Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the jazz Jazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions pianist A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers and composer A composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music. In the development of European music, the known for his swing In music, a swung note or shuffle note is a performance practice, mainly in jazz-influenced music, in which some notes with equal written time values are performed with unequal durations, usually as alternating long and short. It follows similar principles to notes inégales of the Baroque and Classical music eras. A swing or shuffle rhythm is the playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad Misty, has become a jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions which are widely known, performed, and recorded among jazz musicians as part of the jazz musical repertoire. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be standards changes over time. Songs included in major fake book publications and jazz reference works offer a rough. Allmusic.com calls him "one of the most distinctive of all pianists" and a "brilliant virtuoso".[1]

Contents

Career

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh is the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the second largest city in the state. Its population was 334,563 at the 2000 census; by 2006, it was estimated to have fallen to 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is 2,462,571. The city's Downtown retains substantial economic influence, in 1921, Erroll began playing piano at the age of 3. He attended George Westinghouse High School, as did fellow pianists Billy Strayhorn and Ahmad Jamal Ahmad Jamal on July 2, 1930, is a noted American jazz pianist. Jamal was one of Miles Davis's favorite pianists and was a key influence on the trumpeter's "First Great Quintet" (featuring John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums). Davis had long admired Jamal's use of. Garner was self-taught and remained an "ear player" all his life – he never learned to read music.[2] At the age of 7, Garner began appearing on radio station KDKA KDKA is a radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that was the first commercially licensed radio station in the United States, a distinction that has also been challenged by other stations in Pittsburgh Pittsburgh is the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the second largest city in the state. Its population was 334,563 at the 2000 census; by 2006, it was estimated to have fallen to 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is 2,462,571. The city's Downtown retains substantial economic influence, with a group called the Candy Kids. By the age of 11, he was playing on the Allegheny The Allegheny River is a principal tributary of the Ohio River; it is located in the Eastern United States. The Allegheny River joins with the Monongahela River to form the Ohio River at the "Point" of Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania riverboats. At age 14 in 1937 he joined local saxophonist Leroy Brown.

He played locally in the shadow of his older pianist brother Linton Garner and moved to New York New York ( /nuːˈjɔrk/ ) is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment. As host of the United Nations in 1944. He briefly worked with the bassist Slam Stewart, and though not a bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz characterized by fast tempo, instrumental virtuosity and improvisation based on the combination of harmonic structure and melody. It was developed in the early and mid-1940s. It first surfaced in musicians' argot some time during the first two years of the Second World War musician per se, in 1947 played with Charlie Parker Charles Parker, Jr. was an American jazz saxophonist and composer on the famous "Cool Blues" session. Although his admission to the Pittsburgh music union was initially refused because of his inability to read music, they eventually relented in 1956 and made him an honorary member.[2] Garner is credited with having a superb memory of music. After attending a concert by the Russian pianist Emil Gilels Emil Grigoryevich Gilels was a Soviet pianist, widely considered to be one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. His last name is sometimes transliterated Hilels, Garner returned to his apartment and was able to play a large portion of the performed music by recall.[2]

Short in stature (5 foot 2 inches), Garner performed sitting on multiple telephone directories A telephone directory is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that publishes the directory, except when playing in New York City New York ( /nuːˈjɔrk/ ) is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment. As host of the United Nations, where a Manhattan phone book A telephone directory is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that publishes the directory was sufficient.[2][3] He was also known for his occasional vocalizations while playing, which can be heard on many of his recordings. He helped to bridge the gap for jazz musicians between nightclubs and the concert hall. Until his death on January 2, 1977, he made many tours both at home and abroad, and produced a large volume of recorded work. Garner is buried in Pittsburgh's Homewood Cemetery. He was, reportedly, "The Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson John William “Johnny” Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years (1962-92). Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. He was awarded the Presidential's favorite jazz musician; Garner appeared on Carson's show many times over the years.

Playing style

Called "one of the most distinctive of all pianists" by Allmusic.com, Garner showed that a "creative jazz musician can be very popular without watering down his music" or changing his personal style.[1] He is referred to as a "brilliant virtuoso who sounded unlike anyone else" ,using an "orchestral approach straight from the swing era but …open to the innovations of bop."[1] Garner's ear and technique owed as much to practice as to a natural gift. His distinctive style could swing In music, a swung note or shuffle note is a performance practice, mainly in jazz-influenced music, in which some notes with equal written time values are performed with unequal durations, usually as alternating long and short. It follows similar principles to notes inégales of the Baroque and Classical music eras. A swing or shuffle rhythm is the like no other, but some of his best recordings are ballads, such as his best-known composition, "Misty". "Misty" rapidly became a jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions which are widely known, performed, and recorded among jazz musicians as part of the jazz musical repertoire. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be standards changes over time. Songs included in major fake book publications and jazz reference works offer a rough – and was famously featured in Clint Eastwood Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American actor, film director, film producer, and composer. He has received five Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and five People's Choice Awards—including one for Favorite All-Time Motion Picture Star's Play Misty for Me (1971).

Garner may have been inspired by the example of Earl Hines Earl Hines was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Duquesne, Pennsylvania. His father was a cornetist and leader of Pittsburgh's Eureka Brass Band, his stepmother a church organist. Hines at first intended to follow his father's example and play cornet but "blowing" hurt him behind the ears — while the piano didn't. He took classical, a fellow Pittsburgh resident but 18 years his senior, and there were resemblances in their elastic approach to timing and the use of the right-hand octaves. As it is especially shown by Garner's early recordings, another clear influence on him was the stride piano Stride, also known as New York Ragtime, Harlem Stride, or simply Stride Piano, is a jazz piano style where the pianist's left hand may play a four-beat pulse with a single bass note, octave, seventh or tenth interval on the first and third beats, and a chord on the second and fourth beats, The right hand plays melodies, riffs and often style of James P. Johnson James Price Johnson [also known as Jimmy Johnson] was an American pianist and composer. With Luckey Roberts, Johnson was one of the originators of the stride style of jazz piano playing and Fats Waller. Erroll's definitive style however, was unique and had neither obvious forerunners nor competent imitators although, at an amateur level, more players attempted to imitate him than any other pianist in jazz history. A key factor in his sound was the independence of his hands.

Garner would often play behind or ahead of the beat with his right hand while his springy left had rocked steady, creating insouciance and tension in the music, which he would resolve by bringing the timing back into sync. The independence of his hands also was evidenced by his masterful use of three against four figures and more complicated cross rhythms between the hands. He also would play introductions to pieces that sometimes utilized cacophonous or just weird sounds unrelated to the number, but which produced a sense of excitement in the audience not knowing what he was up to. Whether in ultra slow ballads or rollicking up-tempo improvisation, this never failed to convey a humorous and titillating attitude to both the material at hand and the audience. One of the most important aspects of his style of improvisation was that it generally stayed close to the melodic theme and the novelty lay in voicings.

Works

His recording career started out in the late 1940s when several 7" EP records were made with tracks such as "Fine and Dandy" and "Sweet 'n' lovely". However, his 1955 recording, Concert by the Sea, ranks among his most popular work and features Eddie Calhoun on bass and Denzil Best on drums. Ironically this recording of a performance at an army base in Carmel, California, was made using relatively primitive sound equipment, but Garner's inventiveness and swing made its point in each tune. Other notable works include 1951's Long Ago and Far Away and 1974's Magician, both of which see Garner perform a number of classic standards in his own style. Often the trio was expanded to add Latin percussion, usually a conga, with electric results.

In 1964 Garner appeared in the UK on the music series Jazz 625 (625 referring to the PAL PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television encoding system used in broadcast television systems in large parts of the world. Other common analogue television systems are SECAM and NTSC. This page primarily discusses the colour encoding system. See the articles on broadcast television systems and analogue television for 625-line format) broadcast on the BBC's new second channel BBC Two is the second major terrestrial television channel of the BBC, aimed at a wide range of subject matter and interests, and specialising in intelligent yet popular programme genres. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio networks, it is commercial-free and yet remains a comparatively well funded public service network, regularly. The programme was hosted by Steve Race, who introduced Garner's trio with Eddie Calhoun on bass and Kelly Martin on drums. While working the keyboard hard, Garner had perspiration streaming down his face as the programme made close shots of his hands.[4]

What makes Garner's playing easy to recognize is his trademark introductions, which seem to make no sense until breaking dramatically into his exposition of the tune he will play, and the guitar strumming sound of his left hand, playing crotchet accompaniment to his rich sounding right hand. He places his chords and octaves on syncopated beats that swing very hard and can be used to build excellent tension, such as between phrases. The approach also suggests he was influenced by the iconic rhythm guitar work of Count Basie William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Widely regarded as one of the most important jazz bandleaders of his time, Basie led his popular Count Basie Orchestra for almost 50 years. Many notable musicians came to prominence under his direction, including tenor saxophonists Lester Young and's long time guitarist, Freddie Green Freddie Green was an American swing jazz guitarist. He was especially noted for his sophisticated rhythm guitar in big band settings, particularly for the Count Basie orchestra, where he was part of the "All-American Rhythm Section" with Basie on piano, Jo Jones on drums, and Walter Page on bass. But discerning listeners could find that while his even four left hand was a fixture, it was far from being the only rhythmic approach he took to playing.

Samples

Garner bridged the gap between stride and straightahead styles. Often identified as a stride player, his right hand had the trappings of modernity, elements of Cole and Wilson delineations … He was one of our greatest anomalies, with hands barely reaching an octave, he came to define a media filled with technical prowess on his own terms. His style might best be described as orchestral, as his creations often maintained the energy and diversity of an entire band.

Discography

References

  1. ^ a b c Erroll Garner at Allmusic Allmusic is a service of music guide, owned by All Media Guide. Allmusic was founded in 1991, by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine as a guide for consumers. Its first reference book was published the following year. AMG on the Internet predates the World Wide Web and was first available as a Gopher site
  2. ^ a b c d John Wilson, "Erroll Garner, Jazz Pianist, 53; Composed 'Misty,' 'That's My Kick'", New York Times The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record. The Times is owned by The New York Times Company, which publishes 18 other, January 3, 1977, pg. 23.
  3. ^ John Wilson, "Return of Erroll Garner; Phone Book Is Still His Prop at Village Gate", New York Times The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record. The Times is owned by The New York Times Company, which publishes 18 other, May 29, 1965, pg. 16.
  4. ^ "Garner's Serendipitous Hit", Wall Street Journal, 17 Sep 2009.

External links

Categories: 1921 births | 1977 deaths | American jazz composers | American jazz pianists | Imperial Records artists | Jubilee Records artists | Mercury Records artists This is a category for articles on recording artists who had at least one recording issued on the Mercury Records label | RCA Victor Records artists Categories: Artists by record label | RCA Records artists | Columbia Records artists | Savoy Records artists | Musicians from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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