"Will You Still Be Mine" features snappy brush work by Taylor, Chamber's aggressive bowed bass solo and Garland's light-footed single-line notes in the upper register. "Willow Weep For Me" is stretched out to nearly ten minutes, but Garland can't seem to run out of ideas. Chambers supplies his familiar, woody bass solo after Red is done.
On the mid-tempo groover "What Can I Say (After I Say I'm Sorry)?" Garland's mastery of placing the right notes instead of the most notes is one of the very things that Miles found attractive in his playing. "Hey Now" is the sole original, which Garland built from a simple but effective blues riff.
This past July 1, Groovy was reissued in remastered form with the remastering chores done by none other than the legendary engineer who recorded the original tapes, Rudy Van Gelder. This record is just one of several classic Prestige jazz recordings that have been getting the RVG treatment this year. With Van Gelder's re-freshening, both Chambers' and Taylor's important contributions become illuminated better, with the drumming coming forth crisper and the bass' discreet strums easier to detect.
All of which makes this an opportune time to get introduced to Miles Davis' most overlooked of a long line of great piano players. This latest issue of Groovy is the place to start.
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