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The Erroll Garner Estate


Brad

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I spent considerable time around Gloria Swanson, mostly at her apartment, and the way she acted around Bill Dufty (kinda parental) always brought to mind Helen's mommying of Bill Evans.

Christern, you must have loved the Billy Wilder film 'Sunset Boulevard'?

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Christern, you must have loved the Billy Wilder film 'Sunset Boulevard'?

Yes, and Gloria was very much Nora Desmond when Bill was around. He used to call me and say, "If Gloria calls for me, I'm at your place and out walking your dog." She inevitably called and I always played Bill's game. When I told Bill that all Gloria needed was a swimming pool, he nodded with a weak smile.

Apropos "Sunset Boulevard," I have never had as many goosebumps as Gloria gave me one night when she told me about an aborted (Paramount killed it) musical project based on "SB." She had actually performed one number from it on the Steve Allen show, the one where she slithers down the staircase to face the cameras. She gave me a sample, looking me straight in the eyes as she slowly approached me (I was seated on a sofa) with her right hand stretched out in my direction and those fingers working their magic. The hand and those mesmerizing eyes gave me a moment I shall never forget.

Yes, I love Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard."

Edited by Christiern
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1) I thought Martin Williams was gay (of course, Keane may be the cause of this)

2) when I lived in Connecticut in the late 1970s I got to know Nan Evans, Bill Evans last wife, pretty well; I met Keane at some conference, mentioned Nan's name, and, boy, did this set off a tirade - they hated each other and apparently had more than a few turf battles before and after Evans's death -

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  • 4 years later...

The only chips Martha has left to play in the Garner game are the Concert by the Sea unissued tracks are eight unissued tracks from 1956-57. There is some commercial pap from 1958 unissued.

Classics issued all the sessions from 1950-53 in their entirety. Chris, you speak of Martha in the past tense.Is there something we don't know ?

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ironically, maybe, she has lost a lot of money (I hope) by being stupid and not allowing reissues, which are now going to come out anyway without her consent and likely without her receiving $$$$ (unless there's publishing royalties involved; I'm thinking there's a good possibility she owns the publing for Garner's tunes, but that's just a guess; and who knows if these labels pay into them anyway).

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ironically, maybe, she has lost a lot of money (I hope) by being stupid and not allowing reissues, which are now going to come out anyway without her consent and likely without her receiving $$$$ (unless there's publishing royalties involved; I'm thinking there's a good possibility she owns the publing for Garner's tunes, but that's just a guess; and who knows if these labels pay into them anyway).

Beyond the money issue, I wonder if Erroll Garner has also lost some recognition and exposure with more recent generations (I associate him more with Charlie Parker) due to the fortress that his back catalogue has become. I've always skipped the Sony CDs because those Columbia Jazz Masterpiece CDs were ugly and generally sounded awful.

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  • 6 years later...
  • 2 weeks later...

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