Red Garland

Let's skip back a few years.

This is Miles Davis's quintet with Red Garland on piano and Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones on drums and a young John Cole train.

It's from round about midnight, recorded in the mid-1950s.

Its trains first go around with Miles before he got fired, got off the drugs, hung out with Thelonious Monk and then returned to Miles before 1960 when he formed his own quartet.

I was, we just had Jeffrey Kaiser here, and, and Jeffrey once texted me.

He w- with, w- was, was working with a student who was trying to get an easy solo as their first transcription, and I always recommend a little bit of Red Garland's What Is This Thing Called Love?

Mm.

I think especially for an intermediate player.

convinced now that YouTube is an incredible resource for getting at rhythm sections that worked.

When I go to hear Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones play Billy Boy, can she bake a cherry pie Billy Boy at an uptempo? And Philly Joe Jones' brushwork is just amazing.

He is kicking that thing along.

And the bass player... as swallow used to call him generous paul chambers very generous he's just giving and red garland it's a an amazing achievement what they were able to put on a on a recording bouncing full of joy full of uh i don't know it's deeply satisfying to me to go back and be able to hear that and i'm so glad we captured it Because otherwise we wouldn't even know that it had happened.

And that's what's happened with Beethoven and Mozart and Brahms and all these composers who were better improvisers than they were composers.

According to the people around them, Beethoven could play the piano better than Mozart, better than anybody.

Experience it differently.

You see what I mean? If this is your experience and your apprehension of what's real right now, go with it because there is room always for new sounds, new configurations, new ways, new tempos.

Cannonball Adderley used alto sax as well as Coltrane's tenor sax, Miles Davis on trumpet.

Red Garland still in the rhythm section today.

on piano with Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones, also back in the rhythm section.

Nice way to start our show and Milestones not to be confused with the other song named Milestones that John Lewis composed for Bird and Miles back in the day.

And he was searching for his sound.

And so Miles, to meet this new engagement with both Columbia Records and the concert tour, needed to reestablish a relationship.

working band so he hired John Coltrane for the saxophone chair and he had people who he had been working with for a little bit Red Garland on piano with his unique piano style and Paul Chambers very exquisite bass player and Philly Joe Jones very innovative at the drums and that was the group they put together And for the next several years, Miles and Coltrane, after this group, their paths would cross as well, and we'll talk more about that later throughout the five hours, but we're going to let the music do the talking as we like to do during these programs.

And so this group, which came to be known as the Quintet, Miles Davis on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor sax, Red Garland piano, Paul Chambers bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums.

One of four albums that were recorded for Prestige Records in a couple days as Miles was looking to fulfill his obligations to Prestige Records and get on with his Columbia recording contract.

And this is Miles Davis' first great quintet of Miles on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor sax, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums.

What a great quintet that was.

We're gonna continue on now with a recording that I've been listening to a lot lately.

And the pianist on those albums was-

...

Red Garland.

Yep.

And Miles told Red specifically, "Do that Ahmad Jamal thing-

Yeah.

So it was just, uh, from that experience, I began to learn about Bud Powell, Red Garland, and of course, Charlie Parker.

And, uh, those, those musicians were the ones that taught me what a great art this is.

The art of jazz improvisation, the art of rhythm.