Alex, as I was posting that Phil Woods/Red Garland clip I kept hearing a little voice in my head that made me wonder exactly what you mention. I guess that little voice was correct; I had posted it previously. Glad you liked it.
Very interesting observation about Red Garland and something I had not really thought about previously. I went back and listened to a few things by him and you are correct. When he plays single notes he does play in what would be called a “staccato” style; the notes are short and clipped with little if any sustain. There are two ways that a player can control the amount of sustain. When a note is struck the faster that the player lifts the finger off the key the less sustain that the note will have. Also, a piano has a sustain pedal that a player uses at his discretion in order to give notes more or less sustain. However, when Garland plays in his distinctive block chord style he does use sustain and this can be heard easily.
Very interesting observation about Red Garland and something I had not really thought about previously. I went back and listened to a few things by him and you are correct. When he plays single notes he does play in what would be called a “staccato” style; the notes are short and clipped with little if any sustain. There are two ways that a player can control the amount of sustain. When a note is struck the faster that the player lifts the finger off the key the less sustain that the note will have. Also, a piano has a sustain pedal that a player uses at his discretion in order to give notes more or less sustain. However, when Garland plays in his distinctive block chord style he does use sustain and this can be heard easily.