Erroll Louis Garner was an American jazz pianist and composer.
Background
Garner was born on June 15, 1923 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of six children of Estella Darcus and Louis Ernest Garner, a factory worker who played guitar and mandolin. One brother, Linton Garner, became a noted pianist and arranger.
Education
Garner was largely self-taught in jazz piano. Although he never learned to read or write music, Garner's technical skill and unique keyboard technique became legendary among both classical and jazz musicians. Garner dropped out of Westinghouse House School in Pittsburgh to play with a local dance orchestra.
Career
Garner began playing when he was very young and began performing professionally on Pittsburgh radio in 1928. He had the uncanny ability, on hearing a piece of music, to play it immediately and with detailed accuracy. In 1939 Garner went to New York City as a piano accompanist. He was inducted into the United States Army in 1942 but received a medical discharge less than a year later. He returned to New York City and worked in several nightclubs. He also substituted for pianist Art Tatum in Tatum's trio with guitarist Tiny Grimes and bass player Slam Stewart and played regularly with the ensemble when it became the Slam Stewart Trio in 1945. After the trio played an engagement at the Strand Theater in New York City in 1946, Garner got his first recording contract, with the Savoy Record Company. It led to his first hit, the ballad "Laura, " which sold more than 500, 000 copies. Garner next played at nightclubs across the country and made several recordings with many record labels. He performed in Paris, France, in 1948, and on his return to the United States, he began playing at the Three Deuces club in New York City. By 1950 his reputation and audiences had grown, and he was the first modern jazz instrumentalist to perform solo in the United States, at the Cleveland Music Hall. In the same year he performed at Town Hall in New York City and signed an exclusive recording contract with Columbia Records. Garner is probably best known to the general public for his composition "Misty, " which he wrote in the early 1950's. In 1957 he was chosen Down Beat magazine's best jazz pianist. The most common style of left-hand piano accompaniment was then the stride technique, exemplified by the playing of Tatum, who initially based his left-hand accompaniment on the stride style perfected by Fats Waller and Earl ("Fatha") Hines. All of the early jazz pianists were influenced by this style, including Garner, but Garner soon abandoned this technique and developed a nonstride approach. He accomplished this by imitating the rhythm accompaniment used in big bands, such as that of guitarist Freddie Green of the Count Basie Orchestra. By the careful use of smooth left-hand keyboard voicing and a driving rhythmic feel, Garner was able to give the illusion in his piano solos that there was more than a single performer. In 1958, Garner signed a contract with the impresario Sol Hurok and began a series of national and international tours. Although Garner had performed at all the major jazz venues, including the club Birdland in New York and the Blackhawk in San Francisco, he now concentrated on recitals and recordings. He recorded with the most influential jazz hornmen, including saxophonists Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and accompanied vocalist Sarah Vaughan. He performed frequently on television shows beginning in the 1950's, appearing on the "Tonight Show, " "Today Show, " and the "Ed Sullivan Show. " Garner remained active until 1975, when he was diagnosed with emphysema; he died of a heart attack in Los Angeles.
Membership
Although Garner's admission to the Pittsburgh music union was initially refused because of his inability to read music, they eventually relented in 1956 and made him an honorary member.