Still remember a pleasant August summer evening in 1951, driving by the Oslo Fjord with some friends, taking in the calming scenes and listening to the radio. Then all of a sudden there was this mesmerizing sound from the radio; told everybody to be quiet, for it was incredibly magic! At the end of the number the DJ let us know it was the Erroll Garner trio. It was absolutely captivating, and ever since the age of 18, I'm still spellbound by his phenomenally
innovative piano style; some 57 years later!
Erroll had a specifically unique talent and gift; it is well known that he couldn't read a note as big as the moon, nonetheless, he could make any old ditty sound symphonically romantic with beautiful harmonic phrasings, or perform at a high upbeat tempo. But his sense of the Latin beat was just incredible; especially the Bossa Nova of the '60s and '70s era.
Also, with being ambidextrous, he would be able to create incomparable rhythms with his left hand, which his lagging right hand would play against completely separate, enabling his performance to reach heights where no pianist had ever been before. In addition, to enhance his pianistic skills even more, his auditory and optic senses were connected, referred to as kinesthesia, it caused Erroll to see a kaleidoscope of colors while playing.
It might well be that most of his compositions in the hundreds are so melodically beautiful with the immense special gifts he possessed. Composing was a random happening during a concert performance, or at a studio recording, in a Mozart like manner; it simply just came to him quite often, while playing at whatever venue. One of the examples of that gifted mastery was his recorded performance of 1955 at Carmel, CA, the continued best seller "Concert
by the Sea," with the spontaneous "Mambo Carmel" at the spot.
But, of all his splendid compositions, still on top might well be the universal "Misty" which he heard in his mind during an airplane trip. All throughout, Erroll was invited to play at luxurious lounges, concert halls, and premium jazz clubs around the world, and often played with symphony orchestras in America and Europe where he would give encore after encore; for, the audience would not let him go. It is an enormous loss to the world therefore, that he succumbed from a massive heart attack on June 2, 1977, at the young age of 54. But, thanks to the recording technology, Erroll can be enjoyed listening to for years at end.
As was Erroll's statement, "I always play what I feel, I always feel like me, but I'm a different me every day. A big color, the sound of water and wind, or a flash of something cool. Playing is like life. Either you feel it or you don't."
Learn more about this author, Tony Ypenburgh.
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