The Life of ERROLL GARNER
Although Erroll Garner had no formal music training and couldn’t read music, he became a world famous jazz pianist and composer. Born in Pittsburgh in 1921 to a musical family, he began playing the piano at the age of two. At the age of seven, Mr. Garner began appearing on radio in Pittsburgh with a group called the Kan-D Kids, and by the age of eleven was playing on the Allegheny river boats. He moved to New York in the forties and by 1950 was established as an international artist. He made countless tours both at home and abroad, and in his lifetime composed nearly 300 songs, many of which were recorded by such famous artists as Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Mathis and George Shearing.
Mr. Garner was an idiosyncratic player not fitting well into any of the standard piano style groups of 40’s or 50’s jazz.A brilliant virtuoso, he stated the beat with his left hand like a rhythm guitar while his right hand played chords slightly behind the beat, creating a highly individualized style. His ability to play stunning runs without once glancing at the keyboard was part of the magic of Erroll Garner.
“Misty”, Mr. Garner’s standard, was composed in the late fifties and was one of the most recorded popular compositions of the decade. Appropriately, a grand piano is incised on the pink granite ledger that marks the burial place of Mr. Garner.