RIP to saxophonist Carlos Garnett, who passed away last night aged 84 in Panama. Garnett was born in Panama in 1938 and moved to Brooklyn NY USA in 1962, initially playing with rock and latin groups. In 1968, he was hired by Freddie Hubbard and in 1969 recorded on the album Soul Experiment. At this time, Hubbard introduced Garnett to other contemporaries in the jazz scene who were equally impressed by the young Panamanian firebrand, who secured gigs for himself with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Charles Mingus, Andrew Hill and Roy Brooks, among others. Garnett would also secure himself a spot on some of the most radical and pertinent jazz output of the 20th Century, playing on Miles Davis’ genre bending albums On the Corner, Big Fun and Get Up With It, seminal albums in Davis’ electric years catalogue. At around the same time, Garnett would also write and perform with Norman Connors on his superb Buddah and Cobblestone albums Dark of Light, Dance of Magic and Slewfoot, the latter an album where he penned the propulsive session Mother of The Future, a perennial favourite dancefloor jazz cut.
Garnett would move on to record 5 highly prized albums for Muse in a four-year period (74-78), albums that we reissued on CD in their entirety: the highlights from which also make up a Carlos Garnett anthology that we released for Record Store Day in 2015. Journey To Enlightenment and The Black Love are spiritual, soaring sets, suffused with soul, Latin tinged themes and rumbling, guttural jazz and intense spiritual workouts, Garnett’s self-released version of Mother of The Future featuring on the latter. Both albums are rich and deftly percussive experiences, accented with the musical fragrances of Latin America alongside avant-garde and pan-African motifs. Next came Let This Melody Ring On, best known for The Good Shepherd, a gnarly four-to-the-four arrangement overscored with experimental strings, and Samba Serenade, an oozing composition which balances funk with south American Rhythms and head-busting horn arrangements, underscored with scuffed electric guitar. His 76’ outing Cosmos Nucleus supplies perhaps his most popular tune, Mystery of Ages, upbeat jazz-funk bedlam with a careering, powerful vocal provided from lesser-known vocalist Mary Alexander, an underground jazz dance classic with a surging, unremitting energy. Latterly, The New Love features the effusive fusion of Aunt Ben and Uncle Jemma and the Panamanian funk of Bolerock, put together with an outstanding personnel ranging from Terumasa Hino to Joe Bonner.
Less prolific than the likes of Pharoah Sanders and Yusef Lateef, Garnett’s contribution to jazz music should be deservedly viewed with the same reverence, a meaningful and acknowledged player whose canon is spectacular. Alongside the recent passing of Wayne Shorter, Garnett’s quick and reportedly peaceful passing leaves an unfillable gap in the firmament of jazz music.
