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Joe Garland

Joseph Copeland Garland (August 15, 1903, Norfolk, Virginia – April 21, 1977, Teaneck, New Jersey) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and arranger, best known for writing "In the Mood".

Garland studied music at Shaw University and the Aeolian Conservatory. He started by playing classical music but joined a jazz band, Graham Jackson's Seminole Syncopators, in 1924, where he first recorded. He had a long run of associations as a sideman on saxophone and clarinet, with Elmer Snowden (1925), Joe Steele, Henri Saparo, Leon Abbey (including a tour of South America), Charlie Skeete and Jelly Roll Morton in the 1920s. The 1930s saw him playing with Bobby Neal (1931) and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band; he was both a performer and an arranger for the Blue Rhythm Band from 1932 to 1936, when Lucky Millinder replaced him. Following this he played with Edgar Hayes (1937), Don Redman (1938), and Louis Armstrong (1939–42). In the 1940s, he played with Claude Hopkins and others, and then returned to Armstrong's band from 1945-47. Following this he played with Herbie Fields, Hopkins again, and Earl Hines (1948). In the 1950s, he went into semi-retirement.

Garland wrote a number of well-known swing jazz hits, including "Serenade To A Savage" for Artie Shaw (one of Shaw's gold records) and "Leap Frog" for bandleader Les Brown.

Birth and Death Data: Born Norfolk (independent city in Virginia, United States), Died April 21, 1977 (Teaneck (township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, suburb of NYC) )

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1928 - 1942

Roles Represented in DAHR: tenor saxophone, saxophone, baritone saxophone, composer, bass saxophone, clarinet, arranger

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 1-25 of 88 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Victor BVE-48433 10-in. 12/6/1928 Everybody loves my honey now Jelly Roll Morton ; Red Hot Peppers Jazz/dance band instrumentalist, tenor saxophone  
Victor BVE-48434 10-in. 12/6/1928 Red hot pepper Jelly Roll Morton ; Red Hot Peppers Jazz/dance band instrumentalist, tenor saxophone  
Victor BVE-48435 10-in. 12/6/1928 Deep creek Jelly Roll Morton ; Red Hot Peppers Jazz/dance band instrumentalist, tenor saxophone  
Victor BVE-48436 10-in. 12/6/1928 You oughter see my gal Jelly Roll Morton ; Red Hot Peppers Jazz/dance band instrumentalist, tenor saxophone  
Victor BS-78096 10-in. 10/5/1933 Harlem after mid-night Mills Blue Rhythm Band Jazz/dance band composer  
Victor BS-80278 10-in. 2/20/1934 The stuff is here Mills Blue Rhythm Band Jazz/dance band composer  
Victor BS-030354 10-in. 12/6/1938 I got ya Don Redman Orchestra Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo instrumentalist, saxophone  
Victor BS-030355 10-in. 12/6/1938 I'm playing solitaire Don Redman Orchestra ; Quentin Jackson Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo instrumentalist, saxophone  
Victor BS-030356 10-in. 12/6/1938 Auld lang syne Don Redman Orchestra Jazz/dance band, with vocal ensemble instrumentalist, saxophone  
Victor BS-030357 10-in. 12/6/1938 Sweet Leilani Don Redman Orchestra Jazz/dance band, with vocal ensemble instrumentalist, saxophone  
Victor BS-030358 10-in. 12/6/1938 'Deed I do Don Redman Orchestra ; Laurel Watson Jazz/dance band, with female vocal solo and vocal ensemble instrumentalist, saxophone  
Victor BS-030359 10-in. 12/6/1938 Down home rag Don Redman Orchestra Jazz/dance band instrumentalist, saxophone  
Victor PBS-036269 10-in. 6/12/1939 Serenade to a savage Artie Shaw Orchestra Jazz/dance band composer  
Victor BS-038170 10-in. 8/1/1939 In the mood Glenn Miller Orchestra Jazz/dance band composer  
Victor BAVE-039527 10-in. before 11/25/1940 De buen humor Marimba "Alma Salvadoreña" Marimba band, with saxophone trio composer  
Victor PBS-042247 10-in. 11/13/1939 In the mood Four King Sisters ; Alvino Rey Female vocal quartet, with jazz/dance band composer  
Columbia CO17797 10-in. 7/9/1935 There's rhythm in Harlem Mills Blue Rhythm Band Jazz/dance band composer  
Brunswick B13306 10-in. 5/9/1933 Happy as the day is long Ivie Anderson ; Duke Ellington Famous Orchestra Jazz/dance band, with female vocal solo instrumentalist, tenor saxophone  
Brunswick B13307 10-in. 5/9/1933 Raisin' the rent Ivie Anderson ; Duke Ellington Famous Orchestra Jazz/dance band, with female vocal solo instrumentalist, tenor saxophone  
Brunswick B13308 10-in. 5/9/1933 Get yourself a new broom (And sweep the blues away) Ivie Anderson ; Duke Ellington Famous Orchestra Jazz/dance band, with female vocal solo instrumentalist, tenor saxophone  
Brunswick B13337 10-in. 5/16/1933 Bundle of blues (Dragon blues) Duke Ellington Famous Orchestra Jazz/dance band instrumentalist, tenor saxophone  
Brunswick B13338 10-in. 5/16/1933 Sophisticated lady Duke Ellington Famous Orchestra Jazz/dance band instrumentalist, tenor saxophone  
Brunswick B13339 10-in. 5/16/1933 Stormy weather (Keeps rainin' all the time) Duke Ellington Famous Orchestra Jazz/dance band instrumentalist, tenor saxophone  
Brunswick B13800 10-in. 8/15/1933 I'm satisfied Ivie Anderson ; Duke Ellington Famous Orchestra Jazz/dance band, with female vocal solo instrumentalist, tenor saxophone  
Brunswick B13801 10-in. 8/15/1933 Jive stomp Duke Ellington Famous Orchestra Jazz/dance band instrumentalist, tenor saxophone  
(Results 1-25 of 88 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Garland, Joe," accessed December 25, 2025, http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/110565.

Garland, Joe. (2025). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved December 25, 2025, from http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/110565.

"Garland, Joe." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2025. Web. 25 December 2025.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/110565

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