David "Wally" Garner |
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It is with great sadness, but even greater appreciation, that Crystal City Jazz Celebration 2006 remembers Wally Garner, 77, longtime Washington area jazz clarinetist who died on August 24, 2005 in Inova Fairfax Hospital from complications of lung cancer. He is missed by not only the local jazz lovers who heard him play at a myriad of locations around town during the last fifty years, but by many fellow musicians who played with him. While jazz was the love of his life he played in the Benny Goodman style - he also was a long time employee of British Aerospace, located near Dulles Airport. And he balanced these professional lives in a highly successful manner, excelling at both. He supposedly got the nickname "Wally" because some thought he looked like the actor Wallace Beery, who made over 290 films in the 30's, 40's and 50's. Washington Post jazz critic Mike Joyce commented that Wally wielded a marvelous elastic and round tone agile enough to gracefully adorn several up-tempo swing-era anthems, warm enough to cast unusually seductive spells with "Blue Skies," "Body and Soul," and "The Man I love." Born in Georgetown, but living in Falls Church most of his life, he was the leader of the Not So Modern Jazz Quartet for fifteen years, playing at St. Elmo's Coffee Pub in the Del Ray section of Alexandria. Other gigs included: playing with the house band at Gerogetown's Blues Alley jazz club; a long stint with bassist Tommy Cecil's trio, that included Garner and pianist Larry Eanet at the Four Seasons Hotel in the district; weekly sets with the Federal Jazz Commission at Col. Brooks Tavern in northeast Washington; member of the Washington Conservatory of Music Traditional Jazz Ensemble, part of the Potomac River Jazz Club in Riverdale, Maryland; sitting in with bands that featured such jazz greats as Louis Armstrong, Jimmy McPartland, and "Wild Bill" Davidson when they came to local clubs; and a number of appearances at the Kennedy Center where he played a series of songs in tribute to Benny Goodman, working with pianist Earnet, bassists Cecil or Tom Baldwin, and drummers Mike Smith or Chuck Redd. Wally's unique contributions to our local jazz environment will be sorely missed. |
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