Red Garland
Piano Solo on
Bakai

About

Red Garland leads off the solos with two choruses on piano, the first of three improvisations on the recording. Taken at a medium-up swing tempo of 145 BPM over the 44-bar AAABAA' in B♭, the improvisation unfolds with comfortable, easygoing swing. Red Garland opens the solo sequence with two flowing piano choruses, his signature block-chord technique and elegant melodic sense setting a high standard for the performances to follow. Recorded for the album Coltrane in 1957, the performance captures Red Garland at 33 to 34 years old. "Bakai" is an original composition by Calvin Massey, the Philadelphia-born trumpeter and composer who maintained a close creative friendship with John Coltrane dating back to their time together in Jimmy Heath's big band.

Red Garland was 33 to 34 years old at the time.