Stoned Soul Picnic: Diane Garisto & The Laura Nyro Project

Sidewalk and pigeon, you look like a city, but you feel like religion to me – Laura Nyro, in her album New York Tendaberry

Laura Nyro was “the very essence of New York City in the most passionate, romantic, and ethereal sense,” said Bette Midler, inducting Nyro into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. At the historic Bitter End, to which Nyro was no stranger, Diane Garisto and the Stoned Soul Picnic band celebrate her remarkable legacy.

One of the great singer-songwriters of our time, Nyro released 22 critically acclaimed albums and wrote literally dozens of songs that have become firmly fixed in the popular music canon, from her debut in 1966 at the age of 19 to her untimely death in 1997. Her music wasn’t just widely recorded, it also catapulted other performers up the charts, among them The 5th Dimension (“Stoned Soul Picnic,” “Sweet Blindness,” “Wedding Bell Blues”), Blood, Sweat & Tears (“And When I Die”), and Three Dog Night (“Eli’s Comin'”). Barbra Streisand charted three consecutive times with Nyro songs. Weaving together a combination of pop, jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, rock, and soul, Nyro produced something genuinely rare in the world of pop music: an original sound, fired by a unique vision. Her influence on generations of performers is undeniable and may be one of her greatest legacies. Iconic singer-songwriter Elton John summed up Nyro’s influence on his own work: “The soul, the passion, just the out-and-out audacity of the way her rhythmic and melodic changes came were like nothing I’d ever heard before.”

Like Nyro, Diane Garisto grew up immersed in the musical soul of New York City. Diane sang on her first recording at the age of eight, and went on to record with Billy Joel, Nile Rodgers, George Benson, Carly Simon, Laurie Anderson and Malcolm McLaren. She provided background vocals for Paul Simon on his Grammy-winning album Graceland and toured internationally as a member of Steely Dan. But her career peak came in the mid-Nineties when she became a member of Laura Nyro's celebrated Harmony Group. As one of Nyro's famed backing trio, Diane toured the world with Laura and sang on the albums Live: The Loom’s Desire and Live in Japan.

“Performing these songs today with a band of New York’s top musicians and singers is my way of keeping Laura’s spirit vibrant and alive,” says Garisto. “For us and for her fans, Stoned Soul Picnic is a celebration of the art and soul of Laura Nyro.”

• Diane Garisto – vocals
• Elise Morris – musical director, keyboards
• Larry Saltzman – lead guitar
• Andy Huenerberg – bass
• Sam Bryant – drums
• Janie Barnett – guitar, background vocals
• Doug Katsaros – keyboards
• Carolee Goodgold – background vocals
• Emily Bindiger – background vocals