While they are best known for working alongside some of the most recognizable names in jazz, Jazz Is Dead now invites you to meet an innovator that has largely gone unheard of, until now. In the early 1970s, Garrett Saracho was a recording artist signed to the legendary Impulse Records, who came up in Los Angeles’ fertile underground jazz community. Due to a tragic combination of label mismanagement and geopolitical intervention, his sole record, 1973’s En Medio, fell largely under the radar of even the most astute collectors and fanatics. After spending the following decades in obscurity working in the film industry and touring with his cousins in the rock band Redbone, Saracho stepped into the Linear Labs studio with Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad to craft an intoxicating and kinetic rush of Latin Soul, Funk, and Psychedelic Jazz. While you may not know his name, your ears will soon know the genius of Garrett Saracho.

In an album filled with rhythmic and stylistic sleights of hand, none may be as memorable as the guitar, quietly strumming along throughout the piece, suddenly taking over on the last two notes. Listening to the studio chatter of closing track “Calo” further emphasizes the cohesion and trust that each musician placed in each other throughout the entire recording session, and especially on this track. Driven by the interplay between drums and piano, each finishing the other’s sentences as undulating flutes and horns swoop in, it’s an excellent closing statement in making the case for Saracho’s status as a Jazz great.

After spending nearly fifty years away from the music industry, Garrett Saracho makes his return on Jazz Is Dead with a collection of shapeshifting tunes that hop from one style or tempo to another with shocking ease. Blending together Latin Soul and Psychedelic Rock influences alongside his enduring love for jazz, JID015 is a tribute to the enduring ties and cultural dialogues between genres, and to the perseverance of a musician who once stood on the precipice of stardom, now receiving his long overdue acclaim.