Way Out Wardell (VINYL JAZZ LP)

Wardell Gray, Erroll Garner

Published by Modern Records, 1956

About this Item

This is not a book but a 33-1/3 rpm vinyl (mono) LP record, Modern Records LMP-1204. very good vinyl (substantial scuffing but no scratches) in a very-good-plus cardboard jacket. Released in 1956, this is actually a recording of "a memorable concert in downtown Los Angeles in 1948." Title artist billed as "The Late, Great Wardell Gray," who "met violent death in Las Vegas in May of '55." (Gray rehearsed with the Benny Carter band for the May 1955 grand opening of the short-lived Moulin Rouge casino -- on the "wrong side of the tracks" in Vegas' historically black district -- but failed to show up for the actual event. His body was found the next day, his neck broken, in a stretch of desert near the city. James Ellroy's novel "The Cold Six Thousand" contains a reference to Gray's disappearance and death, attributing his killing to (fictional) racist conspirator Wayne Tedrow, Sr. supposedly for having an affair with Tedrow's wife, Janice. Bill Moody's book "Death of a Tenor Man" includes a contemporary investigation of Wardell's death by fictional detective/pianist Evan Horne.) This disc also features Erroll Garner, Red Callender, Harry Babison, Barney Kessel, Howard McGhee, others, performing "Blue Lou," "Sweet Georgia Brown," "Just You, Just Me," "One O'Clock Jump," etc. Catalogs $300; here reduced from $57.

Seller Inventory # 003387

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Way Out Wardell (VINYL JAZZ LP)
• Publisher: Modern Records
• Publication Date: 1956
• Language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Real-life crime
  • Vinyl LPs, jazz
  • Nevada