Informal Piano Improvisations - Erroll Garner

 

In The Beginning

Informal Piano Improvisations

Erroll Garner

Baronet Records B-109

1962

From the back cover: Erroll Garner is a warm, personal jazz pianist; a jazz pianist who is most assuredly a creator; a jazz pianist with a style so easily identifiable that even the casual jazz listener will recognize it – both in his playing as well as that of many pianists who like to copy him.

There is the tender touch – the intimate phrasing – the rich, legato, Impressionistic chords – the pounding left hand with the right hand lagging slightly behind – the almost over-emphasis of dynamics – the Pixie-ish humor – the warm, caressing sound.

As many people already know, Erroll Garner is a self-taught pianist. He was offered piano lessons by his parents, the same sort they had given his three sisters and two brothers. That was in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he'd been born in 1923, and where he preferred playing baseball and football to studying the piano. (He was a left-handed first baseman, which accounts somewhat for his notably strong left hand at the keys.) But, though he preferred sports and no piano lessons, he was still attracted to the instrument. Gradually, through experimenting, he developed his unique style without the benefit of learning how to read music.

This record made at a small private party in the apartment of one of jazzdom's most devoted enthusiasts, Baron Time Rosenkrantz, captures a freshness, enthusiasm and genuineness that could never happen in a studio recording. Timmie has produced concerts, has recorded some of them on his own personal equipment, but it is doubtful if any of his contributions will outlive in importance the making of these examples of Garner's playing.

Performing at small, intimate gatherings has always been a favorite pastime for Erroll's. Many years ago, he told me "When I play in a club, I try to make it sound like playing at a party." And, in striving for this sort of personal touch, Garner has developed his warm sound, a quality of his playing upon which he constantly concentrates. Though it seems to satisfy millions of listeners, Erroll says that he is "still working on it." I can't tell you exactly what I'm working for. It's something real full and beautiful.

Musical beauty is all-important to him. Recognizing his limitations, because of lack of schooling, he philosophizes: "What else can I play but every-day life and make every day beautiful and more beautiful. It's like so much of life," he adds simply. Either you feel it or you don't.

The matter of feeling or not feeling also relates to the most discussed of all aspects of Erroll's playing: his beat. The lagging right-hand, phrasing just behind the pumping left, has worried some folks, thrilled others, and left many trying to make up their minds. Explains Erroll: "When I started playing professionally, everybody used to say, 'Erroll – he can't keep time.' I guess my way confused them a little. But I play that beat on purpose. It creates excitement. It's hard for me to explain what I do, but when I play I try for a sort of underneath beat, if you know what I mean. It's strictly a feeling. I guess that the closest thing to describing it is that instead of being a drive, it's kind of an extra drive, like Fats (Waller) and Jimmie Lunceford used to have.

The use of Lunceford as an example is interesting, though not surprising. Jimmie was not a pianist but the leader of a big band with a resounding rocking, full-bodied beat. One of the distinctive aspects of Garner's style is that it's not always pure piano, but, instead, seems to try to reproduce the power and the depth and the dynamics of a big jazz band. And certainly few bands have ever approached those qualities more excitingly than did the great Lunceford aggregations.

Excitement – the beat – beauty – warmth – tone – they're all here, and lots more, too, in this display of informal Garner. – George T. Simon

Cloudburst

Variations On A Nursery Rhyme

   Marizy Doats

   Yes, We Have No Bananas

   The Music Goes Round And Round

   Everything I've Got (Belongs To You)

In the Beginning

Easy To Love

Berlin With Love - Jo Basile

 

Bei Dir War Es Immer So Schon

Berlin With Love

Jo Basile, His Accordion & Orchestra

Photography: Charles Van Maanen

Flowers by Deldon Designs

Shoes by Caperzio

Lambretta  Motor Scooter courtesy of Lambretta, Div. – Innocenti Corp.

Accordion courtesy of Carroll Musical Instruments

Audio Fidelity STEREODISC AFSD 5944

From the back cover: Jo Basile, winner of the highly coveted French Grand Prix du Disques in 1957, has built a solid reputation as an accordion virtuoso, conductor, arranger and accompanist in the United States and abroad. Basile has been responsible, through his superb mastery of his instrument, in lifting the accordion to hitherto unknown heights of artistry. After winning recognition for his versatility as an accordion virtuoso, Basile served as accompanist for the international's famous singing star Patachou (Audio Fidelity releases 1814 and 1881). He has been heard in leading clubs, theaters and hotels on three continents.

Lili Marlene

Bei Dir War Es Immer So Schone

Macki Messer (Mack The Knife)

Auf Wiedersehen Sweetheart

Trink, Trink, Trink

Del Ami

Das Ist Die Liebe Der Matrosen

Stern Von Rio

Ich Kusse Ihre Hand, Madame

Horst Du Mein Heimliches Rufen

Ich Spur In Mir

Wenn Es Frühling Wird

The Magic Of The Mandolin - Dave Apollon

 

Without You

The Magic Of The Mandolin

Dave Apollon and His Mandolin Orchestra

Coral CRL 757421

Dated on the back cover by Apollon, apparently during a Desert Inn appearance, "January 28, 1963"

Never On A Sunday

Autumn Leaves

Non Dimenticar (The Voluto Bene)

Brazilian Waltz (Waltz Of A City)

Come Prima

Hava Nagillah

The 3rd Man Theme

Say Si Si (Para Vigo Me Voy)

Without You (Tres Palabras)

Pedacinhos Do Ceu

The Dancing Mandolin (Chopin Waltz Op. 64, No. 2)

St. Louis Blues

The Guitars Unlimited Play The Roger Miller Hit Songs

 

England Swings

The Guitars Unlimited Play The Roger Miller Hit Songs

Design Records DLP-254

Dang Me

England Swings

Kansas City Star

You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd

The Last Word In Lonesome Is Me

You Didn't Want My Love (In The Summertime)

Engine, Engine #9

King Of The Road

Invitation To The Blues

When Two Worlds Collide

Sagittarius - Sydney Omarr

All About Your Sign

Sagittarius 

November 22 to December 21

Sydney Omarr talks about your Life, Love, Money and Health

Astro Records A111

Erroll Garner Plays Misty

 

Again

Erroll Garner

Plays Misty

Mercury Records MG 206622

1961

From the back cover: In his nightclub appearances in Hollywood's Crescendo or New York's Basin Street East, in a sell-out concert at Carnegie Hall, Erroll Garner has only to play the first few bars of Misty when the crowds burst out in applause. That sensitive ballad, written by Garner and performed in his usual personal style, has become as typically Garner as anything the best-selling pianist has ever done, and understandably it serves as the title tune of his latest Mercury album. Through the years, Misty has turned out to be his most requested number, not only by his millions of admirers but also of his scores of friends in show business. It has been recorded by dozens of other instrumentalists and singers, but never so poignantly as in this session.

If Misty isn't enough to keep the Garner legions happy, little (5 feet, six inches) Erroll has perched himself on the Manhattan Classified telephone directory (as essential to a Garner performance as the in-tune piano) and brewed up nine other delightful numbers to put the luster on a top notch album.

Misty

Exactly Like You

You Are My Sunshine

What Is This Thing Called Love

Frantenality

Again

Where Or When

Love In Bloom

Through A Long And Sleepless Night

That Old Feeling

Deutsche Originalaufnahme Haare/Hair

 

Haare

Originalaufnahme der deutschsprachigen Uraufführung 

Haare/Hair

Eine Werner Schmid und Bertrand Castelli Produktion

Music by Galt McDermot

Lyrics by Gerome Ragni & James Rado

Deutsche Texte: Walter Brandin

Polydor STEREO 249 266

1968

Wassermann (Aquarius)

Donna und Ensemble

Donna (Donna)

Berger und Ensemble

Manchester (Manchester)

Claude und Ensemble

Ich Bin Ein Farbiger

Colored Spade

Hud und Ensemble

Ich Hab Kein... (Ain't Got No...)

Nando, Charlie, Lydia und Ensemble

Luft (Air)

Jeanie, Crissy und Donna

Ich Bin Reich (I Got Life)

Claude und Ensemble

Bergab (Goin' Down)

Berger, Horst und Ensemble

Haar (Hair)

Claude, Berger und Ensemble

Nein Sagt Sich So Leicht

(Easy To Be Hard)

Sheila

Frank Mills (Frank Mills)

Crissy

Hare Krishna (Hare Krishna)

Ensemble

Wo Geh Ich Hin (Where Do I Go?)

Claude und Ensemble

Black Boys (Black Boys)

Renate, Stella, Barbara und Verina

White Boys (White Boys)

Donna, Tommy und Ann

Schweben Im Raum

(Walking In Space)

Donna, Minoru, Renate und Ensemble

Rot, Blau und Weiss

(Don't Put It Down)

Nando und Udo

3500 (3500)

Ensemble

Hat's Der Mensch Nicht Weit Gebracht?

(What A Piece Of Work Is Man?)

Tommy and Crissy

Die Letzten Sterne

(Good Morning Starshine)

Sheila und Ensemble

Finale (We Starve Look und Flesh-Failures)

Claude, Sheila, Donna und Ensemble

Hi-Fi In Focus - Chet Atkins

Yesterdays

Hi-Fi In Focus

Chet Atkins

RCA Victor LPM-1577

1957

From the back cover: The RCA Victor-Cannon Camera Album Cover Contest assignment was disarmingly simple: to represent in a color photograph the abstract idea of high fidelity musical expression in terms of the camera. The attempt was made in 30,000 transparencies submitted by 7,000 entrants in the United States, in Japan and in other countries. The most successful, in the unanimous opinion of the jury, was A. A M. Baunach of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, whose brilliantly conceived winning transparency (reproduced from a 2 1/4 x 2 1/4-inch original) graces the cover. It won because the photographer arrived at a clear-cut idea and worked painstakingly to achieve it. Using the familiar technique of the swinging pendulum with suspended lights of different colors, he tried, and submitted several versions, to communicate an impression – and realized a statement. The result: a stylized human iris, representing camera optics. provides the impact of compelling accent in the dead center of a richly hued whirligig of electronic precision.

The jury was impressed with many other, often delighted, but on test found them wanting for a variety of reasons, one of the most predominant being the photographer's departure from the characteristics of the medium to the imagery of the painter. They just did not have the photographic look and in most cases could have been done as well or better with a brush, the jurors felt. Many that were quite beautiful in their imaginative  display of color shapes, groupings and relationships, regretfully were put aside because they missed the point. Among these were such cliches' as the moving light photographed with a slow shutter and circles of out-of-focus colored light. Others seemed to contrived to be convincing, particularly some table-top arrangements.

Too many were thinking more in terms of decorative effects for their own sake than interpretations of the assigned theme. A sense of literalness, in which musical instruments as subjects played a large part, inhibited the imagination of others. Flower closeups appeared in great abundance, pretty as flower pictures but unrelated for the most part to any aspect of the contest topic.

Lack of real content was the frequent plaint of the judges: not enough vitality and pictorial essence to justify favorable consideration. What they sought was a mood or atmosphere, a background of suggestiveness and association pinpointed by a forceful photographic image that would draw and hold the observer's attention and invite his mind to soar. Not too many fulfilled this requirement.

Was it that the contest theme was too complex, or so simple that many approached it too casually? Certainly, some of the results would seem to point in the latter directly, such as the slides that obviously had no relationship to the theme, slides apparently picked for their excellence simply as commendable color pictures rather than as real attempts to meet the issue. Many undoubtedly would receive high ratings in amateur exhibitions and general contests, but in this particular instance they were simply put of place. Frequently during the judging, the comment was, "Swell picture – too bad he did not try just a little harder."

If real effort was lacking in many, others showed evidence of working too hard on an idea that basically had little pertinence to the theme. Some created unnecessarily complicated image-making problems, handicapping themselves from the start; they did not think in simple enough terms. The elements of pattern, related shapes, and the need for unifying accent, were too little exploited.

In the main, the jury gave its most sympathetic attention to those who apparently had set themselves a goal and experimented industriously to reach it. These worked a basic concept in a series of variations to make it yield a winner. If they failed in relation to the contest, it was not a real failure for the the contest had offered them a opportunity to try their skills in a field – the abstraction with purpose – that is rarely attempted.

A statistical detail of the contest that had some effect on the type of material submitted was that about a fourth of the transparencies were taken on 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 and larger film. Ordinarily, 35mm slides dominate the color contests. The larger camera apparently offered some photographers greater scope for composing and idea building. However, there were many among the (miniature) slides that were also carefully thought out, so that the use of the larger or the smaller camera was perhaps more a matter of individual temperament and preference.

It was interesting to observe that as a national group, the Japanese appeared to be exceptionally gifted in matters of design and fantasy, factors of particular value in the field covered by the contest theme. They had a lightness of touch, a poetic quality that was distinctively their own and was recognized by the judges almost every time they were shown.

Taken as a whole, the contest entries represented a high degree of effort and imagination, on a level seldom achieved in a contest of this character. If most of the entrants missed, it was in the main for lack of experience with abstraction and in working out a photographic idea. In more than a few instances, the transparency was of such outstanding merit that the judges were almost persuaded, though of course this was not possible, to abandon the original goal and to create a new one on the spot, based on the rich material before their eyes. – Jacob Deschin - Camera Editor, The New York Times and author of The Canon System of Photography)

From Billboard - January 6, 1958: The cover steals the show; it's the prize winner (from some 30,000 entries) in the contest staged by RCA Victor with Canon Cameras to catch "the abstract idea of high fidelity" with a lens. As guitarist Chet Atkins' seventh album on this label, it should delight his fans with a versatile collection of numbers ranging from Bach's "Bourree" (on which Atkins' electric guitar sound exactly like harpsichord) to a flamboyant, quick-fingered "Tiger Rag."

El Cumbanchero

Ain't Misbehavin'

Shadow Waltz

Anna

Yesterdays

Portuguese Washerwoman

Tiger Rag

Walk, Don't Run

Tara's Them

Johnson Rag

Lullaby Of The Leaves

Bourree (J. S. Bach)

Avorada (Little Music Box)

Songs For Strings - Richard Jones

 

Orchids In The Moonlight

Songs For Strings

Members of The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Conducted by Richard Jones

Solo Violin: Samuel Thaviu

Capitol Records T419

Released in 1954 as a 10-inch (L419)

Yesterdays

Orchids In The Moonlight

Bambalina

Long Ago (And Far Away)

Easy To Love

Summertime

Some Day

Love Walked In

The Donkey Serenade

Little Girl Blue

Dancing On The Ceiling

You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To

Symphonic Dances - Felix Slatkin

 

Pavane For A Dead Princess

Symphonic Dances

The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra 

Conducted by Felix Slatkin

Dancers on cover: Michel Panaieff, Geraldine Forrey, Vanya Mishvek and Victor Moreno of the "Panaeiff Ballet Concerto."

Capitol Records P8369

1956

From the back cover: Visitors to Southern California always remember the wonderful spell of "Symphonies Under The Star" in famed Hollywood Bowl, the world's largest natural amphitheater. There, in the quiet of a summer evening, great artists have more than thirty sessions performed their public's favorite compositions.

Now, following in that superb tradition, Felix Slatkin leads the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra in some of the most popular selections in its repertoire. This delightful program brings to listeners at home the unique charm of a starlit evening at the Hollywood Bowl.

Waltz (from "Sleeping Beauty")

Galop (from "The Comedians")

Norwegian Dance No. 2

Polka (from "Schwanda")

Pavane For A Dead Princess

Sailor's Dance (from "The Red Poppy")

Faradole (from "Carmen")

Navarraise (from "Le Cid")

Pizzicato Polka (from "Sylvia")

Sabre Dance (from "Gayne")

Bacchanale (from "Samson and Delilah")