Erroll Garner's Jazz
S J Buck | Kent, UK | 08/22/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Errol Garner is almost unique in Jazz history in the way that he created a new style of playing his instrument, the Piano, which made him very successful (for a Jazz artist) but hardly any other musicians have copied his style. In fact there is only one other Pianist that I know of that conciously learnt to play in the style of Errol Garner and that was Dudley Moore (and he did it very well). There are a number of reasons for this, which would take too long to explain in a short album review.
On this fabulous live album from September 1955 Garner is accompanied by Eddie Calhoun on bass and Denzil Best on Drums. As with all Garner recordings there are his inspired Piano introductions to tunes, that really give you absolutely no clue as to what is coming next, but when the tune starts it all seem entirely logical.
Garner was wholly self-taught, so how on earth he managed to play at the virtuoso standard required on say 'Red Top' or 'I'll Remember April' is truly amazing. The key to his playing is the left-hand which is squarely on the beat, and 4 to the bar on the uptempo numbers, almost like a strumming guitarist - think Freddie Green from the Basie Orchestra. His right hand lagged behind the beat, or phrased around the beat which creates the dramatic style you can hear so well on this album.
I'm less keen on his ballad playing, its a little too florid for my taste, but its still fabulous, just not as fabulous as his uptempo playing which is as exciting as almost anythingelse you can hear in the history of Jazz.
"
The rediscovery of Errol Garner and Concert by the Sea
William L. Baker | Norman Oklahoma | 06/12/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This music takes me back to college days, and my jazz fan-hood was in early bloom. Now in my old age I still love my jazz and this is one of the recordings I used to play a lot on my portable33 1/3 phonograph (remember those ? ).
He was a very fine play by ear type of performer, very creative with great rhythm and melodic content, and commucated great joy and emotion in the process. This is not elevator music, this is music for "flipping and rejocing " I owned many Garner LPs(as 33 1/3 disks were called) but this was always one of my favorites ."
POOR EDITION
FRENCH JAZZ LOVER | ETIOLLES | 02/22/2009
(1 out of 5 stars)
"I was lucky enough to meet the marvelous Erroll Garner in 1973 after what would be his last appearance in France. I was learning piano, was really one ofte worse player ever but he showed me a few tricks. He also took more than an hour of his precious time to talk with me. Of course, we couldn't avoid mentionning talking about "Concert By The Sea" and I was more than surprised to learn that he wasn't happy with the LP. He was unhappy with the choice of the tunes.As an example, he wouldhave loved that his rendition of "Bernie's Tune" had been rejected against his will.
The second part of this CD is a compilation from concerts given in Seattle on August 20-25 1962 and originally issued as "One world concert". This is the second time this concert is reissued and amazingly, on both reissued, the best tune, "Movin' Blues", one of the swingest blus ever played by my favorite elf is missing.
So I strongly recommend that people wait for complete issues, specially considering that "the best is yet to come" and will be within 5 years."
Track Listings (20) - Disc #1