Search - Red Garland :: High Pressure

The 3rd record from an historic session

douglasnegley | Pittsburgh, Pa. United States | 09/18/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In November and December of 1957, Red Garland got to lead his first, and only session, as a leader of a band as opposed to a trio (more on the trio in a second). Both "Soul Junction", and "All Mornin'Long" were masterful recordings which were released first from these same session dates with Coltrane, Donald Byrd, and the Garland trio. "High Pressure" was the last to come out, but you'd never know that it was 3rd choice material. I notice that the tracks are shuffled differently than on the copy that I have, where "Soft Winds" opens up (an old Goodman tune) and Red begins just as good as on all the other LPs. Coltrane and Byrd compliment each other so well, I think, because their styles differ - Byrd blows 'hot', but straight ahead, never complicated and always accessable. Art Taylor is the drummer's drummer, and perfect for this date. All 3 of the abovementioned CDs are top, top shelf. As to the trio, Red put out a lot of trio stuff: you can not say it is all mediocre, no way. "Red In Bluesville", "Can't See For Lookin'"...these are a few that are simply great. The knock on a few of the trio dates is that they are short in length, or they sound the same. Sorry, the good ones I could listen to every day, and Red was of the best trio players out there, groove and dynamic-wise. Check that Trio out, too."