Search - Red Garland :: I Left My Heart

For completists, but good Garland.

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 04/23/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This 1978 recording of the great pianist proves that Red Garland had lost comparatively little of his game, despite some evidence to the contrary on a date of the preceding year, "Crossings," on which the chemistry simply wasn't there. There's a bit of hesitation, roughness, and even disagreement about keys at certain moments (most noticeably the opening of "Bye Bye Blackbird") of this live set, but the piano sound is very present and up close (unlike the "Crossings" date, which sounds as though the whole idea was to cover up Red's playing).



The main gripe would have to be the overly boosted bass of Chris Amberger (endemic to the recordings of this period, and especially to Muse, the original label). Curiously, on half of the tunes it's perfectly balanced; on the other half, turn your bass tone control by a good half or more to the left."