AVAILABLE NOW: Erroll Garner | “Gershwin & Kern” (Octave Remastered Series) via Mack Avenue Records

AVAILABLE NOW via Mack Avenue Music Group and Octave Music:

Erroll Garner’s Gershwin & Kern

Gershwin & Kern, the Final Album of the Celebrated Pianist’s Life, Also Marks Conclusion of the Critically Acclaimed Octave Remastered Series

“To put it simply, Erroll Garner is a great musical genius.” – George Wein, original album liner notes

Critical Acclaim for the Octave Remastered Series:

Erroll Garner featured in Variety

Erroll Garner’s A Night at the Movies Reviewed on NPR Fresh Air

“Octave 103” featured in The New York Times Playlist

“…criminally underrecognized Garner’s albums…” — Glide Magazine

“These albums have left me looking forward to  what else is to come out of Octave’s vaults.” – The Arts Fuse

“He improvises with wit, style and grace, and he swings like mad. That joy he radiated is still contagious. You could catch it even now.” – NPR Fresh Air

“…the improved sound quality…is really this series’ raison d’être.” – WBGO

“’Magician’ is the 11th in the reissue series of a dozen Octave albums that began last year, and it’s a total delight.” — Big Takeover

“There was only one Erroll Garner. He had a sound and style as individual as individual could be.” — Jersey Jazz

The Octave Remastered Series – a historic year-long, 12-album project featuring newly restored and expanded editions of classic Erroll Garner releases from the 1960s and 1970s – concludes with their 12th and final release Gershwin & Kern, available today.

Each album contains a newly discovered unreleased bonus track. The first eleven titles in the series – Dreamstreet, Closeup in Swing, One World Concert, A New Kind of Love, A Night at the Movies, Campus Concert, That’s My Kick, Up in Erroll’s Room, Feeling Is Believing, Gemini, and Magician – were released to critical acclaim.

The master tapes for all 12 albums in the series were transferred and restored using the Plangent playback system. Employing a wideband tape head, preamp and DSP package to capture and track the original recorder’s ultrasonic bias remnant, the Plangent Process removes the wow and flutter and FM/IM distortion from the recorded audio. This returns the listener to the original session experience, bringing to life Garner’s incomparable performances of his own compositions, as well as classic works from the jazz canon.

Album Notes:

Gershwin & Kern | June 12

In his original 1976 liner notes, concert impresario George Wein concluded fittingly, “To put it simply, Erroll Garner is a great musical genius.” On this final album released during Garner’s life, he shows yet again his complete mastery of his instrument and his unmatched ability to interpret songs and make them his own. This newly restored album includes a previously unreleased Garner original, worthy of the two composers to which this album is dedicated.

The newly minted bonus tracks in the series are all Garner originals, eight of the 12 being previously unreleased compositions. “It’s truly shocking, and one of the greatest joys of this work, to find these fully realized tunes just sitting there on tape,” says Peter Lockhart, senior producer of the Octave Remastered Series.

One of the most prolific composers and performers in the history of jazz, as well as a courageous advocate for African American artistic freedom through the ownership and control over his own works. Garner is a legend among jazz pianists. His unique approach melds bebop and swing influences into a unique, unrivaled mastery.

Garner is also a notable figure in popular music history for the hard-won precedents he set for artistic freedom that still stand today. In 1959, because he had rights of approval on what was released, Garner successfully sued Columbia Records to remove an album they had released without his permission.

His victory was the first of its kind for any American artist in the music industry. Garner and his manager, Martha Glaser, subsequently founded and launched Octave Records, whose 12 releases make up the Octave Remastered Series.

Erroll Garner was a rare musician who was equally adored and respected by peers and devoted fans alike. He and his art were best summed up by the late trumpeter Clark Terry: “The man was complete. He could do it all.”

About Erroll Garner & His Legacy:

One of the most prolific composers and performers in the history of jazz, as well as a courageous advocate for African-American empowerment and artistic freedom, Garner is a legend among jazz pianists. His unique approach melds bebop and swing influences into a unique, unrivaled mastery.

In addition to his brilliant keyboard artistry, Garner is also a notable figure in popular music history for the hard-won precedents he set for artistic freedom that still stand today. In 1959, because he had rights of approval on what was released, Garner successfully sued Columbia Records to remove an album they had released without his permission.

His victory was the first of its kind for any American artist in the music industry. Garner and his manager, Martha Glaser, subsequently founded and launched Octave Records, whose 12 releases make up the Octave Remastered Series.

Erroll Garner was a rare musician who was equally adored and respected by peers and devoted fans alike. He and his art were best summed up by the late trumpeter Clark Terry: “The man was complete. He could do it all.”

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MACK AVENUE · the road to great music · mackavenue.com
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