracks by bands of different sizes, and the wealth of trio releases, the majority of those made with Chambers on bass and Taylor on drums.
Garland led other trios with satisfying results, but the output with Chambers and Taylor is consistently strong and occasionally surprising. By Groovy, their third album, they’d hit their stride. The opening version of the Bigard-Ellington standard “C-Jam Blues” combines numerous strengths into an exquisite whole; there’s Texan Garland’s skill at playing the blues obviously, combined with his ability at capturing the essence of a well-known tune while also expanding upon it, and no less importantly, his assured brilliance as a soloist.
Garland’s stature as an innovator is modest yet his achievements, mainly relating to his adoption of block chords (or parallel chords) in the Davis quintet, are a bit underdiscussed today. Succinctly, Garland brought a technique pioneered by Milt Buckner and advanced by George Shearing into the realms of Modern Jazz as it rapidly evolved in the 1950s.
In Garland’s locked hands, the block chord approach is distinctive but does offer some similarities to Ahmad Jamal, a likeness that surely pleased Davis, as the trumpeter was an avowed Jamal fan. It’s worth noting that Garland’s final album Misty Red, recorded and released in 1982, is a trio session with Jamal alumni Jamil Nasser on bass and Frank Gant on drums (furthermore, as George Joyner, Nasser played in Garland’s ’50s quintet and on the quartet album Rojo, cut in ’58 and released in ’61).
But “C-Jam Blues” also illuminates Garland’s conception of the trio, his trio, in how he thoughtfully accompanies Chambers’ solo, accenting, adding weight (at one point with one repeated note) and occasionally commenting upon the bass soliloquy rather than just refusing to cede the spotlight. When Garland returns fully to the fore, an already hard swinging number gets an extra boost.
It’s in “Gone Again” that Garland’s adroitness with a ballad is showcased. Throughout Groovy, Taylor is heard on brushes, but the support he delivers is especially sensitive here; Taylor’s downshift (and how Garland lays back with him) during Chambers’ brief solo is impeccable and also characteristic of this working group’s dynamic.
“Will You Still Be Mine?” was the first track on the first album Garland played on as part of Miles Davis’ band, the 1955 quartet session The Musings of Miles. On Groovy, this frequently recorded standard is taken at a much faster pace to close side one. This version could even be called a burner, though there’s another superb downshift as Chambers’ dishes a sweet arco solo. That Taylor keeps up on brushes is further testament to his ability.
“Willow Weep for Me” slows it down to open side two and stretches out (as did “C-Jam Blues”) in its combination of the erudite (Jamal) and the bluesy (Texas). Sometimes Garland favors one of these aspects over the other but more often intermingles them or sets up an internal dialogue. His long solo is delightful and gives way to Chambers, this time pizzicato.
Taken at a pace that’s sprightly but not too speedy, “What Can I Say After I Say I’m Sorry?” finds Chambers dishing out a heavy and wild arco solo that Taylor follows with some of his liveliest drumming (but not a solo). Garland’s sole composition on Groovy is the album’s closer “Hey Now,” an up-tempo compact number that reminds that the pianist got his start playing with Hot Lips Page. “Hey Now” bookends nicely with “C-Jam Blues” as the record is well-sequenced for consecutive listens.
Had Red Garland recorded fewer albums as a leader it’s likely that output would be more celebrated. The reality is there’s a lot of it and the differences can be subtle. This fact shouldn’t be perceived as a fault. The man was in demand and Groovy is amongst Garland’s very best work, trio or otherwise.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
