New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Throughout the darkest period in recent memory, the Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz Ensemble explored the healing power of music, and today the "Dynamic Duo" (Jazz.FM) share that inner strength with the world on What to Wear in the Dark. During a stretch of life which included "loss of health, home, and tribe" as McGarry puts it, the couple discovered a guiding light in the music of their youth. They found hope in
Paul Simon so definitively crooning "life I love you" on "59th Street Bridge Song," and they leaned into the optimism of Cat Stevens' "On The Road To Find Out" and the Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun." With McGarry's partner in both music and life at her side, renowned guitarist Keith Ganz (Harry Connick Jr, Luciana Souza), the 3x Grammy nominee "finds hope in the darkness" (WBGO) on the brand new album of reworked, uplifting tunes on What to Wear in the Dark, out today on 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. 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 as Kate McGarry "becomes her own jazz standard" (NPR) through an emotional response to continued gun violence, a dedication of support for
Black Lives Matter, a tribute to those lost during 9/11 and more on What to Wear in the Dark: https://ingroov.es/what-to-wear-in-the
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.
