I heard a story that someone criticized Erroll because of his inability to read music. He responded by saying,"No one comes to watch me read." Thanks for posting.
His music brought me and my husband together in 1959. Especially Misty, that was our favorite song. We were married fifty years. Misty was so special to us. Thank you, Errol xx
November 1959 was when I met my wife. We married four months later and were together until her death from cancer in 2003. Lots of great music from those years. (some bad, too)
@@user-lb4ew7gr2j Idon’t know man, erroll is born with a certain feeling in his hands that can never be achieved by any experience level whatsoever. It’s just his genetic advantage of mobility.
@@l3gendbaap963 and at one point he couldn't play at all; taking what he said literally a million years is more than enough time as long as you're actively learning
My mom's favorite piano player, Errol Garner. What great control and touch. Mom loved Errol's big, blasting chords and fabulous style. Don't we all. What a gift to America. RIP Errol Garner.
It's similar to me! When I was in my teenage years, my mother told me about Garner. Since then I've never been tired listen to this piano giant! I'm 68 now.
Three interesting facts about Garner: (1) He composed this beautiful creation, Misty. (2) He was only 5 feet 2 inches tall. (3) He never learned to read music and composed Misty using a dictaphone, getting friends to transcribe it later into a musical score.
Not too bad. I'm only a 5'4" male. At 72 I can kinda-sorta do (kinda-sorta) do what the man does. We short guys work harder I guess. Dean Seattle Jazz Alley
When I was 14, my mother bought me Andre Previn and Oscar Peterson albums, then I was hooked on jazz piano. Then followed Erroll and Bill Evans. I have played "Misty" on the piano since I was about 10 years old, about 60 years! "Misty" is one of the greatest love ballads of all time!
@Wes McGee Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter in Play Misty For Me. I put that movie with Hitchcocks's Psycho as two great, disturbing thrillers that hit the big screen. I have yet since either was released, ever to watched them again,lol.
You are so right about 'Misty', but Erroll Garner's splendid introductions sold me on his performance skills from the first few notes - he invites interest by invention.
@@vinyltapelover I was eating at a restaurant in Monterey once wondering why it looked so deja vu familiar and the waiter said "Did you ever see Play Misty for Me?" Classic movie and classic song - so many great versions it's nice to see Garner do it.
How is this man not more worldly recognized. He has such a beautiful and unique style in approaching jazz piano with his left hand swinging rhythm section accompanied by the right hand octave melody lines. Erroll was living proof that jazz is one of the greatest art forms. This video deserves 7 billion views.
I always thought Errol Garner was pretty recognised in music... always mentioned in classical and jazz circles, particularly in his day. I just heard something about him in a doc about the evolution of jazz recently ...
Most good pianist can play without looking at there fingers - most of the time. After a while you just know where the keys are. I know because I play piano also - absolutely no where as great as he can. But as I said, if you practice enough you really get to know the keyboard.
Yes, I’m aware that a brilliant pianist doesn’t have to look at his fingers or the keybord. But Erroll even turns his head often and looks away while playing at high speed.
My mom and dad took me to the Elwood in Windsor,ont in the late 60's to see this man. I was 15/16. I am forever grateful they exposed me to such beautiful music.
We still have music like this because we have ERROLL GARNER’s recordings. There will NEVER be another ERROLL GARNER, or COUNT BASIE, or GEORGE SHEARING, or ART TATUM, or EUBIE BLAKE, or PHIL FLANAGAN. JAZZ MUSIC forever.
At my family's Bar and Restaurant in NYC he was playing in our bar, I sat at the bar listening, sometimes hiding behind the jukebox because I was not allowed in, he played a few nights a week for years and I didnt know what I was hearing...I play Jazz guitar now and boy do I know how lucky I was
@@xxcrump3297 Actually the reason he isn't looking at the piano is because he was blind. He was playing by touch, just like Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder.
Way back when I was a kid in the 1960's, our family was in the boarding area at the Bismarck, North Dakota airport. My Dad, who had been a jazz musician when he was young and was still a jazz lover, recognized Erroll Garner in the waiting area with us. He struck up a conversation with Garner, he and Garner talking jazz for probably 30 minutes. Erroll Garner was gracious and very humble for such a greatly talented man. I've never forgotten that day.
Mr. Garner must have been a kind and generous man, and probably had a wonderful time talking with your dad. What a beautiful memory! Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
That's what happens when you have passion for what you do. At that point, you don't even have to worry about things like that, it just comes naturally.
I've heard Johnny Mathis, Lionel Hampton, & others play their version, now this, I loved them all, but Lionel Hampton, on his 50 anniversary at Carnegie Hall album, is my FAV!🎉
Erroll Garner is the King of improvisation, composing, uttering, executing , arranging anything without previous preparation and without the ability to read music. Total genius. RIP
My mother was a concert and Jazz pianist in London and Kenya, Africa. She had records of Erroll Garner playing and I loved his piano playing the best, when I was only seven years old. As you say he had a distinct style different from any other. My mother went to the Royal Academy but long before that she always loved Jazz and had had a Birthday Present went she was 13 years old. to have a piano lesson in Jazz from Billy Mayrel. She went on to play concerts of Music from Debussy, Ravel, Beethovan, Schuman and Mozart etc but when she came back from a broken marriage from Berlin to London she began playing for Billy with his troupe of lady pianists. When she was at the Royal Academy of Music, she heard that Art Tatum was coming to London. She arranged for her fellow students to come and hear him at a nightclub in London. They all sat down excited and waited. I imagined it to like that scene in "The Red Shoes" when the hero and his fellow composers are waiting to hear the music, not to see the ballet,- and were shushing everybody. Well, Art Tatum came on and began playing but people continued to talk. Suddenly Art got down from the piano and walked off the stage. ThIs was in early 1930s, when people acted differently. My mother Kay Marjoribanks, went to the manager and asked why Mr Tatum had left the stage. The manager said that Art was not used to people talking while he played. My mother then went backstage and talked to Art Tatum. She said that she was so excited to hear him play and that a whole bunch of Royal Academy of Music students were out there waiting to hear from him. People in London did not realise the conventions of America or of good music, especially in a nightclub. (Paris might have been a lot better). She was well off and she had a car and offered to drive him around London which she did. He came back and played and she arranged for him to play a recital at the Royal Academy itself. For an almost blind, self taught pianist, the reception Academy Main Tutor said he was a brilliant and very gifted musician. In London Art and his wife were quite frightened, as they had not ever been abroad, and of course did not know how they would be received. America was extremely racist then but Paris especially, and London were much more accommodating. My mother followed his work all his life and was influenced by him and Billy Mayrel in her own music.
This is a wonderful story about your mother, who sounds like a truly great person and musician. I'm so glad you shared this with all of us. Just one bone to pick: The part about the Academy Main Tutor deeming Art Tatum "brilliant and very gifted" is quite patronizing, not from you, but from them, even if it was the 1950's. It's also a monumental understatement. Art Tatum was one of the greatest pianists and musicians in music history, regardless of genre. Much more than 'brilliant and/or very gifted'! The Tutor, no doubt white, likely was not all that familiar with America's classical music, Jazz, and without realizing it, I'm sure, comes off as a patronizing know-it-all at worst, and Euro-classical snob at best. A more humble assessment would have been something like this: "I am not qualified to comment on what this man is doing from a musical perspective, me being woefully uninformed about the discipline and courage that must be required to play such difficult music as part of Mr. Tatum's chosen art form, but, clearly, America has produced a musician who's piano playing and arranging skills rival the greatest classical pianists on this planet. And America has produced a genre of music with such harmonic, melodic and rhythmic sophistication and feeling, that, I, and am sure many others at the institution must study this music further! Perhaps Art Tatum could provide some instruction in this regard, and we would like to have him back in a professorial capacity, if he would be so inclined at our most gracious request". Think of the possibilities here! It may have even extended Tatum's life, as America clearly was not good for him. He died at just 47 years old. Nonetheless, I'm glad they saw fit to have Tatum perform for them. A wonderful cultural exchange, to be sure. All praise to your mother for making it happen. She was way ahead of her time!
I agree, Cynthia! I ADORE Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, George Shearing ... Bud Powell: ALL HONORED POWER TO HIM FOREVERMORE - but Erroll. Erroll Garner is simply: he is: an orchestra, a whole Big Band (his main influence, he acknowledged): unto himself. His SPIRIT! He NEVER talks! He just does that ADORABLE singing to himself: and he PLAYS. That's ALL, y'all. There will NEVER -- not ever, ever - not EVER - be another on this planet, I don't think: EVER: who can do CLOSE to what he did. Thank ALL the gods for him. Always. THANK YOU, ERROLL! -- PS: Y'ALL: HE can play THIS SONG BETTER THAN ANYONE: Because he made it up. (lol: I almost typed: "He wrote it." But. We know who wrote it. A notator, thank heck, who has saved the chart for us.) HE CREATED IT. Thoe MAGNIFICENT harmonic chord changes and melody. So.
O, WOW. Now I read your whole comment (I'm sorry; I hadn't read the whole thing, before). ART TATUM! That is BEYOND WONDERFUL, what your Mom did for Art that time. HOW PEOPLE COULD CHATTER during ART TATUM playing??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! utterly blows my mind. BLOWS IT. BLOWs it UP. - What a thing, Cynthia. What a thing. THANK you for sharing that. People. I can't understand people. AND GEORGE SHARING. That blind, British MARVEL. HE PLAYED SO GORGEOUSLY, too, eh? Born blind. 1 of the top 10 Jazz pianists in the world, I'd say. BUT NO ONE COULD PLAY LIKE ART TATUM. NO ONE. That Right hand of his. - FLYing over the keys; -- --- !!!!!! - And the Left hand, perfectly keeping up! astounding. ASTOUNDING. -- and Marian McPartland! No slouch, either! Thank you so much for this, - VCH & Midlantic Theatre Co., Newark, NJ, USA
YankeeClippa Yes, he was a musical genius. He wrote it, so that's why he plays it with such style. He knows every perfectly placed note. Another person wrote the lyrics. Together they crerated one of the finest love songs of all time.
If Erroll Garner had had the finest musical education, and learned the intricasies of musical scoring from the best in the country he would not have played any better. His genius rose above learning by rote - he simply mastered the instrument and let his magical emotional depth flow through his fingers onto the right keys. What wonderful interpretations he gave us.
Interpretations? If you are referring to the song "Misty", he didn't interpret it, he wrote it. If that isn't what you meant, then disregard my comment.
Gary Rice interpretations in context would mean his style or his methods of playing here, also what hes playing too. it's not the actual denotation of interpretations here, if it wasn't obvious enough.
An elderly friend told me of her husband who played the piano in Madison square gardens during the war, whilst playing Misty a gentleman stood behind him listening, when finished the gentleman complemented him on his playing in his words 'never have I heard this song played so perfect with such feeling' he thanked the gentleman and asked his name ? the gentleman replied .... Erroll Garner I wrote it sir ! :)
Carlos A. Bonorino his mind was replaced by another mind infinitely talented for jazz and he was using E.G. body .the mind is working as a radio set device ,it is just as you you shift radio station pointer , you start to listen to another kind of music jazz .
Just came here to say I was born in ‘78 & was named after the Clint Eastwood movie Play Misty for Me. For whatever reason I’m just now looking up the song to see who wrote it! What a special man that wrote this beautiful song. ❤I’ve seen the movie numerous times but watching this video made my soul happy! Ty for posting
and if you look closely, you can see drops of sweat running down the sides of his face... of which he seems totally unaware... people in this thread mention "he doesn't look at his hands..." because it's all about TOUCH.. and FEEL ... you can see him tilt his head back, eyes half-closed.. he doesn't need to see anything -- he's feeling it and making us feel it, too :)
I'm thinking it might just be best if we never look at our hands and "just go with it" as the late Deems Tsutakawa said to me a few years ago during his break at Jazz Alley here in Seattle.
He couldn’t read sheet music anyways 😂 he was just that talented that he didn’t rely on sheet music but on some savant level sense of how the piano and harmony works
Dude that line at 2:40 was freakin insane. So much creativity in the line itself, but he puts these beautiful chords behind such a well constructed melody. What a line. 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻🤤🤤🥵😩
'block chords'. Garner was a master at playing the line in octaves in the right hand, with harmony notes filling in the chord. He could use grace notes on the top or even with the thumb and you can hear how gorgeous his tremolo was, splitting the block into two halves. Other pianists used different block chord styles
Reading all the comments below, makes me realize even more how much I love this man's music. I have his CD's in my car and playing on the radio on continuously. For all of you who wish you could hear him live, I must share that I had the privilege of producing a concert for Erroll at Kent State University in 1965. Not only did I get to meet him, but I got to sit at the piano with him for a few minutes before the concert. Then sat front row for almost two hours of pure heavenly enjoyment. He was pure genius on the piano, and the man that taught me how to play the piano, by me having the opportunity to sit in my parents living room and listen to his vinyl over, and over, and over...and I'm still listening to this day. I miss him terribly!
@@yung4evr '"... sick ..." A positive, descriptive, colloquialism used to express great appreciation of a skill or an act. Similar to saying such things as, "out of sight"(old school saying), unmatched, unparalleled, exceptional, genius, daaamn!(an extended version of the exclamation of "damn" but used in an appreciative manner). No shade or disrespect intended. Just having fun but not at your expense. Besides you probably know knew it already.
What a perfect piece! I’m a classical pianist, but love this piece so much that I get goosebumps, and I can feel the deep and inner feature: love this “arpeggio chords” technique…it feels to me like flying on a soft steam of a cloudy night sky
+Ozzy Gonzalez Liszt had some sick "jazz" chords in his pieces. LOL Listen to his sonata in b minor. I guess it's just the way you call it... Classical Era or jazz music... a Genius still remains Genius. I'm one of those who think that we should not separate music but learn from each other and seek for the things we have in common, the similarities. Jazz is just a name, music is much more than that... and I believe it will always remain like this.
+Ozzy Gonzalez don't know about composer of the romantic era but Arturo Toscanini when in NY personally want to know those monsters of piano..and he did it
I've been listening to Erroll Garner for 40+ years, and to me he is a genius. No other pianist has given me more pleasure. The best pianist that ever lived.
Never mind the reading music statement the man is looking up to the stars when he's playing he's not even looking at the keyboard he knows where everything is. Genius .
1963, the Tenderloin in San Francisco, standing outside the Blackhawk, listening to this incredible musician playing to a packed house. Not old enough to get in, but even listening on the street was an amazing experience.
If I had one wish right now; I'd like to go back in time and hear this played in some small club in any city. If I had to hide in a corner or behind a curtain, that would be alright.
Thanks for posting this historical film of the master playing his own piece just as free as a bird. Wonderful to behold. I play from ear mostly. I was getting the bridge wrong. I was playing a different one. But now I think I've got it. Nothing like getting it firsthand from the composer. What a world!
Misty is my all-time favorite. Love this piece and the way Error Garner plays it is so mesmerizing, effortlessly smooth and flowing. Wow, what a pianist maestro and magician at the keys. Kudos and my utmost admiration. I'll never tire listening to your "Misty". Thanks.
Love the style, beauty and majesty of his playing. And yet his sound was so unique and recognizable as only him. Thanks God! Because it never gets old!
Шкода, що така яскрава зірка сяє нам лише з вишини. Заздрю його баченню музики, обожнюю,,Misty,, , слухаю інші композиції і дивуюсь милості Господній і його щедротам для цієї людини. Еррол- маг музики, чародій імпровізаціі.
As a guitarist, I watch this and cry. So many simultaneous notes from one person. Effortless, yet this MUST be difficult for any typical pianist. Can any piano players reaffirm? Because he looks like he is doing some otherworldy playing...with such ease...
lotta practice requried and a certain amount of passion, but by on means impossible or even tremendously diffiuclt, anyone really can do it, but what makes it amazing is the passion not really the difficulty level
@@gerryhowe1086 - that is the genius of a genius - it all exists and is formed in the mind first, whether it is ever written down, or not. Written music simply preserves the creative thoughts - it does not create them. All of Bach's masterpieces existed in his mind before they ever existed on paper. The same with Erroll - same genius, different genre.
My piano teacher played this for me this afternoon. I fell in love with it afterward!! He definitely had a true gift for the instrument. Love this piece!!
I heard a story that someone criticized Erroll because of his inability to read music.
He responded by saying,"No one comes to watch me read."
Thanks for posting.
Excellent - the response of a real musician! 😀
🎯
@@moochincrawdad And he still learned how to read music.
Perfect answer. Errol Garner was a genius.
I'd rather lose my capacity to read music if someone says me that i could play like him.
His music brought me and my husband together in 1959. Especially Misty, that was our favorite song. We were married fifty years. Misty was so special to us. Thank you, Errol xx
Wow!
That’s beautiful!
Awesome
Erroll sits among the top musical geniuses of the world for sure.
November 1959 was when I met my wife. We married four months later and were together until her death from cancer in 2003. Lots of great music from those years. (some bad, too)
Erroll defines "tickling the ivories."
Yes, he does! Well put, Michael.
" ... & ebonies."
@@MsVirginiaHammer That’s what I was going to say!! Clever drawers, you. ☺
If I lived to be a million years old, I still couldn't play the piano like that. Something special going on here.
nah you probably could
@@user-lb4ew7gr2j Idon’t know man, erroll is born with a certain feeling in his hands that can never be achieved by any experience level whatsoever. It’s just his genetic advantage of mobility.
@@l3gendbaap963 and at one point he couldn't play at all; taking what he said literally a million years is more than enough time as long as you're actively learning
who is living a million years?
@@googlem7 nobody needs to, there are already better players
My mom's favorite piano player, Errol Garner. What great control and touch. Mom loved Errol's big, blasting chords and fabulous style. Don't we all. What a gift to America. RIP Errol Garner.
Would anyone believe me ? Been listening since I was 17 to this genius, still love his music ,I am 87 now. will carry on, till death do us part.😊
It's similar to me! When I was in my teenage years, my mother told me about Garner. Since then I've never been tired listen to this piano giant! I'm 68 now.
Same here, but I am only 84. LOL
You doll! Thank you for telling us that bit of your history. Made my day, sir. ❤
Three interesting facts about Garner: (1) He composed this beautiful creation, Misty. (2) He was only 5 feet 2 inches tall. (3) He never learned to read music and composed Misty using a dictaphone, getting friends to transcribe it later into a musical score.
I have heard him say that he came up with Misty in 30 minutes
@@TheBigDaddy51 if that’s true than it only further confirms his genius. God bless him.
What makes his height interesting?
@@xxcrump2640 he looks way taller on video, so knowing he was only 5’2 is kind of interesting I guess
Not too bad. I'm only a 5'4" male. At 72 I can kinda-sorta do (kinda-sorta) do what the man does. We short guys work harder I guess.
Dean
Seattle
Jazz Alley
He's not even lookin at the piano, mad respect to this man.
He just feels the music in his hands and then vibing to his own talent
Tbh once you do a song enough time its easy...but this...this is art
What piano? It's like he's dreaming. I wonder what he could possibly be thinking about while he's playing?
the keys are just an extension of his fingers.
almost as good as stevie wonder
Wow. He's clearly from another planet. Jaw-dropping.
When I was 14, my mother bought me Andre Previn and Oscar Peterson albums, then I was hooked on jazz piano. Then followed Erroll and Bill Evans. I have played "Misty" on the piano since I was about 10 years old, about 60 years! "Misty" is one of the greatest love ballads of all time!
Agree!
It is interesting to note that all three of these pianists you mentioned are naturally born as left-handed.
@Wes McGee Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter in Play Misty For Me. I put that movie with Hitchcocks's Psycho as two great, disturbing thrillers that hit the big screen. I have yet since either was released, ever to watched them again,lol.
You are so right about 'Misty', but Erroll Garner's splendid introductions sold me on his performance skills from the first few notes - he invites interest by invention.
@@vinyltapelover I was eating at a restaurant in Monterey once wondering why it looked so deja vu familiar and the waiter said "Did you ever see Play Misty for Me?" Classic movie and classic song - so many great versions it's nice to see Garner do it.
How is this man not more worldly recognized. He has such a beautiful and unique style in approaching jazz piano with his left hand swinging rhythm section accompanied by the right hand octave melody lines. Erroll was living proof that jazz is one of the greatest art forms. This video deserves 7 billion views.
こまづわんし
Jazz piano? Man, this sound like Debussy or Ravel composition.
Don't be ridiculous... This is racism and alienation.
Ricardo da Mata It is not racism. It is fact. You probably never heard of Debussy or Ravel compositions?
I always thought Errol Garner was pretty recognised in music... always mentioned in classical and jazz circles, particularly in his day. I just heard something about him in a doc about the evolution of jazz recently ...
Nobody, absolutely nobody can play ‘Misty’ as brilliantly as the master genious himself.
.
he's using too many arpeggios
@@Youdidnthearme🤠
Most good pianist can play without looking at there fingers - most of the time. After a while you just know where the keys are. I know because I play piano also - absolutely no where as great as he can. But as I said, if you practice enough you really get to know the keyboard.
Yes, I’m aware that a brilliant pianist doesn’t have to look at his fingers or the keybord. But Erroll even turns his head often and looks away while playing at high speed.
We in the U.S. have been so fortunate to have had all these great Artists, and Erroll Garner is absolutely one of them. RIP
And fortunately you share them with other people...😊
Guess we had a few in Europe as well ^^
My mom and dad took me to the Elwood in Windsor,ont in the late 60's to see this man. I was 15/16. I am forever grateful they exposed me to such beautiful music.
Still gets me to have tears in my eyes what a genius he was!
Stop your weeping and be a man💪
Tears in my eyes too !
It's ok you're a girl😌
Dear God, can we please have music like this again. What genius. Playing be ear.
Actually, composing as he went along. It's his song!
MARAVILLOSO ‼️😄
I discovered this song through Laufey
We still have music like this because we have ERROLL GARNER’s recordings. There will NEVER be another ERROLL GARNER, or COUNT BASIE, or GEORGE SHEARING, or ART TATUM, or EUBIE BLAKE, or PHIL
FLANAGAN.
JAZZ MUSIC forever.
Well, it's not there's no good music around. Jacob Collier springs to mind...
I named my beloved daughter "Misty" after this song
Gotta catch em all
@@sumrandomdude379 bruh..😂😂totally destroyed my romantic mood
Legend has it she grew up to become a great water trainer.
@@thevisitor1012 lmao
@@sumrandomdude379 BAODNWOD
I just discovered Errol and now I am obsessed with genius at piano . So beautiful and mesmerizing. I am sure he is playing in heaven .
Hope u like Joe sample, (the crusaders)another key board great.
At my family's Bar and Restaurant in NYC he was playing in our bar, I sat at the bar listening, sometimes hiding behind the jukebox because I was not allowed in, he played a few nights a week for years and I didnt know what I was hearing...I play Jazz guitar now and boy do I know how lucky I was
it is amazing and great!
OMG really?¡¡¡¡
Free Palestine
Where,'s the Bar?
what bar is that?
This guy is looking everywhere, but the piano. Mindblowing excellence.
He loves his piano as he loves Misty....by heart...
Looking at it only helps the beginners
@@xxcrump3297 Actually the reason he isn't looking at the piano is because he was blind. He was playing by touch, just like Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder.
@@mgconlan what kind of animals made an idiot like you?
@@mgconlan Clearly, you know nothing about history!
Way back when I was a kid in the 1960's, our family was in the boarding area at the Bismarck, North Dakota airport. My Dad, who had been a jazz musician when he was young and was still a jazz lover, recognized Erroll Garner in the waiting area with us. He struck up a conversation with Garner, he and Garner talking jazz for probably 30 minutes. Erroll Garner was gracious and very humble for such a greatly talented man. I've never forgotten that day.
Mr. Garner must have been a kind and generous man, and probably had a wonderful time talking with your dad. What a beautiful memory! Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
There are no hands- there are butterflies flying over the piano.
magic
That's what happens when you have passion for what you do. At that point, you don't even have to worry about things like that, it just comes naturally.
You made me chuckle but you are right 😀
yeah
Ein Zauberer...😍
Even in the cheap seats his music makes me feel like a millionaire.
Now that's a compliment!!
MrLive2win Great comment. That comment had me smiling ear to ear.
That’s the beauty of it
Grazia bene
Most poetic and succinct compliment I've ever read on youtube. Bravo!
I've heard Johnny Mathis, Lionel Hampton, & others play their version, now this, I loved them all, but Lionel Hampton, on his 50 anniversary at Carnegie Hall album, is my FAV!🎉
He plays the piano like a harp. So beautiful
His chords are so beautiful and clean
Erroll Garner is the King of improvisation, composing, uttering, executing , arranging anything without previous preparation and without the ability to read music. Total genius. RIP
He did not read music instead He make the piano read His mind. Genius ! ! !
“He make the piano read his mind.”- I love that! Thank you, sir! ❤
My mother was a concert and Jazz pianist in London and Kenya, Africa. She had records of Erroll Garner playing and I loved his piano playing the best, when I was only seven years old. As you say he had a distinct style different from any other. My mother went to the Royal Academy but long before that she always loved Jazz and had had a Birthday Present went she was 13 years old. to have a piano lesson in Jazz from Billy Mayrel. She went on to play concerts of Music from Debussy, Ravel, Beethovan, Schuman and Mozart etc but when she came back from a broken marriage from Berlin to London she began playing for Billy with his troupe of lady pianists. When she was at the Royal Academy of Music, she heard that Art Tatum was coming to London. She arranged for her fellow students to come and hear him at a nightclub in London. They all sat down excited and waited. I imagined it to like that scene in "The Red Shoes" when the hero and his fellow composers are waiting to hear the music, not to see the ballet,- and were shushing everybody. Well, Art Tatum came on and began playing but people continued to talk. Suddenly Art got down from the piano and walked off the stage. ThIs was in early 1930s, when people acted differently. My mother Kay Marjoribanks, went to the manager and asked why Mr Tatum had left the stage. The manager said that Art was not used to people talking while he played. My mother then went backstage and talked to Art Tatum. She said that she was so excited to hear him play and that a whole bunch of Royal Academy of Music students were out there waiting to hear from him. People in London did not realise the conventions of America or of good music, especially in a nightclub. (Paris might have been a lot better). She was well off and she had a car and offered to drive him around London which she did. He came back and played and she arranged for him to play a recital at the Royal Academy itself. For an almost blind, self taught pianist, the reception Academy Main Tutor said he was a brilliant and very gifted musician. In London Art and his wife were quite frightened, as they had not ever been abroad, and of course did not know how they would be received. America was extremely racist then but Paris especially, and London were much more accommodating. My mother followed his work all his life and was influenced by him and Billy Mayrel in her own music.
This is a wonderful story about your mother, who sounds like a truly great person and musician. I'm so glad you shared this with all of us.
Just one bone to pick: The part about the Academy Main Tutor deeming Art Tatum "brilliant and very gifted" is quite patronizing, not from you, but from them, even if it was the 1950's. It's also a monumental understatement. Art Tatum was one of the greatest pianists and musicians in music history, regardless of genre. Much more than 'brilliant and/or very gifted'! The Tutor, no doubt white, likely was not all that familiar with America's classical music, Jazz, and without realizing it, I'm sure, comes off as a patronizing know-it-all at worst, and Euro-classical snob at best. A more humble assessment would have been something like this: "I am not qualified to comment on what this man is doing from a musical perspective, me being woefully uninformed about the discipline and courage that must be required to play such difficult music as part of Mr. Tatum's chosen art form, but, clearly, America has produced a musician who's piano playing and arranging skills rival the greatest classical pianists on this planet. And America has produced a genre of music with such harmonic, melodic and rhythmic sophistication and feeling, that, I, and am sure many others at the institution must study this music further! Perhaps Art Tatum could provide some instruction in this regard, and we would like to have him back in a professorial capacity, if he would be so inclined at our most gracious request". Think of the possibilities here! It may have even extended Tatum's life, as America clearly was not good for him. He died at just 47 years old.
Nonetheless, I'm glad they saw fit to have Tatum perform for them. A wonderful cultural exchange, to be sure. All praise to your mother for making it happen. She was way ahead of her time!
wow, what an amazing story. thank you for sharing that.
Thanks for sharing this. I enjoyed reading.
I agree, Cynthia! I ADORE Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, George Shearing ... Bud Powell: ALL HONORED POWER TO HIM FOREVERMORE - but Erroll. Erroll Garner is simply: he is: an orchestra, a whole Big Band (his main influence, he acknowledged): unto himself. His SPIRIT! He NEVER talks! He just does that ADORABLE singing to himself: and he PLAYS. That's ALL, y'all. There will NEVER -- not ever, ever - not EVER - be another on this planet, I don't think: EVER: who can do CLOSE to what he did. Thank ALL the gods for him. Always. THANK YOU, ERROLL! -- PS: Y'ALL: HE can play THIS SONG BETTER THAN ANYONE: Because he made it up. (lol: I almost typed: "He wrote it." But. We know who wrote it. A notator, thank heck, who has saved the chart for us.) HE CREATED IT. Thoe MAGNIFICENT harmonic chord changes and melody. So.
O, WOW. Now I read your whole comment (I'm sorry; I hadn't read the whole thing, before). ART TATUM! That is BEYOND WONDERFUL, what your Mom did for Art that time. HOW PEOPLE COULD CHATTER during ART TATUM playing??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! utterly blows my mind. BLOWS IT. BLOWs it UP. - What a thing, Cynthia. What a thing. THANK you for sharing that. People. I can't understand people. AND GEORGE SHARING. That blind, British MARVEL. HE PLAYED SO GORGEOUSLY, too, eh? Born blind. 1 of the top 10 Jazz pianists in the world, I'd say. BUT NO ONE COULD PLAY LIKE ART TATUM. NO ONE. That Right hand of his. - FLYing over the keys; -- --- !!!!!! - And the Left hand, perfectly keeping up! astounding. ASTOUNDING. -- and Marian McPartland! No slouch, either! Thank you so much for this, - VCH & Midlantic Theatre Co., Newark, NJ, USA
This genius wrote the song and plays it like no other. Beautiful.
+sunlitweb Wow
YankeeClippa Yes, he was a musical genius. He wrote it, so that's why he plays it with such style. He knows every perfectly placed note. Another person wrote the lyrics. Together they crerated one of the finest love songs of all time.
+sunlitweb apparently on a train journey to a gig.genius for sure.many thanks.
Hello friends, i hope that you like this Misty Version in piano ruclips.net/video/Qp-dicJUtmY/видео.html
Here after being introduced by adam neely. I can't believe this is the first time i'm hearing this master play.
same xd
better late than never :D
I heard of Erroll 7 years ago, and I always find myself coming back. 😎 .. so I’ll see you soon. Lol
No kidding . Simply fabulous!! What a gifted man!!
Be sure to check out "35 minutes of Erroll Garner" also on YT. Has a lot of his jauntier style which is equally great.
The most flowing and fulfilling version by any pianist, effortless.
If Erroll Garner had had the finest musical education, and learned the intricasies of musical scoring from the best in the country he would not have played any better. His genius rose above learning by rote - he simply mastered the instrument and let his magical emotional depth flow through his fingers onto the right keys. What wonderful interpretations he gave us.
Interpretations? If you are referring to the song "Misty", he didn't interpret it, he wrote it. If that isn't what you meant, then disregard my comment.
Gary Rice interpretations in context would mean his style or his methods of playing here, also what hes playing too. it's not the actual denotation of interpretations here, if it wasn't obvious enough.
+John Perks Just like Wes Montgomery.
+J'Dinklage Morgoone Yes, you've certainly had it, mate. Big time.
+EgyptianMinor Yes, and many others, chum.
its like he's in his own world. its honestly so mesmerising to just watch him play
Bob acri , sleep wey
An elderly friend told me of her husband who played the piano in Madison square gardens during the war, whilst playing Misty a gentleman stood behind him listening, when finished the gentleman complemented him on his playing in his words 'never have I heard this song played so perfect with such feeling' he thanked the gentleman and asked his name ? the gentleman replied .... Erroll Garner I wrote it sir ! :)
The greatest possible compliment.
"The war" could not have been WW2, because Misty was composed in 1954.
Peggy Moore ko
There has always been war,
Bravo Dear Mr Gardner, i fell in love to this song
Peggy Moore Wow what a story!
Peggy Moore WOW! You just gave me goosebumps all over! What a wonderful compliment! Thank you!
Marvelous! His hands flies over the keyboard.
Carlos A. Bonorino his mind was replaced by another mind infinitely talented for jazz and he was using E.G. body .the mind is working as a radio set device ,it is just as you you shift radio station pointer , you start to listen to another kind of music jazz .
FENOMENALE!!!!!!!!
Just came here to say I was born in ‘78 & was named after the Clint Eastwood movie Play Misty for Me. For whatever reason I’m just now looking up the song to see who wrote it! What a special man that wrote this beautiful song. ❤I’ve seen the movie numerous times but watching this video made my soul happy! Ty for posting
Thanks for that. I didn't know he created Misty. I thought he just did this great performance of it. That makes him even more amazing.
A lesson in humility
This is luxury, provided by a king.
And he doesn't make any mistakes. The second important thing. Technical possibilities of his fingers simply amazes me.
Jack ....Thanks!!
and if you look closely, you can see drops of sweat running down the sides of his face... of which he seems totally unaware... people in this thread mention "he doesn't look at his hands..." because it's all about TOUCH.. and FEEL ... you can see him tilt his head back, eyes half-closed.. he doesn't need to see anything -- he's feeling it and making us feel it, too :)
Fantastic!
Errol @
Musique luxueuse , magique , un immense standard du jazz......quant à Erroll.....c'est un maître !
Those hands are absolutely magical! Errol becomes part of the piano.
his connection to the piano is so unquestionable-you can't see any kind of separation or hesitation.. just unbelievable!
His compsition and his playing ...both amazing and beautiful..what a talent
Simply stunning!!!
Phenomenal! Erroll was my dad's favorite pianist and I remember his records in the 60's. Self taught, just amazing.
Errol self taught thats inspiring...
That finger roll he did with the left hand @ 1:06 was SIICK! He did it very quick but it adds such a nice sound and layers to this masterpiece.
Yes! It's called an arpeggio and it's absolutely beautiful.
can't believe i only discovered him now! ❤
He's so underrated. You know a man's got talent when he doesn't have to look at the keys or sheet.
I'm thinking it might just be best if we never look at our hands and "just go with it" as the late Deems Tsutakawa said to me a few years ago during his break at Jazz Alley here in Seattle.
He couldn’t read sheet music anyways 😂 he was just that talented that he didn’t rely on sheet music but on some savant level sense of how the piano and harmony works
Hello friends, i hope that you like this Misty Version in piano ruclips.net/video/Qp-dicJUtmY/видео.html
Who's underrating his talent other then you? Another thing i must say looking at the instrument that you play doesn't make you master it any better.
@@konarkvinod2801 Erroll Garner once said people don't come to see me read music.
His hair is WAY COOL, and his playing is beyond compare! What a gifted artist.
Thinking the same here. Dapper Dan, Old Spice or Clubman pomade? 👌
Here! Another artist before my time. But, I still can procure some of this men's musical gems!
Dude that line at 2:40 was freakin insane. So much creativity in the line itself, but he puts these beautiful chords behind such a well constructed melody. What a line. 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻🤤🤤🥵😩
Hello friends, i hope that you like this Misty Version in piano ruclips.net/video/Qp-dicJUtmY/видео.html
the brutality in that line is insane like how am I supposed to do that too?
@@opp0site practice
Hahah he did the end of the lick at the end of the line (D# to E to C to D).
'block chords'. Garner was a master at playing the line in octaves in the right hand, with harmony notes filling in the chord. He could use grace notes on the top or even with the thumb and you can hear how gorgeous his tremolo was, splitting the block into two halves. Other pianists used different block chord styles
Reading all the comments below, makes me realize even more how much I love this man's music. I have his CD's in my car and playing on the radio on continuously. For all of you who wish you could hear him live, I must share that I had the privilege of producing a concert for Erroll at Kent State University in 1965. Not only did I get to meet him, but I got to sit at the piano with him for a few minutes before the concert. Then sat front row for almost two hours of pure heavenly enjoyment. He was pure genius on the piano, and the man that taught me how to play the piano, by me having the opportunity to sit in my parents living room and listen to his vinyl over, and over, and over...and I'm still listening to this day. I miss him terribly!
Please sir share that masterpiece with us. Thanks in advance
One of the greatest jazz pianists ever, and it's his own composition, brassy, and brilliant.
Amazing how I just happened to see a movie called “Play Misty fir me” with Clint Eastwood and learned about this extraordinary musician.
If you ever get someone calling you and say, Play Misty For Me, run for the hills!
WHEN THE GREAT ERROLL PLAYS--THERE IS ONE THING FOR SURE--ONE HAND A'INT WORRIED ABOUT WHAT THE OTHER HAND IS DOING!
Moonlightin vermont
Moonlight inVermont by erroll garner
He is such a gift! I just love listening to him. I can have a bad day and when I hear him play, everything is a little better.
Music is the universal language of mankind...with that said, Erroll your playing never gets old!
Sick how easy he makes that look!
Favoloso!!!!
If you look at his pink fingers and slow it down.. it makes sense .
You don't think of which note comes next, but play like you were a wave in the ocean.
Whats sick about it??
@@yung4evr '"... sick ..." A positive, descriptive, colloquialism used to express great appreciation of a skill or an act. Similar to saying such things as, "out of sight"(old school saying), unmatched, unparalleled, exceptional, genius, daaamn!(an extended version of the exclamation of "damn" but used in an appreciative manner). No shade or disrespect intended. Just having fun but not at your expense. Besides you probably know knew it already.
What a perfect piece! I’m a classical pianist, but love this piece so much that I get goosebumps, and I can feel the deep and inner feature: love this “arpeggio chords” technique…it feels to me like flying on a soft steam of a cloudy night sky
Wonderful piece about him in today’s Wall Street Journal brought me here. Amazing musician.
Same here. Wonderful article. Wonderful musician.
Spectacular. Much respect to Erroll Garner. The introduction in this version is phenomenal!!! An incredible performance indeed.
Just absolutely incredible what a gift he had
I couldn't have made it without this most beautiful song ever. You were/are heavenly Erroll.
I've always wondered what the great composers of the Romantic Era would've think of jazz pianists.
+Ozzy Gonzalez Liszt had some sick "jazz" chords in his pieces. LOL Listen to his sonata in b minor.
I guess it's just the way you call it... Classical Era or jazz music... a Genius still remains Genius. I'm one of those who think that we should not separate music but learn from each other and seek for the things we have in common, the similarities. Jazz is just a name, music is much more than that... and I believe it will always remain like this.
+Profiledek Amazingly well said. I agree with you completely.
Ana Špan Thank you :) That really means a lot to me, as English is not my first language - I'm glad to "hear" that :)
+Ozzy Gonzalez don't know about composer of the romantic era but Arturo Toscanini when in NY personally want to know those monsters of piano..and he did it
+Jim FitzGerald illiteracy or sarcasm ?
JUST BEAUTIFUL MAKES ME FEEL GREAT
Thank GOD that we have these wonderful recordings. may they survive forever.
Fortunate to have seen him in concert when I was 17 or 18. Beautiful music, then and now....
20代の男です 大好きな土岐麻子さんという歌手が ジャズのアルバムでミスティを歌ってて本家のこちらにたどりつきました。痺れました！ ガーナさん 今年で生誕100年なんですね。大きな身体のピアニストがこんなにも甘く切ないメロディを作り上げるなんて なんていうかギャップ萌えしましたし… 男の僕も惚れます！最高ですね！
I've never been so in awe of someone's talent as I am of Mr. Garner's. My all time favorite piano player by far!
I've been listening to Erroll Garner for 40+ years, and to me he is a genius.
No other pianist has given me more pleasure.
The best pianist that ever lived.
Never mind the reading music statement the man is looking up to the stars when he's playing he's not even looking at the keyboard he knows where everything is. Genius .
He's so happy
Hello friends, i hope that you like this Misty Version in piano ruclips.net/video/Qp-dicJUtmY/видео.html
The best pianist the world has ever seen....period!
Hello friends, i hope that you like this Misty Version in piano ruclips.net/video/Qp-dicJUtmY/видео.html
This is an example of mastering music to such a degree that you can have fun with it at any time any place any tempo ect.
WOW this MISTY is outstanding. BRAVO Errol. The best ....
In my youth we only had radios to listen to US music in Cabo Verde.
I just became a huge Erroll Garner fan!!! this is most superb!!!!
It is like his fingers are dancing over the keyboard. Fantastic, as always...
It's wonderful being able to watch this superb magical musician play his creation.
This cat was super outstanding. He made it look like child's play. I love the groove he carried and the smile on his face. What a performer !!
You can see on his face how he enjoyed playing, hearing, people.
1963, the Tenderloin in San Francisco, standing outside the Blackhawk, listening to this incredible musician playing to a packed house. Not old enough to get in, but even listening on the street was an amazing experience.
Those chords are so beautiful. Just blissful 🥰
If I had one wish right now; I'd like to go back in time and hear this played in some small club in any city. If I had to hide in a corner or behind a curtain, that would be alright.
I'm only 14, and I appreciate music like this :), I'd love for there to be a place where they played music from over a decade ago
Fantastisch heerlijke muziek.
louise verwaaijen Ja, was er hat gesagt!
m3tafunj You doubt me?
why would you have to hide?
He sounds like a one man orchestra. This is breath taking in its scope and scale.
Hello friends, i hope that you like this Misty Version in piano ruclips.net/video/Qp-dicJUtmY/видео.html
What a performance. There is a casual gracefulness to the way he plays the keys.
After celebrating 75 years at the piano, I have to say that EG is a keyboard genius - such technique, such imagination!
Such a gift from God!!!!
A beautiful song, played as only Errol could. His marvellous CD Concert by the Sea has moved me deeply for more than sixty years.
Einfach genial, der Pianist und der Song! Thank you, Errol! Grüße aus Stralsund, Germany
Thanks for posting this historical film of the master playing his own piece just as free as a bird. Wonderful to behold.
I play from ear mostly. I was getting the bridge wrong. I was playing a different one. But now I think I've got it. Nothing like getting it firsthand from the composer. What a world!
This is MIND-BLOWING . Every time.
So incredible! To be able to watch and hear this magic!
Misty is my all-time favorite. Love this piece and the way Error Garner plays it is so mesmerizing, effortlessly smooth and flowing. Wow, what a pianist maestro and magician at the keys. Kudos and my utmost admiration. I'll never tire listening to your "Misty". Thanks.
So Gooood. I haven't heard it for many years. I heard a version where Errol grunts some while he is playing, loved it.
Earl Garner and Oscar Peterson were two amazing pianists in our lifetime... Oh MY, my, MY❤
Love the style, beauty and majesty of his playing. And yet his sound was so unique and recognizable as only him.
Thanks God! Because it never gets old!
The genius of Errol Garner defies the imagination - simply stunning!
Шкода, що така яскрава зірка сяє нам лише з вишини. Заздрю його баченню музики, обожнюю,,Misty,, , слухаю інші композиції і дивуюсь милості Господній і його щедротам для цієї людини. Еррол- маг музики, чародій імпровізаціі.
God his feel is so crazy, everything is so intentional. So beautiful it makes me want to cry.
Erroll truly plays the piano like a percussion instrument. blows my mind every time.
buzz kirschner The piano IS a percussion instrument.
i always tell my students that the piano IS a percussion instrument, but even more.
Doug Delaney You're telling the TRUTH to them!
まるでMAGIC❤️
素晴らしい演奏テクニックに聴き惚れました💓💓💓
The hands of angel !!! Making it look so easy yet complex....that was Errol Gamer.
AWESOME !!! written produced directed and played by Errol ~ RIP
As a guitarist, I watch this and cry. So many simultaneous notes from one person. Effortless, yet this MUST be difficult for any typical pianist. Can any piano players reaffirm? Because he looks like he is doing some otherworldy playing...with such ease...
Yeah its absolutely insane
lotta practice requried and a certain amount of passion, but by on means impossible or even tremendously diffiuclt, anyone really can do it, but what makes it amazing is the passion not really the difficulty level
to me what makes it so incredibly difficult in practice is that he wrote it himself, without ever learning to read music. absolutely unreal artist
@@gerryhowe1086 - that is the genius of a genius - it all exists and is formed in the mind first, whether it is ever written down, or not. Written music simply preserves the creative thoughts - it does not create them. All of Bach's masterpieces existed in his mind before they ever existed on paper. The same with Erroll - same genius, different genre.
Esta que pe'ano dos la excelente del sol cerebro
My piano teacher played this for me this afternoon. I fell in love with it afterward!! He definitely had a true gift for the instrument. Love this piece!!