Search - Erroll Garner :: Jazz 'Round Midnight

Essential Erroll

Richard LeFebvere | Chicago, Il, USA | 08/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here's a great sampler of Erroll's best work. Garner was one of the most innovative piano players in the jazz world who created one of the most recognizable styles. Because of his, as Will Friedwald termed it, "buckets and showers" style, he made every song new, and his ballads were always beautiful, and never ever dull, unlike many of his contemporaries who were bogged down in slower numbers. Here is some of his great 1940s work that showed his touch still being developed, with influences like Art Tatum, Ellington, and his fellow Pittsburgh native Billy Strayhorn still evident. These are all terrific recordings, particularly his Ellington cover, "I Let A Song Go Out of My Heart." Of course, "Misty" is here, the definitive Garner composition and recording, and it is,as always, perfectly evocative of the fog-enshrouded New York night that inspired it. No cover versions of "Misty" can ever really match it, because the overdramatic lyrics don't match Garner's joie de vivre and sense of humor, even when sung by the likes of Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan. It's interesting to note that Garner was never able to write music, and he wrote "Misty" by rushing home from the airport, song in his head, and played it immediately, taping it and trasncribing it later. Here is a piano in the heart of jazz, and the closer on this album, "Over the Rainbow" is a very special long version that shows the inventiveness and imagination of Mr. Erroll Garner."

Great Introduction to Garner's Style

Richard LeFebvere | Chicago, Il, USA | 08/14/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is a good demonstration of Erroll Garner's unique piano style. Jazz citic and all-around music expert Will Friedwald refered to it as "showers and buckets of notes," and it is that, chords that seem to have shimmering ddescneding notes springing out of every one of them. Here you'll find some of garner's more obscure 1950s recordings that show him still developing from his influences, which of course include Duke and Garner's fellow Pittsburgh native Billy Strayhorn. But by the third track you can hear the Garner everyone knows from "Misty" a song that immortalized him in jazz history. Garner's version made covers by greats such as Sarah Vaughn and Frank Sinatra almsot seem superfluous-- while they sang it with a dramatic, longing emotion, Garner seems to have something deeper, a humor and nostalgia about it, a sophistication that brings to mind the circumstances in which it was written: a dramatic airplane descent into a fog-encrusted New York (I think). There are great tracks here, some that demonstrate classic romance ans some that show garner's subtle and rhythmic swing. Some of the best include Garner's Ellington cover "I Let A Song Go Out of My Heart" and a sublime long version of "Over the Rainbow" that's more adult and down-to-earth than most interpretations, but no less romantic in it's depiction of dreams."

Master of Jazz

Karen Sullivan | Houston, Texas | 07/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jazz 'round midnight or anytime of day....Erroll Garner sets the mood. It's impossible not to get caught up in his music. This album is one of his best. I never tire of listening to his "Misty". Genius!"