Wild Music: Lost Erroll Garner Recordings Unearthed For September Release

August 10, 2016 By Joe Marchese — No Comments

Following the success of last year’s Complete Concert by the Sea, Legacy Recordings has another special release planned for fans of late jazz legend Erroll Garner. On September 30, the label will release Garner’s Ready Take One, presenting fourteen previously unreleased selections by Garner released between 1967 and 1971. This is the first album of all-new Garner material to be released in almost 25 years.

The performances on Ready Take One have been culled from seven sessions held in 1967, 1969 and 1971 in locales including New York City and Chicago. The pianist was joined by musicians as follows: drums (Jimmie Smith, Joe Cocuzzo), bass (Earnest McCarty, Jr., Ike Isaacs, George Duvivier, Larry Gales) and percussion (Jose Mangual). Among the tracks are six previously unreleased Garner compositions (“High Wire,” “Wild Music,” “Back to You,” “Chase Me,” “Latin Digs” and “Down Wylie Avenue”) and a host of standards ranging from Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” and “Satin Doll” to Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” and Garner’s own immortal “Misty.” Garner also tackles Bobby Hebb’s pop hit “Sunny,” “Stella by Starlight” and more.

The release also includes snippets of conversation between Garner and producer-manager Martha Glaser. Album producer Geri Allen notes in the press release that Glaser was “a kind of fifth member of the band” and “would support Erroll Garner in the moment of the creative act.” On June 15, 2015, Glaser’s estate announced the formation of the Erroll Garner Jazz Project, an archival celebration of Garner’s remarkable legacy. The Erroll Garner Archive was donated to the University of Pittsburgh.

All tracks on Ready Take One have been newly restored after nearly 50 years on acetate. You can hear one of those cuts for yourself, as “Wild Music” is streaming now at The New York Times. Ready Take One will initially be available on CD and DD, with a vinyl pressing to follow.

You can pre-order this exciting new collection, due on September 30 from Legacy in conjunction with Octave Music Licensing, at the links below!

Erroll Garner, Ready Take One (Legacy/Octave, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

High Wire
I Want To Be Happy
I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You)
Sunny
Wild Music
Caravan
Back To You
Night And Day
Chase Me
Satin Doll
Latin Digs
Stella By Starlight
Down Wylie Avenue
Misty

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Jazz

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Erroll Garner

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song and beyond, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with labels including Real Gone Music and Cherry Red Records, has released newly-curated collections produced and annotated by Joe from iconic artists such as Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Spinners, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Meat Loaf, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Liza Minnelli, Darlene Love, Al Stewart, Michael Nesmith, and many others.

Joe has written liner notes, produced, or contributed to over 200 reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them America, JD Souther, Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, Petula Clark, Robert Goulet, and Andy Williams.

Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.

Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.