Apparently this great artist is self-taught! He did not study in a school.... he was born a great musician!!! Love you Errol.! What a great gift you have left us! Rest in peace
I like to think he's slightly above Oscar. Although Oscar was one of the very best. Only Garner sounds like Garner. Oscar sounds too much like Art Tatum to me.
Comparing errol to Oscar is like comparing apples and oranges. Completely unique pianists. Personally I'd say garner has the more expressive and creative prowess over Peterson.
Oscar and Garner differ in styles..Question of taste. The greatest virtuoso was Art Tatum.. I chose Garner over Oscar simply because I adore his style..
Thank you Erroll Garner, your music has been set in stone in my heart. I listen to all of it all these decades and can't leave it if my life depended on it. Your virtuosity is unparalleled and a joy to behold. I know our Father is cradling you in his arms and I know you are swinging it in high heaven. Thanks again, for your love of the piano and the way you made it sound!
Have watched and listened to Shearing, Peterson, Komeda, Evans and so many others for years and years, - but nothing in my humble estimation is as entertaining as an Erroll Garner performance. When we just bought LPs, at first I wondered what the heck was going on with the intros and the moaning noises - but once you actually see the character of the man it is totally absorbing. He used the piano as a percussive instrument to perfection.
I'm always amazed that he rarely looks at his own hands while playing, especially his left hand. His style of jazz was a bridge between classical, stride, rag time, swing and be-bop. A one of a kind genius.
I was lucky to see (and hear with various sidemen including Calhoun/Martin, McCarthy/Smith/Mangual) many times in Salle Pleyel in Paris when I was à teenager (thanks to my father) and in the 20s years old In the beginning of each year I was waiting for his May concert... In Jan 1977 Iknew hé would never come back but he is still in my ears
Yes, me, too! My girlfriend (eventually my wife of 50+ years) and I saw him at Jordan Hall, just off Huntington Ave., near Northeastern Univ. It was a WONDERFUL show, and we've enjoyed his music always! I have probably 500 of his songs on my comp/iPod/cellphone! I'm gonna guess that it was back around 1966, maybe?
@@hhomechanic yall are both tremendously blessed to have witnessed the magic that is Erroll. I wish had seen him... wonderful to hear of your fond memories though.
There are times, lately, when I can stretch out on the patio in this Florida sunshine, set the BSR Won’t-Fall-Out Earbuds ($19.95 - www.dak.com/product/bsr-earbuds/ -- NO, I'M NOT A SHILL! THESE ARE THE BEST-SOUNDING, MOST COMFORTABLE BUDS - EVER!!) into my almost 77-year-old ears, and thoroughly enjoy listening to Erroll do his amazing things to music! With my history of 10-years of piano lessons, starting when I was 6 years old, and later, figuring out how to play an electric bass, and practicing daily for at least an hour, and usually more than 2-hours, by playing with big-bands playing on their records (yes, that far back! LOL), and eventually going to downtown Boston, MA, and sitting-in with bands at Smokey Joe's, and K-K-K-Katies, across the street in Kenmore Square, and also playing bass for small groups at weddings, receptions, etc., and even back then I would bask in the joy of Erroll's magic, as he carved his versions of hundreds of songs. To this day, there are some songs that bring big smiles, and others that bring honest tears at his craftsmanship to the melodies.
@@hhomechanic Interesting fact.Traveling, he always took the Manhattan telephone book to sit on because he was "five and a shadow" tall. I first heard him in the late 50’s, living behind the Iron Curtain, in the Soviet Union, where jazz was regarded as bourgeois music and was not welcomed. I was about 14 at the time and my father had a good shortwave radio. He knew English and listened to a 15-minute newscast on Voice of America every evening at 11 o'clock. And then there was Jazz Hour with Willis Conover (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Conover). Erroll has since become one of my favorite pianists. There were many legends circulated about him then: he does not know musical notation; his fingers from thumb to pinky span two and a half octaves; he's sitting on a thick Manhattan phone book. I believed and did not believe it. A few years later, I found out that he really does not know how to read notes. And now, after so many years, I have received proof that the myth of the phone book is a real truth as well. P.S. A few days ago, my wife and I celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary.
@@Mishef-3832 Yes, I've heard about his phonebook cushion! Having been a pianist, I can listen to Erroll and recognize when he hits a key in error, then beautifully corrects it, and just goes on with his playing. I could never get away with that, as my Dad was a musician, and played tenor sax. Erroll's abilities to play his left hand cords and syncopation rhythms never ceases to amaze me. What control he had! Now, congratulations to you and your wife on your 55th anniversary! Treasure every moment! My wife and I had our 50th anniversary on June 23, 2018, and then on July 2, she had some kind of seizure, and spent the next 100 days in the hospital, fighting non-Hodgkins lymphoma, to which she lost her battle on October 08, 2018. I sat beside her every day, from around 6:30 am to 7:00 pm. I miss her every moment of my life now.
A genius; doesn't read music! Amazing! Will always love this man's music and talent and genuine happiness playing piano. He just loved it and so did we! ❤️
Oh, yeah. One of the all time greats and a personal fave. Talent top to bottom. I like to watch his technique. He appeared frequently on the Johnny Carson Show, because he was Johnny's favorite musical guest. Fabulous player. Old school genius brilliance, nothing phoney; he could do it all. Fabulous-thanks for posting.
Love to hear him speaking too, he comes across as a lovely person, generous and humble. I think Eddie Calhoun was the best of the Garner bass players. Garner will always be my favourite, and he continues to inspire me and thousands of other amateur pianists around the world.
We have, Nat Cole, George Shearing, Oscar Peterson, and a few more, but none come close to Errol Garner a true master of his craft, he also sings along as well. I could listen to him play all night and have done so in the past.
The intro to My Silent Love is insanely good. Erroll looks back at Eddie Calhoun with that "How do you like this shit?" look. You can tell that Eddie knows it's some rare stuff!
La disinvoltura con cui questo "Mostro del piano" Errol Garner, interpetra questi brani, nessuno l'avrà mai, forse l'abbiamo noi quando riponiamo nel cassetto la biancheria. Fantastic
@Ольга Полковникова Интересный факт. Путешествуя, он всегда брал с собой телефонную книгу Манхэттена, потому что был ростом «метр с кепкой». Впервые я услышал его по радио в конце 50-х, живя в Москве. В Советском Союзе джаз тогда считался буржуазной музыкой и не приветствовался. В то время мне было около 14 лет, у моего отца был хороший коротковолновый радиоприемник. Он знал английский и каждый вечер в 11 часов слушал 15-минутный выпуск новостей на «Голосе Америки». А потом был «Час джаза» с Уиллисом Коновером (см. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Conover). С тех пор Эрролл стал одним из моих любимых пианистов. О нем тогда ходило много легенд: нотной грамоты он не знает; длина его пальцев от большого до мизинца составляет две с половиной октавы; он сидит на толстом манхэттенском телефонном справочнике. Я верил и не верил. Спустя какое-то время я узнал, что он действительно не знает нотной грамоты. И вот, по прошествии стольких лет, я получил, наконец, доказательство того, что миф о телефонной книге - тоже сущая правда.
Errol Garner was so short that he needed to sit on telephone books while he played. A musical genius , he started a few lessons when he was young but deemed them a waste of time and learned on his own. The great clarinetist Pete Fountain also never learned how to read music , amazingly. You'd never know by listening to them. I can barely play with the music in front of me, after almost 50 years of piano.
For certain there is a light delicate approach to improvisation that never seems to end. Now and then he will launch an avalanche of notes that wakes you up. If you need a reason to study jazz piano here it is. He does stay within the lane markings but we do not know where his going,
He made it look as easy as whipping cream. If ever there was a player who made the Sparky's Magic Piano a reality it was Garner and before him Tatum. He passed on far too soon.
Begin and complete a comparison between Tatum Peterson and Garner for jazz piano music.I do not know if such a endeavor has been attempted or suggested outside of university circles here. I did attempt the sketches of such a comparison using baseball terminology recently.I do not know if it was well received or not by readers as my writing centers on metaphors and analogies. It was done recently in response to hearing Garner perform piano music in Europe. Look for it and let me know how my statements contribute something positive to such a task.
if you need a reminder of what you might have missed in your formal education concerning jazz piano music here it is. What would special education today have done to help him?
The sad thing about black people then Even if they were appreciated. They still had to come through the back door in US sticks l grew up in the segregation era. I guess l just a part of life.😢😢😢