Garrett, who preferred to be called Rafael, was raised in Chicago, where, along with musicians like
John Gilmore and
Clifford Jordan, he attended
DuSable High School, studying music with "Captain"
Walter Dyett. He initially started playing clarinet and saxophone, but later began studying bass after meeting
Wilbur Ware. In 1955, Garrett met
John Coltrane while the latter was touring with
Miles Davis. (One idea that originated with Garrett, and that Coltrane liked, was that of using two bass players. Coltrane frequently employed two bassists in the early 1960s.) Garrett also introduced Coltrane and Abrams at around this time. as well as in a trio with Abrams and drummer
Steve McCall. In 1961, he played as a second bassist with Coltrane's group alongside
Reggie Workman while the group was performing in Chicago. That same year, he was one of the co-founders, with Abrams, of the
Experimental Band, In 1964, Garrett moved to San Francisco, where he taught, organized concerts, and began making instruments. Garrett and saxophonist
Pharoah Sanders were both invited to sit in, and then joined the band, accompanying it to
Seattle, where the group performed at
The Penthouse and recorded
Live in Seattle followed by
Om. The group then traveled to Los Angeles, where they recorded the tracks "Kulu Sé Mama (Juno Sé Mama)", first issued on the album
Kulu Sé Mama, and "Selflessness", first issued on the album
Selflessness: Featuring My Favorite Things. The following year, Garrett recorded with
Dewey Redman (
Look for the Black Star) and
Archie Shepp (
Archie Shepp Live in San Francisco and
Three for a Quarter One for a Dime). He also played with
Andrew Hill,
Sam Rivers, and
Leon Thomas while in California. provided an update dated 2008 which states that Dutch musician
Cornelis Hazevoet sent the following information via an email to author Yasuhiro Fujioka: "Over the years, in liners, books and lists, Don Garrett has been attributed with playing bass clarinet. This is wrong. The man only played bass and clarinet (the small and straight horn, that is)... In 1975, Garrett played in my band and I've specifically asked him about it (because I already felt something was wrong with it). He most specifically and pertinently told me that he never played bass clarinet in his entire life, only the small, straight horn (which he played in my band too)... Perhaps, the error originated from the fact that Garrett was listed somewhere as playing 'bass, clarinet', which subsequently evolved into 'bass clarinet'. Whatever is the case, Garrett did not play bass clarinet on any Coltrane record nor anywhere else." ==Discography==