When we think of the title “legend”, we think of those who have been with us, in our collective musical consciousness, seemingly forever. But there are those whose legacies, however rich, have remained out of sight for decades, obscured by label neglect and their own creator’s indifference. While his sole album was released way back in 1973, people today are just now hearing about the wild ride that Garrett Saracho took to get into the studio, and the wilder one that followed.

Born in Los Angeles to fourth generation Angelenos, Garrett’s childhood was surrounded by music. The afternoons spent at his uncle’s boxing gym in Montebello introduced him to jazz, and the restaurants he worked in as a teenager exposed him to stars such as Cal Tjader and Eddie Cano. His cousins, Pat and Lolly Vegas, were renowned musicians on the Sunset Strip, who would later form the iconic Native American rock group Redbone. During his high school years, Garrett would spent time playing with the Herbie Baker Quintet, an outfit largely comprised of musicians from Horace Tapscott’s Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra (PAPA) and Union of God Musicians and Artists Ascension (UGMAA), including his best friend, the pianist Herbie Baker, and future “En Medio” bassist Roberto Miranda. Not many known recordings exist of the music made by the Quintet, aside from several entries in the Horace Tapscott Archives at UCLA. The Quintet would play gigs associated with PAPA and UGMAA, as well as on and around the UCLA campus, where Garrett would eventually win the Frank Sinatra Music Award in 1970. Sadly, just two weeks later, Herbie Baker would unexpectedly die in a tragic car accident. The loss of his closest friend would drive Garrett to step away from school, and spend the next several years travelling and processing the loss.

In 1973, Garrett re-emerged in the scene rejuvenated and recalibrated, and was able to convince Lee Young, Impulse A&R and brother of famed saxophonist Lester Young, to sign him to a one-album deal, under the presumption that he would be producing something radio-friendly, that had crossover potential. According to session producer and former head of Impulse Ed Michel, “Garrett made the album he wanted. When the label heard it, they said, ‘who the fuck did we sign?’”

While the bosses were less than thrilled with the finished product, “En Medio” was well received by those who were fortunate enough to hear it. Rounded out by a small army of friends and seasoned session musicians that included PAPA affiliates Owen Marshall and Roberto Miranda, “En Medio” is a singular vision, a multi-genre blend of Latin rhythm, headhunter-inflicted funk, and Arkestra jazz, one that could have only come from LA. It garnered praise from Downbeat Magazine and radio DJs across the country, eventually reaching the desk of George Wein, the concert promoter behind the Newport Jazz Festival. Wein was interested in bringing Saracho on tour in Europe, but due to the ongoing oil embargo that sme year, his label was discouraged from investing in any more pressings of the album, and unfortunately, he was left behind, and his band split.

In the immediate aftermath, Garrett went back to school to study film, and would later work on tv shows and major motion picture franchises, such as Jaws and Lethal Weapon. He would also spend time intermittently gigging with Redbone, as keyboardist and the band’s official historian throughout the 1990s. As he reached retirement, and the label he once recorded for changed owners, “En Medio” remained forgotten, but certainly not a relic. It pre-saged a genre-bending future, where jazz musicians such as Mark de Clive-Lowe, Cochemea, & Sarathy Korwar take inspiration from a melting pot of the past and present musical traditions, searching for the same middle ground - “En Medio” - that Garrett was so many years earlier.

Today, Garrett is ready to meet his fans, and make many more, as he wraps up his entry in the Jazz Is Dead series and records new music for the first time in decades. Amongst a sea of lofty praise, the term that could best describe Garrett Saracho is “LA Original”.