Nearly sixty years to the day after it was recorded, Sony Legacy and Octave Music Publishing will release, on September 18, an expanded edition of jazz piano legend Erroll Garner's best-selling live LP, Concert by the Sea.  The new 3-CD set will present a nearly-doubled presentation of the concert together with a newly remastered version of the original LP release.

Recorded on September 19, 1955 at a military base near Carmel, California, Concert by the Sea was never intended to be recorded or released.  Only when Garner's manager saw a fan recording the show did the idea for an album come together.  Because of this, the acoustics and instrument balance (Eddie Calhoun on bass and Denzil Best on drums) on the album aren't that great.  Despite all of this, however, Concert became Erroll Garner's biggest hit and cemented him a jazz luminary.  It is considered by many to be his finest hour.  The swinging jazz pianist began recording in the mid-1940s and recorded numerous albums before his death in 1977.  His playing style was very distinctive and incorporated swing, orchestral and even bop styles.  Garner was also a gifted composer with his best known song being "Misty."  First recorded by Garner the same year as Concert by the Sea, the tune was eventually given lyrics by Johnny Burke and soon became a standard with Johnny Mathis' rendition becoming his signature song.

We've got Legacy's full press release and the complete tracklisting below which includes more details on this release together with information on a tribute at this year's Monterey Jazz Festival.  If you'd like to revisit this historic concert, Amazon links have been provided below!

NEW YORK, NY - Iconic jazz artist Erroll Garner's greatest concert album and one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time, The Complete Concert by the Sea will be released jointly by Sony Legacy and Octave Music Publishing Corporation on September 18, 2015 - in celebration of 60 years since the original concert.

The complete live concert recording - newly uncovered by the Erroll Garner Jazz Project and digitally remastered in its entirety after six decades - is produced by Guggenheim® Award-winning jazz pianist and Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Pittsburgh Geri Allen and 4-time GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Steve Rosenthal. The Complete Concert by the Sea will introduce a new generation to Erroll Garner and his innovative piano playing. The 3-CD box set contains the complete live Concert By The Sea including 11 previously unreleased tracks, the original edited Columbia release from 1956 (digitally restored and remastered at The Magic Shop, NYC using the Plangent Process) and bonus material including announcer Jimmy Lyons and interviews with the Erroll Garner Trio: Denzil DaCosta Best, Eddie Calhoun, and Garner himself, recorded directly after the concert.

Concert by the Sea originally produced in Carmel, California as part of local promoter Jimmy Lyons' "Sunset Series" laid the groundwork for the beginnings of the renowned Monterey Jazz Festival. Appropriately, on September 18, 2015 the 58th Monterey Jazz Festival will highlight this highly anticipated release in a rare historic tribute performance featuring Geri Allen, Jason Moran, Christian Sands, Jimmie Cobb, Russell Malone and Darick Oles. The Festival will also feature a special Concert By The Sea panel on September 19, 2015 including Geri Allen, Steve Rosenthal, and Monterey Jazz Festival Board Member (who attended the original Concert by the Sea) Jim Costello, moderated by Erroll Garner Jazz Project Director and Ethnomusicologist Jocelyn Arem.

Liner note writers include Geri Allen, Award-winning author and UCLA American Studies Professor Robin D.G. Kelley, Ph.D, and GRAMMY®Award-winning jazz writer Dan Morgenstern who writes: "I don't think I need to tell you how significant a figure Erroll Garner is in the history of American music. His artistry transcended categories over four decades. Without ever saying a word or indulging in showbiz trimmings, he could just play the piano and hold thousands enraptured."

Sony Legacy President Adam Block remarks, "Concert by the Sea is a marvelous, mystical album that has been allowed to dangle on the periphery of broader recognition for far too long. Now for the first time, the complete recording and the remarkable story of this masterpiece can be heard and understood in all its glory. This really is a significant release - critically important to the preservation of one of the truly epic moments in live recorded performances."

Producer Geri Allen remarks, "Erroll Garner personifies the joy of fearless virtuosity and exploration. One of the defining precursors to bebop, piano giant Erroll Garner embodied the very spirit of swing and free improvisation from every vantage point. His playing celebrated the greatest swinging big bands through an innovative and impossible pianism. Singular yet all embracing, Garner blurred the line between great art and popular art, and he was a staunch journeyman of the blues and his Pittsburgh legacy."

ERROLL GARNER ARCHIVE DONATED TO UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

A year-long 60th Anniversary celebration of Concert by the Sea in 2015 will include a new interactive website at www.errollgarner.com, and thanks to the diligent collecting and preservation of Erroll Garner's recordings, memorabilia, photographs and other materials by Erroll's longtime manager Martha Glaser, the establishment of the first complete Erroll Garner archive at the University of Pittsburgh in Erroll's hometown. These resources will provide a unique view of Erroll Garner's influential career.

University of Pittsburgh's Bettye J. and Ralph E. Bailey Dean of the Kenneth P. Dietrick School of Arts and Sciences writes, "The Erroll Garner archive is an amazing legacy of a renowned jazz icon, a brilliant piano virtuoso, and one of the most original and individualistic pianists in the jazz narrative. Jazz is a unifying force, bringing a uniquely American musical synthesis and spirit of innovation through the African-American experience. I hope the University of Pittsburgh can contribute to that through providing a permanent home for the Erroll Garner Archive."

The Erroll Garner Jazz Project preserves and promotes the cultural and musical legacy of renowned pianist Erroll Garner. Proceeds will benefit African American Jazz programs.

Erroll Garner, The Complete Concert by the Sea (Sony Legacy/Octave Music Publishing, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. TBD)

CD 1 - Complete Concert Disc 1

1. Announcer: Jimmy Lyons (previously unreleased)
2. Night And Day (previously unreleased)
3. Spring Is Here (previously unreleased)
4. I'll Remember April
5. The Nearness Of You (previously unreleased)
6. Where Or When
7. Sweet And Lovely (previously unreleased)
8. Lullaby Of Birdland (previously unreleased)
9. Mambo Carmel
10. Teach Me Tonight
11. Will You Still Be Mine (previously unreleased)
12. I Cover The Waterfront (previously unreleased)
13. Bernie's Tune (previously unreleased)
14. How Could You Do A Thing Like That To Me?
15. It's All Right

 CD 2 - Complete Concert Disc 2

1. Announcer: Jimmy Lyons (previously unreleased)
2. They Can't Take That Away From Me
3. Autumn Leaves
4. S'Wonderful (previously unreleased)
5. Laura (previously unreleased)
6. Red Top
7. April In Paris
8. Caravan (previously unreleased)
9. Erroll's Theme / Announcer: Jimmy Lyons (Previously unreleased)

CD 3 - Original LP (Originally released as Concert by the Sea, Columbia CL 883, 1956)

1. I'll Remember April
2. Teach Me Tonight
3. Mambo Carmel
4. Autumn Leaves
5. It's All Right With Me
6. Red Top
7. April in Paris
8. They Can't Take That Away From Me?
9. How Could You Do A Thing Like That To Me
10. Where or When
11. Erroll's Theme
12. Post-Concert Interview: Will Thornbury with Erroll Garner, Eddie Calhoun, Denzil DaCosta Best: September 19, 1955 (previously unreleased)