Erroll Garner
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One of the most distinctive of all pianists, Erroll Garner proved that it was possible to be a sophisticated player without knowing how to read music, that a creative jazz musician can be very popular without watering down his music, and that it is possible to remain an enthusiastic player without changing one's style once it is formed. A brilliant virtuoso who sounded unlike anyone else, on medium tempo pieces, Erroll Garner often stated the beat with his left hand like a rhythm guitar while his right played chords slightly behind the beat, creating a memorable effect. His playful free-form introductions (which forced his sidemen to really listen), his ability to play stunning runs without once glancing at the keyboard, his grunting, and the pure joy that he displayed while performing were also part of the Erroll Garner magic.
Garner, whose older brother Linton was also a fine pianist, appeared on the radio with the Kan-D-Kids at the age of ten. After working locally in Pittsburgh, he moved to New York in 1944 and worked with Slam Stewart's trio during 1944-1945 before going out on his own. By 1946, Garner had his sound together, and when he backed Charlie Parker on his famous Cool Blues session of 1947, the pianist was already an obvious giant. His unclassifiable style had an orchestral approach straight from the swing era but was open to the innovations of bop. From the early '50s on, Garner's accessible style became very popular and he never seemed to have an off day up until his forced retirement (due to illness) in early 1975. His composition "Misty" became a standard. Garner, who had the ability to sit at the piano without prior planning and record three albums in one day (all colorful first takes), made many records throughout his career for such companies as Savoy, Mercury, RCA, Dial, Columbia, EmArcy, ABC-Paramount, MGM, Reprise, and his own Octave label. ~ Scott Yanow Similar artists
Albums
75
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Jazz - Released September 18, 2015 | Columbia - Legacy
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Distinctions
4F de Télérama -
The Qobuz Ideal Discography -
Indispensable JAZZ NEWS
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Jazz - Released November 15, 2019 | Mack Avenue Records
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Jazz - Released July 13, 2018 | Mack Avenue Records
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With the help of the label Mack Avenue, Octave Music pursues its publishing of brand new or rare recordings from Erroll Garner, with this time a live at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam on November 7, 1964 called Nightconcert. Helped by Eddie Calhoun’s double bass and Kelly Martin’s drums, the pianists covers here gems drawn from the Great American Songbook. We may have heard a thousand times Over the Rainbow, Night And Day, My Funny Valentine, On Green Dolphin Street or Laura, we definitely enjoy them once again thanks to this jazz whose swing has been magnified. And as always with Garner, offering such a wide palette of colors with only three people is nothing short of a miracle. We go from a chamber intimacy to virtuoso fireworks, from stripped-down subtleties to rhythmic uppercuts. At the heart of this voluble and infectious swing, Garner fans will be happy to find here the rare That Amsterdam Swing… After The Complete Concert by the Sea in 2015 and Ready Take One in 2016, this is a third unmissable archive. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz
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Jazz - Released October 18, 2019 | Mack Avenue Records
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Jazz - Released September 27, 2019 | Mack Avenue Records
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Jazz - Released September 27, 2019 | Mack Avenue Records
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Jazz - Released January 17, 2020 | Mack Avenue Records
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Hot piano and excellent bass by Milt Hinton, with a guest stint by Johnny Pacheco (fl, v, per). ~ Ron Wynn
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Jazz - Released September 27, 2019 | Mack Avenue Records
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Traditional Jazz & New Orleans - Released April 9, 1987 | Columbia
Concert by the Sea is certainly one of the biggest albums in jazz history, selling over 225,000 copies in the first year after its 1956 release and turning into such a steady seller over the next few years, it reportedly brought Columbia Records a million dollars by 1958 -- a nice sum at any time but astronomical in the late '50s. It should've turned Erroll Garner into a full-fledged superstar and, in a way, it did, because it was a reliable catalog item and earned him plenty of fans, including Johnny Carson, who frequently invited the pianist onto The Tonight Show. Instead, Concert by the Sea turned into a pinnacle, with Garner and manager Martha Glaser sliding into contractual battles with Columbia that hampered his long-term growth. Glaser is the one who had the idea to turn the tapes of Garner's September 19, 1955 concert at the Sunset School in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California into a full-fledged album, taking tapes that may have otherwise wound up as a bootleg and turning them over to Columbia. The label whittled the 19-song concert into an 11-track single LP -- Columbia/Legacy's 2015 The Complete Concert by the Sea restores the entirety of the concert over the course of two CDs, adding the original LP as a third -- and, by doing so, they wound up distilling Garner's joyous appeal. Supported by bassist Eddie Calhoun and drummer Denzil Best, Garner seems at home skipping and swinging through a collection of bop and big-band standards, tunes that offer showcases for his sly skill of remaining melodic even when departing from the melody. Garner's playing is so robust and easy to enjoy that his flashier flourishes, such as the cloistered chords that call up "Caravan," almost seem camouflaged, but there are also subtler signatures, like how he slyly emphasizes staccato left-hand rhythms as much as the melody on "They Can't Take That Away from Me." These are distinctions that appear on close listening but the wonderful thing about Concert by the Sea is how it's so infectious and open-hearted, it almost defies inspection: it's the kind of warm, inviting music that seems born from joy and can't help but engender bliss in the listener. [The 2015 expansion offers simply more of a good thing: the rest of the concert is every bit as good as the selections that made the official LP.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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Jazz - Released February 14, 2020 | Mack Avenue Records
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Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released January 11, 2011 | SendDigital
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Jazz - Released October 6, 1998 | Savoy
Does it get any better than this? The nearly two hours of music on this double CD set covers Erroll Garner's complete released output for Savoy from January 1945 -- where he was part of the Slam Stewart Quartet -- through the summer of 1949. All of it has been transferred off original acetate sources and very carefully CEDAR-ized to bring out the musical detail in preference to the noise inherent in the masters, and the result is one up-close-and-personal get-together between one's ears and his piano, with bassist John Simmons and drummers Alvin Stoller or Jesse Price providing the underlying beat. From his dazzling first recording of "Laura" through the quieter joys of "I Only Have Eyes for You" (the only rendition that ever eclipsed the Flamingos' more extroverted version as this writer's favorite, with its quietly ornate glory) to "Stormy Weather," the material here is priceless in its alternately serene and playful elegance, and also one of the best cases (if one were still needed) for digital audio and CD playback -- this music is all too quiet to be interfered with by the flaws in vinyl, to be fully appreciated. The annotation is also extremely thorough, and the entire set is a must-own piece for fans of the pianist, or the piano. ~ Bruce Eder
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Traditional Jazz & New Orleans - Released March 22, 1991 | Columbia
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Jazz - Released February 5, 2018 | nagel heyer records
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Jazz - Released September 27, 2019 | Mack Avenue Records
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Jazz - Released September 18, 1958 | Columbia - Legacy
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Jazz - Released January 1, 1991 | Verve
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Jazz - Released July 1, 2009 | Savoy
Taken from four separate sessions between 1945-1949, Penthouse Serenade showcases Erroll Garner's early recordings for Savoy. Garner's playful, melodic, and whimsical piano runs on this set of standards never cease to amaze. While the melodies of these tunes are immediately recognizable, Garner managed to exert artistic license while still connecting on a commercial level. On the majority of these tracks, Garner is supported by John Simmons on bass and Alvin Stoller on drums, with the exception of "(Back Home Again In) Indiana," "Laura," and "Somebody Loves Me," on which they are replaced by John Levy on bass and drummer George DeHart. This is a decent set for those who want to investigate Garner's pre-Columbia recordings. ~ Al Campbell
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Traditional Jazz & New Orleans - Released September 10, 1987 | Columbia
These sides from 1950-51 were the first Garner recorded for Columbia, and like the later Body And Soul reissue from the same label, this disc includes a sophisticated and highly enjoyable program of classic standards. In his inimitable keyboard style - a seamless mixture of swing's bounce, pianist Art Tatum's mammoth facility, and some of bebop's mercurial twists - Garner glides through fine ballad readings of "Spring Is Here" and "Long Ago and Far Away," as well as compact, medium to fast tempo swingers like "When You're Smiling" and "Lover." Garner's burgeoning knack for abstract song preludes are plentiful too, with his two minute (half the song's length) impressionistic reworking of the chords to "My Heart Stood Still" standing out in particular. Extending the process further, Garner plays cat and mouse with the chords over the entirety of both "It Could Happen to You" and "Laura," creating spectral -- some might say overly florid -- interpretations in the process. The pianist's soft, almost strumming touch endeared him to a millions of fans in the late '40s and early '50s, and made the complex improvisational embellishments almost seem like part of the original composition. A great disc for newcomers and fans alike - nicely remastered, too. ~ Stephen Cook
