Erroll Garner

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

I wore out this record in the 1950s. Got to see him in 1970 or 71. He couldn't read a note. Jazz by ear. His left hand is the guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH_GF4nw3JI

 

[Dr. Spivey]

Erroll Garner was some of the first jazz I listened to as a yute in the '60s. Been enjoying his music all these years. Something new is revealed with each listening session. And that to me is what makes good jazz timeless.

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Dr Spiffy,

Yes, I just marvel at everything that was going on in that gourd of his. Each had playing in a different time, most tunes starting not at the beginning by laying out the tune and then developing variations but the other way around. So I was always trying to figure out at the beginning what tune those elaborate beginning were leading up to.

How the heck you can have that knowledge is astonishing to me, especially since he didn't read music. There's no explanation for it. It seems to me to be a miracle from God.

hf