When Clint Eastwood was asked to “play Misty for me” in the classic 1971 movie of the same name, the song was played by its composer Erroll Garner, one of jazz’s most popular and prolific artists—and one of its true originals. A completely self-taught pianist who never learned to read music, Garner created a totally unique, often idiosyncratic but always accessible style. His musical approach was based on elements of swing and bop, while harmonically reminiscent of French impressionistic composers such as DEBUSSY and RAVEL. “His dynamic range was unsurpassed,” wrote Ted Gioia in The History of Jazz, “and nothing delighted him more than moving from a whisper to a roar—then back to a whisper.” It was this style, combined with a happy-go-lucky stage persona, which made him arguably the most successful jazz artist of the 1950s.
Erroll Louis Garner was born on June 15, 1921, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and by the age of seven was appearing on local radio as a piano prodigy. By the age of 11, he was substituting for riverboat pianists along the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania. In 1944, Garner moved to New York and became an immediate success in the celebrated jazz clubs on 52nd Street. After filling in as a substitute for piano icon Art TATUM in Tatum’s trio, alongside Tiny Grimes and Slam Stewart, he stayed but eventually followed Slam Stewart when Stewart formed his own trio. Shortly after, Garner started his own successful threesome with bass and drums, and wrote his first hit instrumental, “Play, Piano, Play.” It was a trio that was to remain with him for the rest of his career.
By the late 1940s, Garner, nicknamed “The Elf” for his short stature and impish humour, had established his uniquely characteristic style, pulsating four-in-a-bar chords that changed with every beat (reminiscent of great swing guitarists such as Freddie Green) in the left hand against wide-ranging melodic passages in the right—all to a huge, driving swing beat. “Erroll was so melodic he would appeal to anyone,” wrote critic Dan Morgenstern. “[What] was so remarkable about Erroll was that, without any showbiz trimmings or anything, he could just sit down at that piano in front of thousands of people and completely enrapture them.”
Garner’s solo career continued to escalate. In 1947, while working in the Los Angeles area, he backed saxophonist Charlie PARKER on the legendary Cool Blues session. By the 1950s, he had moved on from smoky nightclubs to sophisticated hotel showrooms, and became one of the first jazz artists to give a full concert-hall recital. He was also one of the most frequent jazz musicians to appear on TV, and his popularity was such that, in 1958, classical music impresario Sol Hurok signed him up for an extensive foreign tour.
Garner composed many jazz standards including “Dreamy,” “Moment’s Delight,” “Solitaire,” and “Passing Through.” But the tune with which he will be linked forever is “Misty” (1954). With lyrics by Johnny Burke, the song became a hit for such artists as Johnny Mathis and Sarah VAUGHAN. Garner reached his pinnacle with the best-selling 1955 live album for Columbia, Concert by the Sea, and other equally popular works including Paris Impressions, Afternoon of an Elf, and Magician.
For the next two decades, Garner recorded prolifically, sometimes cutting three albums a day, using only first takes. In addition, he wrote music for the movies and toured until a serious bout of pneumonia brought his career to an end. Garner died on January 2, 1977, in Los Angeles. The critic Leonard Feather eulogised him as a pianist who played “cascades of jubilant chords that seemed to tell you, ‘Boy, am I having a ball!’”
Michael R. Ross
SEE ALSO:
BASIE, COUNT; ELLINGTON, DUKE; EVANS, BILL; JAZZ; MONK, THELONIOUS.
Doran, James M. Erroll Garner
The Most Happy Piano
(Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press and the Institute of
Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, 1985);
Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).
Body and Soul, Concert by the Sea;
The Original Misty.