Erroll Garner’s Magician

Mack Avenue Music Group and Octave Music are proud to announce a partnership with Vinyl Me, Please on Erroll Garner’s Magician as their May Classics Record of the Month. The record is also featured as the 11th release of the critically acclaimed year-long 12-album Octave Remastered Series featuring newly restored and expanded editions of classical Garner albums from the 1960s and ‘70s. Vinyl Me, Please’s package includes 180g black audiophile vinyl and an exclusive listening notes booklet by Ted Gioia.

Vinyl Me, Please is a premier vinyl company and record of the month club whose mission is to help listeners experience music more deeply, offering one-of-a-kind vinyl pressings and music content across all genres.

The selections Garner committed to tape in the fall of 1973 for Magician include what may be some of his best original compositions, alongside a series of timeless contemporary takes on American Songbook classics. Though it would turn out to be the final studio album of his life, it makes clear that Garner was continuing to innovate on his distinctly individualistic style, and surely would have for decades to come.

Additionally, Vinyl Me, Please is hosting a giveaway for a free lossless download of the Magician previously unreleased bonus track, “Grill on the Hill.” The song was written and recorded during Garner’s October 1973 sessions for Magician. It was discovered and given its title by pianist Geri Allen in 2015. The newly plangent processed version appears for the first time on the digital release of Magician as part of the 2020 Octave Remastered Series.

The Octave Remastered Series spans 12 releases with a newly discovered unreleased bonus track on each album: 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, Magician, and Gershwin & Kern.

Magician, along with the rest of 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 cannon. You can read more about the process in an exclusive interview with Octave Remastered Series senior producer Peter Lockhart on Vinyl Me, Please.

The Octave Remastered Series has already received critical acclaim from NPR, The New York Times, Variety and more.

About Vinyl Me, Please:

Vinyl Me, Please is a music company and record of the month club whose mission is to help listeners experience music more deeply. Vinyl Me, Please was founded in 2013 and has since grown its monthly subscriptions to 30,000 while serving over 100,000 music fans across 40+ countries worldwide by offering one-of-a-kind vinyl pressings and music content across all genres. Vinyl Me, Please continues to rebel against the commoditization of music by operating with the belief that music is worth owning and appreciating. To learn more, visit ​vinylmeplease.com​.

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.”