At about the time that Erroll gave this delightful performance, he lived directly above us at 315 W. 70th, where our rent was $100/month. When he practiced (which seemed to be all the time) we could hear the same grunts through our ceiling. 13 years later, he was dead. He was very kind whenever we ran into him. A quite short, very pleasant person. Note how he messes around with the bassist with his meandering intros. The Isley Bros lived on the first floor. So many untold stories.
My late mother knew him fairly well early in his career, before he became famous. Now that she is gone, I wish that she had told us more about him, not just so I could know more about HIM, but so I could know more about that special time of HER life. One of the things my siblings and I were recently discussing was how we had all gotten the impression from her that he was blind, yet none of us can swear she came right out and said so, and certainly no public sources seem to say he was. The best I can figure is that his hearing (and his brain's analysis of all that he heard) was so precise that his eyesight was a trivial sense. She spoke of him recognizing her by the sound of her footsteps.
Does anyone else notice Mr. Garner looks surprised every once in a while. Like he's not quite sure what's happening. A delightful insight into 'improvisation'.
The greatest jazz pianist of all time? Technical brilliance, swing like you've never heard it, breath-taking chord structures and progressions, the ability to switch between stride and swing and every other form of piano playing, his inimitable personal stamp, his humour, his pure enjoyment and his playing makes you happy.
I’m with Barry - There are many great jazz pianists but for sheer joy and exuberance, I always come back to Garner (and sort of by extension Dudley Moore). The intro at 29 mins shows his sense of fun. A truly great man and musician
Super! The funniest thing is right at the beginning. Erroll Garner starts with an improvised intro and the drummer and bass player wonder when to hop in. At 0:50 the bass player (it's Eddy Calhoun, I think) after being misled a half dozen times, turns to a part of the public with an open hand saying like "what am I here for?"
I love watching for this every time. Thanks for pointing it out. 😃 I have been listening to Robin DG Kelly's podcast on Erroll Garner and it sounds like these types of intros were typical of him. He's such a fun genius.
Yeah, I've seen that, I think on another video. Someone said he deliberate changes key on the fly then casts a knowing look to the audience. Poor bassist and drummer . .
It's amazing, Erroll Garner couldn't read music and yet he played the piano so great. His album Concert by the Sea is still one of the all time best seller. I can listen to Erroll all day.
Pure genius. Didn't read music, doesn't look at the keyboard, incredible improvisations wild color changes and all done with pure unbuttoned joy. He and the piano are one. I have said it to several people over the last sixty years, "If you have haven't yet heard EG play "Caravan," you haven't yet heard him blow. To this day it's the wildest thing he ever did.
+Nunov Yrbznes I should have specified the 1950 rendition. He recorded it again in 1971 in his Concert By the Sea album, but IMHO, I don't think he ever surpassed that 1950 performance.
+Nunov Yrbznes Concert By The Sea was recorded in '55 as an amateur recording - released commercially in '56 - re-released in '69 - and an enhanced version (with extra tracks) was released on CD box set a few months ago. Hope that helps!
Concert by the Sea, according to my late father, is seriously overrated. He loved the EPs that Garner made in the USA in the 1940s...."Fine and Dandy"...."Sweet and Lovely"....his best work he said.
I think with respect your Dad was a little astray here-it is rated one of the best jazz albums ever and was no 6 in 1956 against Elvis and all those other big pop idols of the day.there is not one bad track on it and of course recorded live-no dubbing as happens in the studios.Terry
That little man stood head and shoulders above his peers. Of all the young pianists that the legendary Art Tatum took under his enormous wings and mentored - including Oscar P, Billy Taylor, and Erroll Garner - Tatum claimed that Erroll was his all-time favorite. The man was magical when he played the piano...his sound unmistakable and astoundingly original and his style of expression hypnotic and fluid in its beauty! That little man, who had to sit on a stack of phone books to reach the keys, had a gift from god great enough to carry the whole music-loving world in his elegant hands when he played a tune.
1:16 Honeysuckle Rose (Fats Waller, Andy Razaf) 5:37 No More Shadows (Garner) 9:30 Mambo Erroll (Garner) 14:45 Penthouse Serenade (Val Burton, Will Jason) 18:40 Jeannine (I Dream of Lilac Time ) (Nat Shilkret, L. Wolfe Gilbert) 23:50 On The Street Where You Live / I Could Have Danced All Night (Lerner & Loewe) 29:35 All Yours (Theme From "A New Kind of Love")(Garner) 32:35 The Lady Is A Tramp (Rodgers & Hart) 34:25 = Erroll's Theme (Garner)
The extraordinary art of jazz piano playing by Erroll Garner!!! How could there be about 40+ people who clicked that they didn't like it! Probably people who simply don't like jazz... You can never please everyone ... :)
@@barracuda7018 Peterson and Tatum played by far not so original.A lot of runs and scales(Tatum) and Peterson didn't had Garners sence of melody and harmonic.To say it simple, garner sounds much better.
I was fortunate to see this amazing man at many of the jazz clubs in NYC. I have many (if not all ) of his recordings I play them constantly. I never get tired of listening to this genius.
Can you believe I've played the piano for 50 years, and never knew about Erroll Garner until about a month ago? Do you know how I found him? I love to play Misty (I always say it's one of my 5 favorite songs all time), and I knew that Erroll wrote it. So, I did a search, trying to find out if he'd written any other great songs. From that, I found out that he was a great Jazz pianist, so came here to see if I could find anything on him. And, thankfully, there's plenty of stuff out here on him. So, then I read more of his story and I'm just amazed. One of the greatest pianists I've ever heard, and he couldn't read music! Just amazing! I'll keep watching and listening not only to enjoy, but to hope that some of it will rub off on me!!!! What a genius he was!!
I discovered Erroll Garner as a student and have listened and tried to learn ever since. I confess to being one of those folks who tries to copy the master, with my own ideas too and I love to try to learn his pieces, by ear of course, as I cannot read either, and of course nothing like as good. But I think Garner himself would love to know that he is inspiring thousands of dedicated amateurs such as I, not to mention the armies of us who love listening to him for hours. This video is just out of this world.
I remember seeing E Garner live in Paris early 70's (salle Playel)... I was seventeen or so... He started sort of warming up himself with some Bach or Mozart... Un concert magnifique et imprévisible... merveilleux !
fasten your seat belt for a trip to paradise ! oh Divine rhythm and harmony ....fabulous the legend of glamorous high standing rank :Jazz Erroll Garner , the unforgettable !!
+Grinischki Benoit LOVE her. Honestly, to me, fusion is simply the voice of jazz is the present day. We had swing, bebop, funk, latin... in all its iterations, jazz is still what it is. So I believe the arts still have as vivid a present, and future, as the past.
Cynthia McLaglenAllen alright old man, it was just a joke. When you see all those people complaining about today's music being bad, it's starting to grow annoying. Some people just listen to the wrong kind of music, then complain about it. They don't seem to understand that jazz still fucking exists.
@@grinischkibenoit1897 I have seen Hiromi live many times in NYC and adore her. Oscar P. was her idol and she plays similarly to him. She has great stage presence and is a delight. But Erroll Garner is still the one at the top of this rare jazz piano mountain.
WORDS could never ever describe the absolute brilliance of these man's hands. I have listened to his music for about 60+ years and NEVER EVER tired of it . . . . . . . 💞
Sandra, I've heard first hand Earl Hines, Oscar Peterson, and Billy Taylor. No one played better than Erroll; always kept me amazed by his super human playing. What did it for me was his ability to make happy tunes make me smile, even his sad recordings had me smiling at his genius.
He's so cute at 20:00! He's teasing the band! He's asking them "What song am I about to play? Can you figure it out from this abstraction?" And the bass player is smiling and saying "No!" Hilarious. He IS a little Elf, isn't he? Magical.
Major parts my education about jazz came from listening to this man play the piano. He showed up for a recital at my undergraduate university in the mid-sixties. I went looking for his albums following my discovery his talents. At the time of the recital I had known much about his contribution to jazz. This music was required listening for me as an adolescent and young adult. He played a form of jazz music called happy jazz piano that did not have a gloomy or sad side to it. I listened to a syndicated radio jazz program from Cleveland called "Just Jazz with Ed Beach". I acquired from this radio station five nights week the equivalent of a college degree about jazz history with college level knowledge about these artists. Errol Garner was most notable for this aspect of embellishing standards in this manner. He was able to play any standard jazz composition in any key at the drop of a hat but he could not read music. His embellishments were examples of superior creativity to give a new meaning to the term "improvisation". Look at the audience in attendance for this performance. The jazz tree has a branch for jazz piano. On this branch are places for Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum. Errol Garner is there too. An essential part of my life can be linked to hearing this man play jazz piano in this manner. I am grateful.
Starting at 3:05 is the Garner you don't hear very often and he's doing it as good as any of the famous stride players... amazing guy. Of all the jazz piano players I've seen and heard over the last sixty years, Erroll is the only one who is having fun playing ... what a great entertainer he was...
John Bresnik Agree with the stride (not with the only one having fun). I suspect he might have been ispired to emulate the composer's style (Fats Waller).
Shostakovichforever Who else appears to be having fun while playing? Send me a link because I've never seen a jazz piano player having as much fun playing as Garner does.
Why didn't the LORD permit this chap to live much longer than he did. He was (and still is) brilliant .... his playing, his temperament and wit, coupled with these two quality musicians make him absolutely unbeatable. RIP, you've earned it. Regards, Horatio Nelson.
This is one of two concerts broadcast by the BBC in 1964. They are available (or were) on DVD 'Erroll Garner In Performance' issued by Kulture. I watch them regularly and will never tire of them.
This delightful pixie of a genius kept swing music alive in the 1960s. Of course, he played more than swing. He played "Erroll Garner music". He made it look so effortless with his "explorations" on the piano yet always always knowing what he was doing he would give a twinkle of an eye to his audience. Yes!
Quel plaisir de pouvoir voir un tel génie en action ! Génie mélodique, harmonique et rythmique, et en plus il avait l'air tellement simple et sympa... Probablement un des plus grands pianistes de jazz de toute l'histoire, même si pour moi Oscar Peterson est encore quelques crans au-dessus ! Merci pour la mise en ligne de cette vidéo, c'est un pur bonheur 😃👍🎹👍😃
Genius piano playing. Nothing else explains Errol Garner's beautiful touch and command of his piano. My mom's favorite and she was a tough critic. God bless Errol Garner.
hahaha , I have watched this a thousand times and his facial expressions make me love him more each time. This dude is SO enjoying himself. I wish I had one millionth of his talent.
Okay... After listening to this set, I had to reorder my top three pianists from Oscar, Art and Erroll, respectably to: 1. Erroll 2. Oscar 3. Art. This guy’s a genius. Period!
Ahhh...just love how he gets lost in the good vibration of it all! This footage is truly a gift for all us Erroll-ites! I am certainly one...I love him so...a masterful genius that God annointed - and Erroll obeyed! I was in Pgh when he passed...the lines were endless...never forgot that. I cried and cried all that week. He left enough music to carry us through a thousand lifetimes! I wonder what that free spirit we knew as Erroll is doing now? Whatever it is, I know he's masterful at that too!
There are millions of piano players who THINK they know how to play - but Erroll will always be a league of his own they will never ever be able to touch !
He was my gateway to jazz. When I was nipper he appeared on the London Palladium on weekend UK television. I immediately bought an EP (remember those?) and I was hooked. I am a pianist and I marvel at his genius - not a word I use lightly. He must be the greatest (jazz) pianist of all time. Such a shame he died before he had much more to gift us.
Just before he died he had told Martha Glaser, his manager and friend, that the music he had performed and recorded thus far was "just the tip of the iceberg" and that he had so much more music within him. He composed over 200 wonderful pieces including Misty, Dreamstreet, Dreamy, Mood Island, No More Shadows, Nightwind, A New Kind of Love, Mambo Carmel to name just a few.
I've been listening EG since I first heard him at the Band Box o, Birdland or the Embers in NYC. I have every album he ever recorded. No one like him. Sixty plus years later I still listen to this genius.
It is absolutely WONDERFUL that we can see his movements as he's appreciating what he's playing. He's getting as much joy out of this as we in the audience.
John Bresnik yes it is uncanny, three qharters of the time he is staring off into space, I don't know how he does it, I think he is from another world.
Learned of Eroll Garner when I happened to turn my tv to a premium channel that had a documentary airing about him. I was amazed at how great of a piano player he was. The people in the program mentioned how he always changed the songs he played constantly, and that he was the best jazz piano player. I agree!
If someone who possesses complete mastery of his instrument and if the listener never knows what the artist will do next is a Genius--then Errol Garner IS a genius
Nobody plays like Erroll or can match him.His sense of melody timing etc are unparrelled.I am a piano player and have mad a study of him and can do an ok impression of him but you will never match the original.I was able to meet him on tour in 1972 at our club and he told me he neer got married as he hadn't found any woman who would put up with-he added and I have never forgotten '' I'm just a piano player'' he was most modest and I think he really meant it.Junior Mance still playing in NY in 2015 told me there at his gig that Erroll was an absolutely wonderful man-he said all the piano playeres were blown away by his playing.And yet he is not rated as the greatest ever bu for many he was the greateat and will never be matched.Erroll filled in for Art Tatum at times as a young chap and Art said he is gonna go places I tthink-how right he was.Erroll surpassed all the others even Oscar because he was not only a one off player but a great composer too;there are many other loely tunes that Erroll wrote -i love to play those I knbow.I by chance in 2001 met Errolls brother Liton in Vancouver and he was a top player himself-he said Erroll was a chain smoker and this may apparently caused his untimely demise.Verf sad as Erroll could still have been playing at about 94.Butwe have some great tracks which he left behind for all time.Bravo Erroll!
Great post,Terry Hicks. I had often wondered whether Erroll had married or not. I knew about brother Linton being a fine pianist too and that all the Garner siblings were musical, three boys and three girls. He sounds as if he was gentle and modest and full of goodness. I have seen drawing he did, I think some were used on his album covers, so he was a talented artist too. To my knowledge, there is only one book about him and that is out of print. I knew that he smoked and that he suffered from emphysema. He had to stop touring in about 1975. Just hours before he died of a heart attack on 2nd January 1977 he had told Martha Glaser that the music he had played thus far was "just the tip of the iceberg" and so there must have been so much more inside his mind. What a shame that the doctors could not save him that day. There are clips from about 1972, in Italy on RAI TV, where he does look rather unwell with a swollen face. Imagine if he were still alive, he'd be 97 and probably still playing !
Thanks for posting this! This is making my day. Beyond the incredible talent, he's saying with every chord, every note "I got this!" and everything is so much more better... He's SO got this, in so many ways, chorded melodies slinking so smoothly behind the beat, past-master rhythm, impeccable swing, can't stand still or help from smiling! Pianistic virtuosity that you can identify as Errol on the first note, mastery modulating like 'buttah', tantalizing the rhythm, spelling out melodies like nursery rhymes, then coming back to completely take it apart, wallop it, digress into sustained ringing of the whole piano, bringing it back to a sweet tinkle, complete dynamic mastery with no negatives, no snobbery, no attitude or ego, all giving, the humor, the 'show' is all honest, all the good stuff. He's so completely brilliant yet never looks to be taking himself too seriously (but you know he means every note like a preacher) It's such an amazing treat to hear Errol play! But then to actually see him, joy incarnate.
Erroll Garner and Wes Montgomery (guitarist) have the most unique and instantly recognizable styles in all of mid-20th century jazz!...along with Miles Davis, I should add. Each man's highly stylized technique became standard elements in the jazz vocabulary over time. You now hear Wes Montgomery's octave line improvisations and Garner's left hand comping and chord soloing technique in all kinds of music since these great musicians introduced their sound to the public.
When I was in high school, I listened to Erroll's recording of his own piece, MISTY, with just Shadow Wilson on drums. Sixty-five years later that same 45 rpm version has made it onto my hard drive as part of a collection I call "45's from the '50's." My favorite Garner rendition, however, remains Bill Strayhorn's " A Cottage for Sale." I'm almost 82 and still appreciate the gifts left by Erroll Garner and George Shearing.
+Dick Purdy All due respect, but Strayhorn did not write "Cottage". Maybe you're thinking of another Pittsburgher, Billy Eckstine, who sang a famous version of "Cottage". But totally agree, PITTSBURGHER!!! Garner is awesome. sites.google.com/site/pittsburghmusichistory/pittsburgh-music-story/teachers/carl-mcvicker
Eddie Calhoun on double bass was always great with Erroll Garner and would watch Garner's left hand carefully so as to know where the little genius might be going next. Drummer here is Kelly Martin I think. Even by Garner's stellar standards, this 1960s live recording is musical gold. The stride piano section in Honeysuckle Rose is phenomenal, Erroll didn't do this often but it shows that he could play the Fats Waller style perfectly too. Love the way he makes the piano sound like an orchestra and the rhythmic left hand like a guitar being strummed.
Absolute genius!!! What can I say?. After just listening to him playing, if I had to die now, I would die happy and in a joyous mood, hoping I get to heaven and listen to Errol playhg in a free concert in perpetuity.
That's just how I feel! God gave him the talent, and surely He called him Home, so He could listen all the time and Errol would never tire..... Erroll and Ella, that's all I ask!
For a pianist famous for his crazy, playful flights of fancy on intros, the intro to Honeysuckle Rose for the first minute and change of this video, really takes the cake. Beautiful!!!
Love his music. No one better. He don't need pretentious rolling of keys to prove himself. His greatness is keeping the melody in tact. As a player though, please listen carefully at what he does do. It is special. No one, and I mean no one can do it.
Erroll Garner is one of my jazz favourites and heroes. He couldn't read music, a skill which I've never mastered either in my humble efforts on the piano. He is famous for having written the slow ballad Misty, but the real genius comes out most in up tempo numbers. He really could swing and seemed to enjoy himself at the piano. Dorothy Donegan, the brilliant but underrated American jazz pianist (1922-1998), used to imitate Garner and he apparently admired her instinctive virtuoso playing. Sometimes Erroll seems to launch himself into amazing, fancy introductions as if he wasn't even sure himself which number he was about to play. "Concert By the Sea" is a famous live recording which includes a sensational high-speed version of Where or When. Sad to think that this great musical talent was only 55 when he died in 1977.
Donegan actually did study classical music and used many phrases from that idiom in her playing . Gardner als..o was an awesome pianist , I wish there were more people like them today .
I also love that his bass man and drummer obviously LOVE playing with E.G. -as who wouldn't, providing a sense of joy to the concert. E.G. was Dudley More's hero - no slouch in his own right. He talks about playing in a London club when Mr Garner walked in and he went to pieces -until the maestro put him at his ease. There's a great camaraderie between Jazz musicians that I've never felt in any other type of music.
A pure genius for sure! But you'll have a hard time convincing me that he has nothing to do with knowing structure and harmony. His changes are so intricate and logical, his timing, HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!! Loved him from the start.
I never saw Errol except on BBC TV as a kid and teen but wish I'd have caught him live as I did Basie, Ellington, Oscar P' and many others in my crazy wanderings around the world. Always amazes me that three perfectly attuned beings like this can sound and have the impact of a whole orchestra! I used to wonder what a "Full", inventive and intuitive pianist like E.G. would need a bass and drums for but listen closely and feel how utterly interconnected the three of these guys are. Joy is it here!
WOW! I really enjoyed this video. He is truly one-of-a-kind genius, has a unique style of his own, and is a real virtuoso pianist. No one else in the world can play like that.
Keep coming back to this incredible Erroll Garner performance from 1964, it is on a level with Concert By The Sea from 1955. Eddie Calhoun is on bass and I think it is Kelly Martin on drums, you can tell how they love playing with the Gemini Genius. Must learn No More Shadows, it is a lovely tune. I have sort of taught myself eight of Garner's wonderful compositions - by ear of course! - and there are many more to learn. It is so inspiring to hear him play and how I wish I were old enough to have heard him live. Love the "fake" stride technique in Penthouse Serenade, I guess he does this to keep time, or was he just having fun as ever?
Absolute genius : what a swing, what a rythm, innovator of piano, a deliverry full of soul and goodness. bless the day he got up there to deliver such pleasure and beauty.
I LOVE Garner, he's a genius, just his intro to honeysuckle rose, it is so great, even his bass player dowsn't know where he's going, so good ! love him.
The way he played misty in this concert was the reason I have started to listen to and appreciate jazz. I was absolutely stunned by the chords that he uses that sound so appealing!
I saw Errol live in Adelaide, Australia, and to this day I have great regrets on missing the opportunity to shake those amazing hands of his as I walked past him in his room. RIP Errol, live on in our memories.
I took my teenaged son with his date to see Erroll Garner at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco in 1976. Garner passed in 1977. The smallish man swung BIG! One of the great live performances in my history of loving music..
I haven't listened to Erroll Garner in some time. One my first albums was "Concert By The Sea" in 1955, I met him in the 50s. I follow the current group of Jazz pianists and it's interesting to see where he fits in the continuum of great players. Styles change but I love them all.
What I like about this whole clip is the obvious joy E.G. gets from playing, sharing his "thoughts", constant creation and interaction with his bass and percussion comrades -and their reciprocity. Musicians like this don't come along too often and I thank you for providing this treasury, musical AND visual, of a great natural genius in action. I'll bet my kilted toosh that he never played ANYTHING the same way twice -even "Misty"! And thanks to Guille Gonzalez for the chronology of titles.
Brian Kate Johnstone Agreed, about "Misty". Also, I have four versions of the MJQ's "Django" - from the original 1952 (?) to about 1980 (?) - never twice the same. Tempo, phrasing and solos. Jazz is... hang on... why is your middle name Kate??!
Melonhead622 It's my wife's name -should be an "and" in there. Might have to see if I can edit it somehow. We have our own computers and email addresses but this computer is registered as belonging to both of us. Mind you, I've been called a Helluva lot worse!
Set List: 1 "Honeysuckle Rose" 2 "No More Shadows" 3 "Mambo Erroll" 4 "Penthouse Serenade" 5 "Jeannine, I Dream of Lilac Time" 6 "On the Street Where You Live" 7 "I Could Have Danced All Night" 8 "A New Kind Of Love" 9 "The lady is a tramp" 10 "Untitled"
Музыкант с большой буквы, и мастер импровизаций! Моё восхищение! Это подарок человечеству сВыше! Всем спасибо. Привет всем людям, добрым и утончённым в плане искусства. )
Foundation of my learning about jazz piano improvisation was delivered to me packaged in this bundle of phenomenal talent that is not duplicatable or emulated. I am still unwrapping the same package for learning more about this man's musical genius and talent.
Little Coquette. I went to many of his concerts. In Paris he had to give two concerts each evening, because tickets were hard to get. I would go to both, still couldn't guess in the second concert during his amazing introductions which tune he was going to play. In Europe he would play in the biggest concerts halls - sold out. Imagine my amazement, seeing him a few months later in Columbus OH, playing in a restaurant, half of the 100 or so diners more interested in what was on their plates!
