Concert By The Sea - Erroll Garner

 

Mambo Carmel

Concert By The Sea

Erroll Garner

Columbia Records CL 883

1956

From the back cover: In a time when jazz artists are turning increasingly to the concert stage, it may seem surprising that this album is the first to be released (in 1956) by Erroll Garner playing before a concert audience. The reason for this delay is simple. No one ever thought of recording a Garner concert before, although Erroll is an artist who is keenly receptive to the interchange of stimulation between audience and artist.

Erroll was one of the first jazz instrumentalists to give a full evening's recital in a concert hall, in the Music Hall in Cleveland on March 27, 1950. Martha Glaser, who presented that concert, also produced and staged the one at which the present recording was made, in Carmel, California. Jimmy Lyons, the disc jockey (now with KDON in Monterey) whose knowledgeable programming of jazz and assistance to west coast musicians is a legend in the northern California area, was the promoter of the concert.

Erroll has often told interviewers that his music reflects everything around him; as he puts it, "I play all the sounds I hear." The conditions preceding this concert were ideal, and Erroll's playing attest to this. He arrived in Carmel at sundown, after driving, with his accompanists, from San Francisco along the Pacific Coast – one of the most beautiful roadways in the United States. The moods of San Francisco, Carmel, the ocean, the traffic, and the good humor of his sidemen during the trip are all wrapped up in Erroll's performance.

Garner was in championship form in this concert. Performing with a sense of building which few musicians can match, he played a program that was impeccably paced, stimulatingly developed, and blazing with enthusiasm. At 33, he has been an established giant of the piano for so many years that he is often take for granted. This album is a great introduction to those who have not yet become Garner fans, and especially exciting to those in his loyal coterie who say "Erroll's our man – he always great," but who haven't really stopped to take note of his continued development within his own unique structural style.

The Carmel concert was staged under ideal conditions. The auditorium, which used to be a Gothic-style church, was perfect acoustically. The audience was completely responsive to every nuance of Erroll's performance.

The contents of this album were pretty much determined by what Erroll hadn't recorded for Columbia. Everything he played was of extraordinary quality, which is usual with Erroll's one-shot performances, so we simply left out the record tunes which he plays in response to requests.

With Erroll on this recording are his fine accompanists, Denzil Best on drums and Eddie Calhoun on bass. The voice you hear occasionally, in the manner of Toscanini exhorting his musicians, is Erroll, actively conducting with head, hands, shoulders and vocal cords. As always, Erroll gave everything he had; there were two intermissions, and Erroll was drenched at the end of each of the three sections of the concert. Fortunately, he had the foresight to bring four complete changes of clothes – and he used them!

As these notes are written, Erroll is preparing for still another solo recital at Town Hall in New York, where he first appeared in December, 1950. More concerts appearances, in programs, entitled "Evening With Erroll Garner", are to follow, and shortly after this album is released Erroll will be off on his firsts full-scale concert tour of Europe – George Avakian

From Billboard - August 18, 1956: This package is the first Columbia LP recorded while he was playing before a concert audience (at Carmel, Calif.). The pianist's brilliant jazz technique and tender touch are showcased on a group of standards and originals – "I'll Remember April," "Teach Me Tonight," "Mambo Carmel," etc. Cover, an eye-catching photo of a Carmel seascape, is perfectly keyed to the title theme. Excellent for jazz jocks and romantic sets on pop shows.

I'll Remember April

Teach Me Tonight

Mambo Carmel

Autumn Leaves

It's All Right With Me

Red Top

April In Paris

They Can't Take That Away From Me

How Could You Do A Thing Like That To Me

Where Or When 

Erroll's Theme