Red Garland Quintet - Soul Junction

Productivity can be measured in terms of quantity and quality. On both counts, the Red Garland session of November 15, 1957, produced volumes; two volumes, in fact, and part of another, 'High Pressure'. Soul Junction and its companion, 'All Mornin’ Long', found Garland and John Coltrane attuned to one another and in superb form as a result of their intensive work in the Miles Davis Quintet. Trumpeter Donald Byrd’s playing was at its peak. Arthur Taylor, a stalwart of time and acute sensitivity, was the drummer. Bassist George Joyner (aka Jamil Nasser) provided the depth and power that later led to his long association with Ahmad Jamal. All hands exult in two of Dizzy Gillespie’s compositions, two standards, and one of those Red Garland slow blues that lasts more than a quarter of an hour and is too short.