William McKinley "Red" Garland Jr. (May 13, 1923 – April 23, 1984) was an American modern jazz pianist. Known for his work as a bandleader and during the 1950s with Miles Davis, Garland helped popularize the block chord style of playing in jazz piano. William "Red" Garland was born in 1923 in Dallas, Texas. He began his musical studies on the clarinet and alto saxophone, having studied with saxophonist Buster "Prof" Smith, who had been an early mentor of alto saxophonist Charlie Parker in Kansas City. He joined the United States Army in 1941 and was stationed in Fort Huachuca, Arizona. While there, Garland began to learn the piano with Army pianists John Lewis (not to be confused with John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet) and Lee Barnes. At this time, he was also an amateur boxer, having fought Sugar Ray Robinson but losing the match. After being discharged from the military in 1944, Garland played locally around Texas until 1946 when he joined the trumpet player Hot Lips Page's band, playing with him until a tour ended in New York in March 1946. Garland decided to stay in New York and soon found work there and also in Philadelphia. While in New York, Garland was recommended to singer Billy Eckstine, who hired him for several weeks. Musical career 1955–1958: The first Miles Davis Quintet Garland found success in 1955 when he joined the Miles Davis Quintet, featuring John Coltrane, Philly Joe Jones, and Paul Chambers. Davis was a fan of boxing and was impressed that Garland had boxed earlier in his life. Together, the group recorded their famous Prestige albums, Miles: The New Miles Davis Quintet (1956), Workin, Steamin', Cookin', and Relaxin'. Garland's style is prominent in these seminal recordings—evident in his distinctive chord voicings, his sophisticated accompaniment, and his musical references to Ahmad Jamal's style. Some observers dismissed Garland as a "cocktail" pianist, but Miles was pleased with his style, having urged Garland to absorb some of Jamal's lightness of touch and harmonics within his own approach. Garland played on the first of Davis's many Columbia recordings, 'Round About Midnight (1957). Their relationship was already beginning to deteriorate, but he continued playing with Miles. By 1958, Garland and Jones had started to become more erratic in turning up for recordings and shows. He was eventually fired by Miles but later returned to play on another jazz classic, Milestones. Davis was displeased when Garland quoted Davis's much earlier, and by then famous, solo from "Now's The Time" in block chords during the slower take of "Straight, No Chaser". Garland walked out of one of the sessions for Milestones; on the track "Sid's Ahead", Davis comped behind the saxophone solos in his absence. 1958–1984: Red Garland Trio and later life In 1958, Garland formed his own trio. Among the musicians the trio recorded with are Pepper Adams, Nat Adderley, Ray Barretto, Kenny Burrell, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Jimmy Heath, Harold Land, Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, Blue Mitchell, Ira Sullivan, and Leroy Vinnegar. The trio also recorded as a quintet with John Coltrane and Donald Byrd. Altogether, Garland released 25 albums on Prestige Records and its subsidiary Moodsville, which were recorded between 1956 and 1962. He also recorded several albums for the Riverside Records subsidiary Jazzland in the early 1960s. In the mid-to-late 1960s, Garland's career suffered when rock music caused a substantial drop in the popularity of jazz, and his record sales plunged. During this period, he returned to his Dallas, Texas to care for his mother. After her death in 1968, he left music for a number of years. Garland resumed his recording career in 1971 with two albums for the German MPS Records label, and later in the decade recorded for Galaxy Records, Muse Records, Xanadu Records, and other jazz labels. In 1977, his Crossings album reunited him with Philly Joe Jones, with whom he also played club performances that same year. Garland continued recording until his death from a heart attack on April 23, 1984, at the age of 60. Artistry In the original liner notes of Red Garland's Piano in 1957, jazz historian Ira Gitler wrote: "Red Garland's piano is an instrument effulgent with warm emotion. Red Garland is a pianist who eschews the flowery and champions the direct approach in a simple, subtle manner. His basic, solid style, developed along personal lines out of Nat Cole and Bud Powell, encompasses all moods and tempos with equal ease. Never syrupy on the ballads in ballad tempo or merely fleet on the up tempos, Red is especially buoyant in a soul-lifting way on the middle ground. Here is a musician who even if he played every cocktail lounge in the country could never be considered a 'cocktail lounge pianist.'" In addition to Cole and Powell, jazz writer Scott Yanow noted the influence of Ahmad Jamal present in Garland's style. Legacy NPR inducted the album A Garland of Red into the NPR Basic Jazz Record Library in 2001. Staff broadcaster Murray Horwitz stated: "Red Garland is one of the those musicians you probably know a lot more about than you think you do, but it's still not enough. He made his biggest splash as a sideman, but (...) A Garland of Red is some of the finest piano trio jazz you can find."