A Deconstruction of Erroll Garner’s Style

A Deconstruction of Erroll Garner’s Style

Erroll Garner is one of my favourite jazz pianists of all time.  I’m most impressed with his ability to respect the melody while expressing himself creatively in the embellishments. 

Dick Hyman presents his analysis of Garner’s style in his Century of Jazz Piano CD-Rom – Encyclopedia (1999).  Hyman succeeds in explaining the basics of Garners style inasmuch as he reveals correctly describes the elements.  However, Garner took those elements and combined them in ways which were hard to classify and uniquely Garner.

Here is Garner playing April in Paris from Concert By the Sea – perhaps the best selling jazz album of all time, certainly one of the most precious.

Here is Hymans analysis of Garner’s style:

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