Livia Records
Livia Records is making a comeback. Originally set up in 1977 by the late Gerald Davis to record Jazz guitar legend Louis Stewart and his contemporaries, the label released several successful albums.
The first release was the brilliant solo Louis Stewart album “Out On His Own” in 1977, followed by others with leading musicians of the time like John Wadham, Brian Dunning, Jim Doherty, and Martin Taylor.
Livia has been dormant, and its analog master tapes have been in storage since Gerald Davis died in 2005. In 2021, a reactivation process began when Dermot Rogers contacted the Davis family to catalogue the label’s archives with a view to possible re-releases.
The masters of the previous releases survived well, leading to further digitization, mastering, and packaging. Other valuable recordings have also been identified.
Livia Records is pleased to be back and planning both previously released and unreleased recordings.
Our first release is a remastered and extended version of Louis Stewart’s “Out On His Own”.
Other previously released and unreleased albums are progressing.
Who’s who
Gerald Davis
Gerald Davis was a painter, Joycean scholar, and enthusiastic patron of music, theatre, and literature. He enabled and produced Louis Stewarts’ first solo recording (“Louis the First”), established Livia Records to record more, and produced and recorded a large number of live recordings. He oversaw the production, release, and distribution of all Livia Recordings and a later partner release program with Jardis Records in Germany (active until the mid-1990s). Gerald was a close friend of Louis Stewart, in addition to collaborating with him on live music and painting projects (“A Brush with Jazz”) on several occasions.
The Davis Family
Gerald’s daughters (Deb and Judy) and son Les are the key partners in the project. They are Dermot Rogers’ key contacts and co-decision makers. They embraced the suggestion of cataloging, digitization, and re-issue as they recognized the need to protect the archive and wanted to make their father’s work and that of the musicians involved, available to music audiences again.
Dermot Rogers
Dermot is an ardent music fan, collector, and broadcaster with extensive IT and digital media expertise. He conceived the idea of finding, rescuing, and reissuing the Livia recordings. He has been the lead player in the project to date, progressing cataloging, developing plans for digitization and reissue, and networking extensively within the music, press, and technical communities to build support and awareness for the project.
