Jimmy Garrison
Appearances
Although seemingly impossible to comprehend, this landmark jazz recording was made in less than three days. All the more remarkable is that the same sessions which yielded My [more]
- List Price: $17.99
- Member Price: $11.98
In conjunction with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns' ten-part 2000 PBS special, Columbia/Legacy and Verve teamed up to issue a special series of [more]
- Member Price: $59.98
Regardless of one's own musical standpoints or of the particular cosmology of one's beliefs, this is Devotional music of the highest level, as it must be - majestic, serene, sublime, a richly-woven tapestry in sound; music of unsurpassable breadth and beauty to be heard as long as men with souls live.
Recorded between April and June of 1971, Alice Coltrane's Universal Consciousness stands as her classic work. As a testament to the articulation of her spiritual [more]
- List Price: $14.98
- Member Price: $14.38
2005 was a watershed year for unreleased music by John Coltrane. First there was the unbelievable Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane Live at Carnegie Hall. [more]
- List Price: $24.98
- Member Price: $22.48
This essential single-CD combines altoist/arranger Benny Carter's classic Further Definitions with the related Additions to Further Definitions. The former set was [more]
- List Price: $14.98
- Member Price: $14.38
John Coltrane's Crescent from the spring of 1964 is an epic album, showing his meditative side that would serve as a perfect prelude to his immortal work A Love Supreme. His [more]
- List Price: $18.98
- Member Price: $17.45
Easily one of the most important records ever made, John Coltrane's A Love Supreme was his pinnacle studio outing that at once compiled all of his innovations from his past, spoke of [more]
- Member Price: $17.29
This CD reissues what was arguably the finest of the John Coltrane-Pharoah Sanders collaborations. On five diverse but almost consistently intense movements ("The Father and the Son [more]
- Member Price: $10.98
Although throughout much of his career Rolf Kuhn has been a swing-based clarinetist, he also has had an open mind toward much more adventurous jazz, possibly inspired a bit by [more]
- List Price: $17.98
- Member Price: $16.18
![Today and Tomorrow [Bonus Tracks]](/cache/JHS/d7/130x130_d77472m303h.jpg)
The great pianist McCoy Tyner teams up with trumpeter Thad Jones, altoist Frank Strozier, tenor saxophonist John Gilmore (on vacation from Sun Ra), bassist Butch [more]
- Member Price: $10.98
Biography
- Born Mar 3rd 1934 in Miami, FL
- Died Apr 7th 1976 in New York, NY
Garrison is best known as bassist for one of the most important jazz groups, John Coltrane's classic quartet with drummer Elvin Jones and pianist McCoy Tyner. But Garrison had a full career backing other prominent saxophonists, including Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, and Ornette Coleman. Garrison's work with Coleman is especially noteworthy; his earthy, hard-swinging approach contrasted greatly with the work of the saxophonist's other, more finesse-oriented bassists like David Izenson or Scott LaFaro. The Garrison/Elvin Jones rhythm section transformed Coleman on two very underrated albums made for Blue Note, New York Is Now and Love Call. Nowhere else on record does Coleman sound so consistently forceful and passionate. The lithe tunefulness that marks the saxophonist's earlier playing is augmented by a more pronounced physicality that pushes the blues aspect to the fore; this due in no small part to Garrison and Jones' focused intensity, which drives Coleman harder than he's ever been driven. Of course, it's with Coltrane that Garrison did his most enduring work. Although Garrison could be a compelling soloist when the occasion presented itself (witness his work on A Love Supreme), he didn't need the spotlight to be effective. His propulsive sense of time never failed, and his empathy with those playing around him was complete.
Garrison grew up in Philadelphia, where he learned to play bass. Garrison came of age in the midst of a thriving Philadelphia jazz scene that included Tyner, fellow bassists Reggie Workman and Henry Grimes, and trumpeter Lee Morgan. Between 1957 and 1960, Garrison played and recorded with trumpeter Kenny Dorham; clarinetist Tony Scott; drummer Philly Joe Jones; and saxophonists Bill Barron, Lee Konitz, and Jackie McLean, among others. His first record with Coleman was Art of the Improvisers (Atlantic, 1959). In 1960, he made My Favorite Things (Atlantic) with Coltrane. He continued to play with Coleman and others -- Cal Massey, Walter Bishop, Jr., and Dorham, to name a few -- but by 1962 his job with Coltrane had essentially become full-time. Garrison remained with Coltrane until the saxophonist's death in July 1967. The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording (Impulse!, 2001), a live recording made by Coltrane just a couple of months before his death, includes Garrison with Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, Rashied Ali, and Jumma Santos. After Coltrane, Garrison worked with Ornette Coleman once again, and played on record dates led by Sanders, Jones, Shepp, Sonny Rollins, and Alice Coltrane. Garrison also taught occasionally; William Parker, one of the most highly regarded bassists of the late '90s and early 2000s, was his student. ~ Chris Kelsey, All Music Guide
The Source for Discounted Rare & Essential Jazz Music CDs!
©2010 Jazz Heritage Society. All Rights Reserved.
Jazz Heritage Society - 1710 Highway 35 - Oakhurst, NJ 07755