Red Garland Red Alert (1977) 320 Kbps

Life failed to deliver on the glories of Stars largely because the album lacked the strong original songwriting of its predecessor. Similarly, Blue, the follow-up to Life, is weak on original material. However, Mick Hucknall makes up for the deficits by assembling a good collection of outside material, ranging from Gregory Isaacs' "Night Nurse" to Neil Young's "Mellow My Mind." Initially, Blue was going to be a covers album, and judging by these numbers – along with Dennis Brown's "Ghetto Girl" and one of the two versions of the Hollies' "The Air That I Breathe," not the superfluous chart-grabbing Stevie J. production that replicates all the bad parts of Puff Daddy – it would have been a great, sultry listen.

AVID Jazz continues with its Four Classic Albums series with a finely re-mastered 2CD release from John Coltrane with The Red Garland Trio & Quintet.

Of the miles of Red Garland sessions recorded in the late '50s, some of the tapes didn't see the light of day until many years later. This session, except for "Crazy Rhythm," first appeared in the early '70s, and is typical of Garland's trio work of the '50s, evoking a mid-century nightclub atmosphere from Rudy Van Gelder's studio with the perfectly gauged help of bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Art Taylor.

The emphasis is on the blues (although not exclusively) on this CD reissue. The original eight-song program has been joined by "A Portrait of Jennie" by the same trio (pianist Red Garland, bassist Sam Jones and drummer Art Taylor) from an earlier date. Most unusual about the set is that Garland makes a rare (and effective) appearance on organ during "Halleloo-Y'All." Otherwise, this is a conventional but enjoyable set of bluesy bop, highlighted by "Revelation Blues," "Everytime I Feel the Spirit" and "Rocks In My Bed."

A Garland of Red is the debut album by pianist Red Garland, recorded in 1956 and released on the Prestige label. In his review for AllMusic, Scott Yanow stated: "Thirty-three at the time of this, his first recording as a leader, pianist Red Garland already had his distinctive style fully formed and had been with the Miles Davis Quintet for a year… Red Garland recorded frequently during the 1956-62 period and virtually all of his trio recordings are consistently enjoyable, this one being no exception."

Arnett Cobb with The Red Garland Trio - Blue And Sentimental (1960) {Prestige PRCD-24122-2 rel 1993}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 420 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 170 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 35 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1960, 1993 Prestige / Fantasy | PRCD-24122-2
Jazz / Bop / Soul Jazz / Saxophone

The Cobb of Blue and Sentimental release combines two 1960 Prestige sessions, one of ballads and the other uptempo cookers. He meets up with pianist Red Garland’s group of JC Heard/dr and George Tucker-George Duvivier/b and hits the road running on “Sizzlin’” and a take of “Sweet Georgia Brown” that will get you on the basketball court in no time. Cobb was made for ballads, however, and he gives it all he’s got on the rarely performed Sinatra associated tunes “PS I Love You” and “Why Try To Change Me Now.” If I could play like this…..