Multi-time GRAMMY nominee Kate McGarry, "one of the country's premier jazz singers today" per NPR, has teamed with renowned guitarist Keith Ganz (Harry Connick Jr, Luciana Souza) - her partner in life and music - for What To Wear In The Dark, a new collaborative collection out September 3rd via Resilience Music Alliance. Teaming with Downbeat Critics Poll winner Gary Versace on keyboard, Blue Note recording artist Ron Miles on trumpet, and a host of jazz A-listers, What To Wear In The Dark finds McGarry and Ganz using their decorated jazz backgrounds to offer imaginative and fresh perspectives on the indelible pop standards that have helped them transcend their own challenges.
During a stretch of life which included "loss of home, health and tribe” as McGarry puts it, the couple found an inner strength and guiding light in the music of their youth...finding new hope in Paul Simon so definitively crooning "life I love you" on "59th Street Bridge Song," or the similarly unbridled optimism of Cat Stevens' "On The Road To Find Out" or "Here Comes The Sun." For McGarry and Ganz, this helped them cut through the disorientation and fear that came with a career-threatening vocal injury for McGarry, the loss of parents and mentors in quick succession, and their exodus from New York City. As the world at large has grappled with so many heartbreaking challenges in the past few years, McGarry and Ganz decided to share their singular arrangements of these beloved classics on What to Wear In The Dark in the hopes others might draw the strength from them that they did.
Listen to The Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz Ensemble's inventive cover of Leonard Cohen’s classic “Anthem,” which feels timelier than ever with themes centered on fighting corruption, having empathy for refugees, isolation and the toxicity of religious fanaticism: https://youtu.be/WhxWKHrBOZc
Recorded over years in short bursts of inspiration - one right after the 2016 Presidential election, one as the pandemic was altering life as we knew it - many of the arrangements were inspired by the defining events of our era. A stunning cover of The Eagles’ “Desperado” entered their setlist after the tragedy at Sandy Hook as a response to the culture of fear mongering and violence that permeated conversations around gun violence. A rework of Steely Dan’s “Barrytown” was a reaction to the dangerous hatreds created by the rhetoric of “otherism,” and a message of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. “God Moves on the City,” written the day after September 11th, 2001 by Paul Curreri, speaks to the power of tragedy to undo our reality in an instant. And covers like “Here Comes The Sun” serve as reminders of brighter days ahead. Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz have shaped these familiar gems into a sophisticated jazz collection perfectly suited for these times.
