Erroll Garner Biography
Erroll Garner (1921-1977) was a rarity among jazz pianists, a highly original and sophisticated player who never learned to read music, and who achieved widespread popularity without diluting his unique approach for mass consumption. Garner’s style was both elegant and exuberant, and his popularity is widely credited for helping jazz move from smoky nightclubs to prestigious concert halls.
Garner’s trademark style combined a swing feel with an experimental sensibility that made him receptive to the innovations of bebop. His approach was rooted in the relationship between the solid, bouncy rhythms he played with his left hand and the unpredictable melodies that he played with his right hand. Garner would often begin pieces by playing unruly clusters of notes that gave little indication of the number that he was about to play.
The Pittsburgh-born Garner (whose older brother Linton was also a talented pianist) was a self-taught musician who began playing piano in his native Pittsburgh at the age of three, and started performing on a local radio station at seven. By 11, he was playing regularly on Allegheny riverboats, and at 14 he joined a band led by local saxophonist Leroy Brown. In 1944, Garner moved to New York, where he briefly joined Slam Stewart’s trio before striking out on his own. In addition to leading his own recording sessions for a variety of labels, Garner recorded with Charlie Parker on Parker’s legendary 1947 “Cool Blues” session. By then, Garner had already established himself as a major player and perfected his unique style.
Garner achieved widespread popularity in the early 1950s. By then, he’d developed a reputation for being able to go into the studio without prior preparation and knocking out one or more albums’ worth of material in a day. Garner would remain popular and prolific through the mid-’70s, with his composition “Misty” becoming an enduring pop standard.
Recent Comments