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Erroll Garner


chris

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I was commenting to a friend that I was really enjoying Erroll Garner's "Concert by the Sea" album and he referred to the disc as "cheesy". I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but it's not what I am hearing!

So what are some good albums to explore more of Garner? The complete Savoy master takes looks interesting, but maybe there are some more cohesive sets out there...

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There are quite a number of excellent Erroll Garner albums.

More interesting than the Savoy sides (not that they are bad) are the albums

he recorded for Columbia and Mercury/EmArcy.

In the early days of CDs, Columbia had started to reissue some of his records

but this seems to have been abandoned. Wish Mosaic would release an

Erroll Garner/Columbia box!

Mercury/EmArcy are doing a better job.

Recommended Garner albums from them are 'Afternoon of an Elf', 'Solitaire'

and 'Plays Misty'. They have also released unissued albums which are excellent.

The three first volumes ('Easy to Love', 'Dancing on the Ceiling' and 'Too

Marvellous for Words' are all worth investigating.

TelArc has also reissued Garner albums from a later era. The man was swinging

all the way through the sides. Check 'Camps Concert', 'One World Concert' or

'That's my Kick'. These TelArc CDs reunit two Garner LPs each.

And don't forget to listen to Erroll Garner when he was playing alongside

Charlie Parker on 'Cool Blues' and 'Dark Shadows' and Wardell Gray on 'Blue Lou'.

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Garner is anything but cheesy.

I dunno, SOME cheese has a lot of deceptively simple depth to it.... ;)

I've always dug GEMINI myself, especially "How High The Moon". Some totally wack (in the best possible way) stuff to be had on that little gem of an album.

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Just beginning to scratch the surface of this cheese! I have CONTRASTS (Verve Master Edition) which is excellent, and that's it. I'm eagerly awaiting the supposedly upcoming Mosaic COMPLETE COLUMBIA RECORDINGS to delve into his music for real (Brownie, take note!): Garner Mosaic - Do a Search for "Garner" In Your Browser Once at the link

I also need to start gathering all his Emarcy dates -wasn't there a series of releases that came out in the early 90's that covered the lot?

Edited by DrJ
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  • 6 years later...

I was commenting to a friend that I was really enjoying Erroll Garner's "Concert by the Sea" album and he referred to the disc as "cheesy". I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but it's not what I am hearing!

So what are some good albums to explore more of Garner? The complete Savoy master takes looks interesting, but maybe there are some more cohesive sets out there...

If that's 'cheesy' please cut me a huge slice. I like your last sentence, first paragraph. Trust your own ears---first and last.
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Could it be that "cheezy" is being equated to "commercially successful?" There has long been a tendency by some jazz fans to put down anything that the wider public seems to go for. "Commercial" may still be a dirty word in jazz scene lingo. :g

I recall an interview with Dudley Moore in which he said his admiration of Garner used to raise eyebrows among other jazz musicians. That suggests Garner has always suffered from this kind of attitude.

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Could it be that "cheezy" is being equated to "commercially successful?" There has long been a tendency by some jazz fans to put down anything that the wider public seems to go for. "Commercial" may still be a dirty word in jazz scene lingo. :g

I recall an interview with Dudley Moore in which he said his admiration of Garner used to raise eyebrows among other jazz musicians. That suggests Garner has always suffered from this kind of attitude.

That's the loss of the snobs. They're missing something great. But that's snobbery. Fashionable in jazz----mostly among idiots.
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