Guitarist Arv Garrison staked out a large claim in the collective record pile by participating in recording sessions for Dial, a record label and not a soap bar, with the historic jazz icon Charlie Parker. Thanks to this happy bit of bopping, Garrison's discography hardly scans like the career of a musician who spent a great deal of time in the so-called no-account town of Toledo, Ohio. Various Parker reissues and collections in which Garrison plays a few choruses form something in the nature of medieval walls around the one Garrison recording that fans of guitar playing actually covet: Five Guitars in Flight, originally released on the Tops label in 1946.

Garrison himself chose the latter as his favorite masterwork in dialogues with Leonard Feather leading up to the guitarist's inclusion in The Encyclopedia of Jazz. That reference also mentions Django Reinhardt as a major influence, but the Tops side, recorded in collaboration with bandleader Earle Spencer, owes as much to the fanciful recording world of Les Paul.

Garrison taught himself from these influences, working up to the guitar from the ukulele he cuddled as a nine year old. His first stages were school and local lodge dances. Once 18, the guitarist took charge of his own group and by the '40s had a regular hotel job in Albany, New York.

Throughout the decade Garrison had a trio that gigged nationally, evolving into the Vivien Garry Trio in a power move by the trio's bassist, an understandable one at that since Garry was married to Garrison. He was associated with the Toledo music scene in the '50s.

Eugene Chadbourne -All Music Guide


Arv Garrison is relatively unknown today. His professional recording career spanned three years after the end of WWII. A majority of that legacy was with the Vivien Garry Trio. The Trio’s first recordings for Guild and Sarco demonstrated Arv’s phenomenal mastery of the electric guitar. He was on several Dial sessions led by Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Howard McGhee, but his presence on these recordings is sparse due to the short duration of 78 singles.

Vivien and Arv were on sessions for Signature and Exclusive where they were part of the ensembles backing Leo Watson and Rickey Jordan respectively. Arv plays rhythm backup with occasional solo breaks on these vocalist sessions where his ability to adapt and swing in different musical settings demonstrated his versatility. Arv was hired by Earle Spencer to compose a piece for his orchestra featuring five harmonized guitars. “Five Guitars in Flight” on Black & White 822 remained Arv’s proudest achievement of his recording career.

His most accomplished performances were recorded for the Armed Forces Radio Service on “Jubilee” and “Magic Carpet” transcriptions that were heard by service personnel around the world, but not in the U.S. Likewise, the air checks included in this set were broadcasts on Los Angeles and New York City radio stations but not recorded for commercial release.

Arv Garrison suffered from epilepsy. He was able to perform despite the occasional seizures that his trio mates noticed during their time in California. The seizures became more frequent and pronounced when the Vivien Garry Trio returned to New York.

Arv’s earlier playing had displayed his exceptional gift to communicate commands requiring milliseconds from his brain to his fingers. Epilepsy robbed that facility. Arv’s peers like his close friend, Irving Ashby, continued their performance and recording careers, the essential elements to creating and sustaining an awareness in the minds of jazz fans. His sparse outings on record failed to establish that same recognition. His name disappeared from the jazz polls. Arv Garrison remains mostly unknown among today’s jazz public.

—James A. Harrod (From the back liner notes of FSRCD 1104)