Listening to Prestige 282: Red Garland

Not much available from this album from any of my usual sources, and it's too bad, because from the couple of cuts I was able to listen to, Red Garland and Ray Barretto together just keep getting better and better.

Maybe the folks who select things for streaming gave this a lower priority because Paul Chambers and Art Taylor gave it a pass, but that hardly seems reason enough. George Joyner and Charlie Persip are more than up to the job of giving these guys the rhythmic support they need, and "Ralph J. Gleason Blues" shows that Persip and especially Joyner can deliver original and inventive solos.

"Ralph J. Gleason Blues" and "Mr. Wonderful" were the two cuts I was able to listen to, and I've put up "Ralph J. Gleason Blues" as my "Listen to One" selection because...because, well, everything. The Joyner and Persip contributions I mentioned above, and the ways that Garland and Barretto play off each other -- as always, perfectly balanced by Rudy Van Gelder's sound engineering.

Ralph J. Gleason, the dedicatee of Garland's blues, was one of the leading jazz critics of the 1950s, an associate editor of Down Beat. And as I've mentioned, another term for "leading jazz critic of the 1950s" was "snob."

Gleason, perhaps, less than most. While he might not have been so open as to recognize rhythm and blues as a legitimate form of jazz, because no one was, he was open to the new music that was being created by hippies and rockers of the 1960s, to the extent when in 1967, Jann Wenner started Rolling Stone, Gleason was one of its first editors.

"Mr. Wonderful" was the title song from a Broadway musical of 1956, which starred the Will Mastin Trio. In case you're not quite sure you remember the name, this was an act put together by vaudevillian Will Mastin, featuring his brother, Sammy Davis, and his nephew, who had been given the same name as his father. Yes, mega-star though he was already, Sammy Davis. Jr., continued to perform with, and feature, the vaudevillians who had nurtured them. Family acts from the Everly Brothers to Creedence Clearwater Revival have festered grievances to the point of coming to blows onstage, but Sammy stayed faithful to his two mentors until they retired, and today they are buried alongside each other. I saw Mr. Wonderful on Broadway, and yes, it wasn't much of a show, but yes, Sammy lit up the theater. The song wasn't the hit from the show, because it was sung about Sammy, not by him -- "Too Close For Comfort" got that honor. But it had a sweet melody, and Garland and his group get a lot out of it.


The session log has this as the Red Garland Quartet, but it was actually released under Red Garland Trio plus Ray Barretto (or con Ray Barretto to the Latin market). To either market, it was Rojo.

Order Listening to Prestige Vol 2

Listening to Prestige Vol. 2, 1954-1956 is here! You can order your signed copy or copies through the link above.

Tad Richards will strike a nerve with all of us who were privileged to have lived thru the beginnings of bebop, and with those who have since fallen under the spell of this American phenomenon…a one-of-a-kind reference book, that will surely take its place in the history of this music.

                                                                                                                                                --Dave Grusin

An important reference book of all the Prestige recordings during the time period. Furthermore, Each song chosen is a brilliant representation of the artist which leaves the listener free to explore further. The stories behind the making of each track are incredibly informative and give a glimpse deeper into the artists at work.

                                                                                                                --Murali Coryell