Carlos Garnett

Carlos Garnett (born 1938) was born in Red Tank, a town in the Panama Canal Zone, that was abandoned while he was still a child. He took up the saxophone as a teenager, and his early inspirations were James Moody, Louis Jordan and Sonny Rollins. With US servicemen stationed nearby, he had the opportunity to take part in jam sessions, and he became determined to make jazz his career. In 1962, he moved to Brooklyn, where he played in a rock’n’roll band for a while.

Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard heard Garnett playing at Brooklyn’s Blue Coronet Club in 1968 and invited him to join his group. He appeared on Hubbard’s soul-jazz album A Soul Experiment, before his friend Woody Shaw got him a gig touring with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1970. He became an extremely in demand player and joined Charlie Mingus’ sextet for a short while, before recording with Andrew Hill and Pharoah Sanders. In 1972 he was recruited by Miles Davis, appearing on On The Corner album. Garnett later regretted that his period with Miles coincided with the trumpeter’s controversial electronic period.

In 1974, Garnett recorded his debut album Black Love for Muse, with a group that included a 24-year old Dee Dee Bridgewater. He recorded four more albums for the label over the next three years, but by 1982 issues with drugs and depression led him to laying down his horn. He had, in his words, a “spiritual awakening”, and for almost a decade Garnett did not play music. In the 1990s, encouraged by bassist Brad Jones, he reemerged, and was soon sounding as strong as ever. Muse put out his first new album in almost 20 years, Resurgence, in 1996. By 2000, Garnett returned to Panama, performing regularly, as well as embarking on a new career teaching saxophone. He finally recorded with Woody Shaw in 2004, and has been honoured for his contribution to jazz by the Panama International Jazz Festival, run by fellow Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez.

Key Recordings:
Black Love (Muse 1974)
Journey To Enlightenment (Muse 1974)
Moon Shadow (Savant 2001)