Sometimes a record becomes very a much wanted thing, but almost unattainable. Such is the world of vinyl collecting. There are so many rare productions that barely saw the light of day when they were originally released (yes indeed, there used to be a world with no internet) so 50 years later they become almost impossible to acquire. Rarity is usually due to the records being pressed in very limited quantities, as was the case with the only album put out by Milt Ward and his group the Virgo Spectrum.
Milt Ward was a trumpeter from Michigan, who grew up physically and musically in my beloved city of New Orleans. He wanted to make it big in the music business, but found it very hard to do so. As with many others in those days, Milt had to take matter into his own hands and produce his first record as a leader by his own means. You can read a little more about him here or a lot more if you purchase his album! There is now a reissue available of this great album thanks to Frederiksberg Records.
Enter Carlos Garnett…
A few years ago, I was riding in my car with Carlos Garnett taking him to the panamanian copyright office, when I started talking to him about Milt Ward. “Milt What?” was his response. I played him a couple of tracks from the obscure record titled “Milt Ward & the Virgo Spectrum” (a permanent fixture in my wantlist) and told Carlos he had recorded in it. He told me it wasn’t him, and didn’t pay attention to anything else I said with regards to the record in question.
It took me quite sometime to convince him it was him all along in those recordings. Cecil McBee and him were featured soloists, and as mentioned in the official re-release of this rare record “the recording also incorporated two bona fide New York jazz masters and veterans of the spiritual jazz movement, bassist Cecil McBee and saxophonist Carlos Garnett…”.
Fast forward to this year, when I learn from my great friend and spiritual brother Aquiles Navarro that the Milt Ward record was getting an official reissue. It took me absolutely no time to go to the Bandcamp site and purchase the record. Upon reading the site notes, I noticed the production had mentioned Carlos Ward in a sentence instead of Carlos Garnett (Ward is another killer panamanian saxophonist who often gets mixed up with Carlos Garnett). I contacted the record label and let them know about the mistake. Not a minute had passed when Andreas Vingaard, the man behind Frederiksberg Records had responded thanking me for pointing out what needed to be corrected. We began talking, and I mentioned to him my work with Carlos.
It so happens to be that I have been extensively documenting Carlos Garnett’s life for an “autobiographical” work (he cannot write because he is blind since 2015), doing all the investigative work, writing, editing, etc., myself. Massive amounts of my energy have gone into this. The project has been an amazing, but also an extremely challenging endeavour and I will most definitely write about with much detail further down the line.
After purchasing the record, I had to sit on the sideline a few weeks all the while feeling like a little musical crackhead waiting for my fix until the Milt Ward records sent by the label finally arrived. My copy got spun several times at home as loud as I could to my great delight (not so much for my neighbors). I promised Andreas to deliver Carlos copy directly to him and take some photos to send back for Frederiksberg Records, which I did. Interestingly, I also captured the moment when I think Carlos finally came to the conclusion that it was actually him on the tenor. No more doubts about it. His name was on the cover, but he didn’t believe me (he couldn’t see it! He’s blind!), but as soon as that tenor wailed through his speakers on the opening track “Mr.Cheese” he new it was Garnett.
What a moment …
For those who don’t know, the autobiography of Carlos life has been in the works for almost 3 years now and it’s been a crazy ride. As mentioned above, the story of how the book came to fruition is amazing by itself, and I will make sure to tell it when the time comes. Keep your eyes and ears open for that!
Let Us Go (To Higher Heights) …