CD 1
1. Misty
2. Somebody Loves Me
3. Stardust
4. Indiana
5. Bird's Nest
6. Cool Blues
7. Erroll's Bounce
8. Blue Lou
9. Play Piano Play
10. Blues Garni
11. Love For Sale
12. Frankie And Johnny Fantasy
13. Love Walked In
14. Red Sails In The Sunset
15. All The Things You Are
16. Over The Rainbow
17. Moonglow
18. She's Funny That Way
19. I'm Confessin'
20. Stormy Weather
21. Margie
22. My Heart Stood Still
23. When You're Smiling
24. How High The Moon
CD 2
1. Lover
2. Laura
3. The Way You Look Tonight
4. I Cover The Waterfront
5. Penthouse Serenade
6. Honeysuckle Rose
7. Body And Soul
8. I'm In The Mood For Love
9. Fine And Dandy
10. Sophisticated Lady
11. Summertime
12. Am I Blue?
13. Out Of Nowhere
14. St Louis Blues
15. Easy To Love
16. Lullaby Of Birdland
17. Oh, Lady Be Good
18. I'll Remember April
19. Autumn Leaves
20. It's All Right With Me
21. April In Paris
22. Where or When
Erroll
Garner is possibly one of the most imitated
but also most underrated of all jazz
pianists. His indelible style has been
imitated (often jokingly) by all kinds
of jazzmen – from Dudley Moore to Benny
Green - yet his unique achievement is
in danger of being neglected. Perhaps
his very uniqueness works against him,
or perhaps it’s the fact that he became
very popular – something which many
jazz critics can’t abide, because they
hate music to be too accessible.
Certainly
Garner’s playing was accessible, as
this well-filled double CD shows. However
complex his solos may be, you can still
sense the melody behind them. In addition,
he could swing like the clappers at
fast tempos and he produced some lovely
sounds on slow ballads, where his caressing
style was fluid and highly decorative.
Listen, for example to Laura,
with its limpid use of the whole keyboard,
its flowery runs and its rhapsodic beauty.
Contrast
this with the tearaway brilliance of
Where or When, which shuffles
along unstoppably at a demanding tempo,
displaying an awesome technique and
rhythmic daring which few other pianists
could ever match. This last track comes
from Garner’s most brilliant album –
1955’s Concert by the Sea, which
provides the final five tracks on this
collection. I’ll Remember April
illustrates Erroll’s liking for enigmatic
introductions that give you absolutely
no idea what the song is going to be
– and which yet somehow lead inevitably
into the number that follows.
The
other tracks on the album come from
earlier in Erroll’s career, opening
with Misty, his best-known composition.
We also get to hear two recordings he
made with Charlie Parker in 1947 – Bird’s
Nest and Cool Blues – where
he was a capable colleague for the Bird.
Even better is the superbly relaxed
nine-minute Blue Lou from the
same year’s "Just Jazz"
concert with Wardell Gray. Other early
tracks show how Erroll came out of the
stride tradition, although his left
hand often played four-in-a-bar chords
slightly in conflict with what the right
hand was doing. This gave his playing
a swaying feeling which added to the
swing.
This
collection offers more than two-and-a-half
hours of music and makes an excellent
introduction to Garner’s early work.
Let us hope it makes listeners eager
to explore the rest of his output.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Living Era
CD AJS 2006
