On whose shoulders are the giants standing? Chuck Berry’s accompanists were great: bassist Willie Dixon wrote no less imperishable songs for the blues than Chuck did for rock and roll, and pianist Johnny Johnson composed most of the harmonies for Berry’s songs. In The Blue Caps, Gene Vincent was made weather by guitarist Cliff Gallup with his deft swing. Fats Domino came up with his teddy boogie in collaboration with Dave Bartholomew. The Elvis phenomenon would not have happened without Scotty and Bill, the contribution of these musicians to the formation of the rock industry is still underestimated.
In 1956, Elvis moved to RCA Nashville, where such kaijus as Chet Atkins, Boots Randolph, Buddy Harman and others already served as studio king kongs. When it became known in 1958 that Presley would be called up for military service in the US armed forces, the right decision was to record a number of singles, as they say, for the future, so that in two years the public would not forget who their king was.
The aggressive guitar solos in the songs “A Fool Such As I”, “A Big Hunk O’ Love”, “I Need Your Love Tonight” can be mistaken for the work of Scotty Moore, but this is the work of Hank Garland. Scotty’s playing style is more “dark”, bluesy, whereas Hank’s strings seem to burst into infectious laughter.
Walter Louis “Hank” Garland was born on November 11, 1930, in the town of Cowpens, South Carolina, forgotten by cartographers. Having mastered a fishing rod and a ball, at the age of six he took up the guitar. In Spartanburg, the county seat, fourteen-year-old Hank met rising bluegrass star Don Reno, who had just returned from the Pacific Theater of Operations. Rino saw the potential of the schoolboy, starting to give him lessons. By 1949, Hank had become so arrogant that he recorded the single “Sugarfoot Rag”, which sold a million copies that same year, Red Foley released his version on November 10 (apparently for Garland’s birthday), and Ella Fitzgerald a year later. So Garland joined the “A-team”, the top league of Nashville instrumentalists, whose face was Chet Atkins.
The sunbeams of his game jump out of the songs of Patsy Cline, Ronnie Hawkins, Roy Orbison, the Everly brothers. Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” would have lost half of its charm if it hadn’t been for Hank’s six-string. Since the main profession of the “A-team” was country music, on free evenings all the honest brothers went to the “Carousel Club” to play the most “shoe polish” jazz. The guys got invited to the famous Newport Jazz Festival, the consequences of which are immortalized on the record “After The Riot At Newport”. In the same 1960, Hank Garland, having thoroughly fried be-bop in New York in the company of George Shearing and Charlie Parker, released as many as three albums: “Velvet Guitar”, “Jazz Winds From A New Direction” and “Subtle Swing”. Perhaps a premonition of impending disaster forced the guitarist to capture all his achievements, not sparing his fingers. Today we have “Subtle Swing”, a small masterpiece by a Great Musician.
02 Not for Me
03 You’re Here Again
04 Just for Tonight
05 Pop Goes the Weasel
06 It’s Love of Course
07 Unless You’re in Love
08 Close Your Eyes
09 Rainy Afternoon
10 Call D. Law
Listen online or download Hank Garland – Subtle Swing (1960) (mp3, 61 Mb)
(Tell Me) What Am I To Do immediately blows over your face with the warm wind of a young decade. On the vibraphone hereafter, the child prodigy Gary Burton, seventeen years old at that time. Hank, mindful of how Don Reno was messing with him, took over the patronage of the rookie. The rookie got it right, subsequently taking over teaching duties at Berklee College.
Not For Me is a magnificent fragment of sad happiness, told in the voice of a “blind” summer rain.
You’re Here Again could have been played in any Soviet romantic comedy of those years, starting with “3+2”. The beautiful interaction between Hank and Gary, supported by pianist Bill Purcell, creates the feeling of a tiny miracle happening right in front of our eyes.
Just For Tonight is a toy western for plastic cowboys and Indians. Totally optional, but damn cozy.
Pop Goes The Weasel is one of the wackiest folk dances. For some reason, having taken it into processing, Garland, Burton and Purcell nevertheless proposed several unexpected moves.
It’s Love Of Course is a swing that does not recognize the laws of gravity. Lighter than a feather. As well as the feeling of first falling in love.
Unless You’re In Love – a walk in a June downpour with a light sadness in your bosom and a sip of cognac in your pocket.
Close Your Eyes – painfully Russian Gypsy. It seems that most of the album was created for Soviet listeners.
Rainy Afternoon – it’s raining again. Quenching the thirst of young foliage tired of the zenith. Scattering blessings on sedge and plantain.
Call D Law brings out the talents of all instrumentalists, including bassist Bob Moore and drummer Murray Harman. Although no one let the rhythm section show off. But you should have.
Soon Elvis returned, and rock and roll asserted its rights again. Hank played incredible roles in “Kiss Me Quick” and “Little Sister,” and the action movie “Steppin’ Out Of Line” turned out to be so menacingly fatal that the producers deleted it from the summer banality of the movie “Blue Hawaii.” Elvis, realizing the potential of the song, included it in the numbered album “Pot Luck”.
Tragedy is not expected, no one assumes that grief will fall on your head in one ringing minute, and life will no longer return to a comfortable course. An accident in September 1961 sent Hank into a coma. When Garland woke up, he never regained consciousness completely, having lost the ability to think with music. His wife Evelyn was faithful and caring to the end. She died in another car accident on December 2, 1965. His parents took care of Hank until his death, when his brother took him in. On December 27, 2004, Walter Louis Garland passed away. He stayed alive too long to turn into a cult like Richie Vallance or Big Bopper. In 2007, in the wake of the success of the Johnny Cash movie, Hollywood released “Crazy,” its version of Hank’s life, starring Waylon Payne and Ali Larter.
These are the people who make up the musical mosaic. Buy real records and always read the list of participants. Otherwise, you will miss all the fun. Drops are dripping from the foliage onto the windowsill. Time to dream, Moon Dogs!
