Artist: Red Garland

William McKinley "Red" Garland Jr. was an American modern  jazz pianist. Known for his work as a bandleader and during the 1950s with Miles Davis, Garland helped popularize the block chord style of playing in jazz piano. 

Garland joined the trumpet player Hot Lips Page, well-known in the southwest, and played with him until a tour ended in New York in March 1946. When Garland decided to stay in New York to find work, Art Blakey came across Garland playing at a small club, only to return the next night with his boss, Billy Eckstine. 

Garland became famous in 1954 when he joined the Miles Davis Quintet, featuring John Coltrane, Philly Joe Jones, and Paul Chambers. Together, the group recorded their famous Prestige albums, Miles: The New Miles Davis Quintet (1954), Workin,  Steamin', Cookin', and Relaxin'. Garland's style is prominent in these seminal recordings—evident in his distinctive chord voicings, his sophisticated accompaniment, and his musical references to Ahmad Jamal's style.

In 1958, Garland formed his own trio. Among the musicians the trio recorded with are Pepper Adams, Nat Adderley, Ray Barretto, Kenny Burrell, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Jimmy Heath, Harold Land, Philly Joe Jones, Blue Mitchell, Ira Sullivan, and Leroy Vinnegar. The trio also recorded as a quintet with John Coltrane and Donald Byrd. Altogether, Garland led 19 recording sessions while at Prestige Records and 25 sessions for Fantasy Records. He stopped playing professionally for a number of years in the 1960s when the popularity of rock music coincided with a substantial drop in the popularity of jazz. 

Garland eventually returned to his native Texas in the 1970s to care for his aged mother. He led a recording in 1977, named Crossings, which reunited him with Philly Joe Jones, and he teamed up with bassist Ron Carter. His later work tended to sound more modern and less polished than his better known recordings. He continued recording until his death in 1984. 

Further information about Red Garland is found here and here.

Photography credit: Brianmcmillen, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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