The Erroll Garner Estate

[Brad]

What is the problem with the Executor of his estate. First, they nixed the Mosaic and now they wouldn't let Uptown release that portion of the Town Hall Concert that featured him. This was very briefly discussed in the thread about the Dizzy Bird disc, with Chuck saying it's not about money, that they just said no. But what is the problem with them? Do we have to wait until the executor passes away to get a new more interested one. I don't get it.

Edited June 14, 2005 by Brad

[jazzbo]

Maybe they have their own plans, maybe they want to have more control and are waiting for the creation of a project/product line that allows them artistic and marketing control, I don't know.

In a way. . . I sortof admire what may be their stance. They could be respecting the image of the artist and his work, and attempting to methodically produce the very best possible vehicle to present his oeuvre. Possibly. Without information I'm not going to condemn them!

[brownie]

They'll probably wake up when the European labels make good use of the 50-year copyright laws and make the Garner available again.

[Brad]

Maybe they have their own plans, maybe they want to have more control and are waiting for the creation of a project/product line that allows them artistic and marketing control, I don't know.

In a way. . . I sortof admire what may be their stance.  They could be respecting the image of the artist and his work, and attempting to methodically produce the very best possible vehicle to present his oeuvre.  Possibly.  Without information I'm not going to condemn them!

←

I'm not sure I follow that line of thinking in these two cases. I don't know how you could get much better than Mosaic for the best presentation and on Uptown this was something that was never unknown until recently. How much different could you do it than Uptown has but just present it on a disc unless they're asking for single billing which is what Mosaic is all about anyway so I just don't get it.

[jazzbo]

What for instance if the Garner estage wanted there to be color cover reproduction and back cover reproduction, with original liner notes? That is not necessarily what Mosaic does. What if they don't like the price that they would have gotten, ultimately from Universal, not Mosaic? What if they are PISSED OFF AT UNIVERSAL for reasons we don't know and want to find a way to do things themselves in time?

What if they wanted a better price than Uptown could deliver (okay, Chuck may have said it isn't about the money, I don't know if he did or not, but the estate may have assumed that Uptown would never be able to give them what they wanted)? What if they wanted the Garner portion of the concert to appear under its own banner, not lumped in with the Bird and Diz, so that Erroll wasn't overshadowed by Charles and John?

I don't know. I just think there are possibilities out there that we don't know about, and frankly I don't expect anyone here to actually have the answer to deliver FOR the estate.

Edited June 14, 2005 by jazzbo

[Christiern]

"They" is one woman. She was Garner's manager and--some say--lover, and she ended up with the estate. She has always been difficult for record companies to deal with--sometimes, justifiably so.

[jazzbo]

Thanks for the info Chris.

[Bill B]

Chris is correct the "They" is only Martha Glaser. Her treasure chest of unreleased goodies is stored in an uptown Manhattan vault . Senility has pulled Martha down and cleared headed thinking is now beyond her capability. A conversation I had with her a year ago confirmed how far gone she is. Classics will finish off the 1953 material. and by 06 they will be into the sessions of 1956. Garner finished with Columbia in 1958. Martha must be in her mid-eighties, so long range planning is not her strong suit. If she wished her estate could issue a big box set of Garner Trio @ The Village Gate from May-June 1965. She does have enough unissued material for many box sets.Jim Doran's "Most Happy Piano"gives you some idea how much unissued she has and there is a lot more that he doesn't know of.Nobody will deal with Martha anymore-What a shame!!!

Edited June 14, 2005 by Bill B

[Brad]

It looks like I received my answer but as Bill said what a shame. Bill and Chris' responses were enlightening. Regarding Lon's points, the point aren't invalid but I didn't see anything that could be labeled a show stopper or couldn't be worked around.

[jazzbo]

From what little I know of artists AND their heirs, there are things to "see." -_-

[AllenLowe]

Glaser is crazy and always has been crazy. Oliver Jackson told me that when he played on-stage with Garner's trio she forbade the spotlight to be on anyone but Garner - it drove the other musicians nuts as they were completely in the dark - "I couldn't see enough to go take a pee" Jackson said -

[Christiern]

Eventually, we will have a locked-in list of these racists, cowards, or whatever they are.

• Heres the latest list of

so far certifiable Senate racists/cowards.

BTW They come from both sides of the aisle, but--not surprisingly--more from one than the other.

←

I used to hear from her regularly, but that stopped about 3 years ago. The last time I saw Martha was at Nola Studio's Christmas party, a couple of years ago. She looked okay, but the aging process has a way of accelerating when one passes 80.

There are many Martha Glasers in jazz--Helen Keane comes to mind. I got along with her very well, but she did at times seem overly protective re. Bill Evans.

[medjuck]

Is she also responsible for Sony's inability to release an extended version of Concert by the Sea?

[Christiern]

I would bet on it, medjuck.

[catesta]

What a shame.

Any idea what happens to the estate after she passes?

[Brad]

I think the question might be who becomes the executor/executrix after she passes. Pehaps it's her executor. It seems (not to be goulish) that material will only be released after that time. Even then, it will be a long time before it gets into the public.

[Robert J]

I just saw this at my local CD store for $14CDN for 4 CDs. There was an earlier thread about the Quadromania label which apparantly has no liner notes. This is 50+ year royalty stuff. Out of curiosity, would anyone know where this material is taken from? The web reveals little.

[BERIGAN]

Eventually, we will have a locked-in list of these racists, cowards, or whatever they are.

• Heres the latest list of

so far certifiable Senate racists/cowards.

BTW They come from both sides of the aisle, but--not surprisingly--more from one than the other.

←

I used to hear from her regularly, but that stopped about 3 years ago. The last time I saw Martha was at Nola Studio's Christmas party, a couple of years ago. She looked okay, but the aging process has a way of accelerating when one passes 80.

There are many Martha Glasers in jazz--Helen Keane comes to mind. I got along with her very well, but she did at times seem overly protective re. Bill Evans.

Is Glaser a racist?

[Christiern]

What prompted that question? No, I don't think Martha is a racist

if so, she has an odd way of showing it.

[Chuck Nessa]

There are many Martha Glasers in jazz--Helen Keane comes to mind. I got along with her very well, but she did at times seem overly protective re. Bill Evans.

Helen was a strange one. Northwestern Univ. hosted a "women in jazz" symposium around 1980. Don DeMichael and I ran into Helen Keane and Toshiko in a record store in Evanston. Don introduced me to them as a producer and mentioned my Warne Marsh date. Both of the women responded that they each had produced a date recently with Warne - Helen did one with Bill Evans and Konitz and Toshiko a 2 tenor date with Lou Tabackin. We exchanged stories, chatted pleasantly (I was delighted to meet them) and I left to return to work. Don told me after I left Helen said "Did you see that? Every time I meet a male producer he acts like that. They don't think we're worth shit and I'm sick of it". Toshiko said she thought I was "delightful".

[Larry Kart]

I believe that Helen and Martin Williams were once an item. The mind reels.

My Keane encounter kind of dovetails with Chuck's. I'd written the liner notes for a Chris Connor Fantasy LP at the request of Connor (I'd written several enthusiastic reviews of her recent Chicago performances), as relayed to me by the person at Fantasy who was in charge of such things, and it was with Fantasy that I'd signed a contract to write the notes for such and such a fee. Keane, who was the album's producer, hit the roof when she saw the notes because I didn't say something about every track on the album. It was her belief (IMO utterly insane) that if a track wasn't mentioned in the notes, the reader would assume that the writer meant that that track was no good. I told her that this was ridiculous, that I wrote the notes for Fantasy and for Connor, not for her, and that she was free to find someone to write a new set of notes, as long as I was paid for my work. That was the end of it.

[Christiern]

I never saw that side of Helen, but it is not difficult to believe that it existed. Toshiko's remark is not at all surprising, she is very warm person.

From what I have observed over the years, female agents/managers have a tendency to become bossy beyond reason. The same often applies to relationships wherein one partner has celebrity and the other doesn't. I spent considerable time around Gloria Swanson, mostly at her apartment, and the way she acted around Bill Dufty (kinda parental) always brought to mind Helen's mommying of Bill Evans. Did I invent a new word?

Of course, Bill's previous wife, Maylie Dufty, was a dreadful, pushy woman who must have been a daily nightmare. Ever meet Maylie, Chuck?

[Christiern]

Helen and Martin? Having known both of them, I just can't imagine that coupling. Martin was a very nice guy, but--at times--he was also quite eccentric.

[Larry Kart]

Helen and Martin? Having known both of them, I just can't imagine that coupling. Martin was a very nice guy, but--at times--he was also quite eccentric.

That's why my mind reels.

[mikeweil]

My Keane encounter kind of dovetails with Chuck's. I'd written the liner notes for a Chris Connor Fantasy LP at the request of Connor (I'd written several enthusiastic reviews of her recent Chicago performances), as relayed to me by the person at Fantasy who was in charge of such things, and it was with Fantasy that I'd signed a contract to write the notes for such and such a fee. Keane, who was the album's producer, hit the roof when she saw the notes because I didn't say something about every track on the album. It was her belief (IMO utterly insane) that if a track wasn't mentioned in the notes, the reader would assume that the writer meant that that track was no good. I told her that this was ridiculous, that I wrote the notes for Fantasy and for Connor, not for her, and that she was free to find someone to write a new set of notes, as long as I was paid for my work. That was the end of it.