1970 · Album
The P.C. Blues
Recorded 1957 · Prestige · Produced by Not specified in available sources
Three Takes in the Prestige Vaults
A thoughtful but swinging release that shows Garland in his element at the keyboard.
The P.C. Blues comes from sessions recorded in 1957, back when Red Garland was working steadily for Prestige Records. These were productive days in the studio—the same sessions that yielded Red Garland's Piano and Groovy didn't sit idle. Material was cut with an eye toward stretching it across multiple releases, which was how Prestige operated: you recorded enough to fill three or four albums, then sorted it out later. That efficiency meant Garland had the freedom to try things without the weight of a single album's concept sitting on his shoulders.
What came out was exactly what Garland did well: straightforward piano-trio jazz with swing built into the phrasing and enough harmonic awareness to keep things interesting without ever reaching for unnecessary complexity. He wasn't chasing anything novel here. This was a musician comfortable in his own approach, playing blues changes and standards with the kind of relaxed authority that comes from doing something a thousand times before and still finding something fresh in it. The material stayed in the vaults until 1970, long after the original sessions, which means these tracks were sitting on tape for over a decade before anyone heard them.
AllMusic reviewer Scott Yanow called it a thoughtful but swinging release, which is fair—it's solid work from someone who understood the job and did it right. This isn't the place to start with Garland if you want to understand what made him essential, but it's a good album to land on once you've already heard his stronger records and want more of what works.
Who's playing
Where next?
More by Red Garland
All 26 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
