ERROLL GARNER - Nightconcert
Mack Avenue Records
Erroll Garner: piano; Eddie Calhoun: bass; Kelly Martin: drums.
Recorded 7th November 1964
One ‘lost’ script from Stanley Kubrick has just been discovered. Last month new ‘lost’ material from John Coltrane was unearthed. Now we have this ‘lost’ album from Erroll Garner. Cynicism apart, this one is really good news, it was recorded as part of a European tour in 1964 before an audience of 2000 in the Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. This is pure Garner: no spiritual messages, no pompous lectures on audience behaviour, no attempt to ingratiate himself with a younger audience; this is two hours of pure piano pleasure. There is always the jibe that Garner makes everything sound the same. He does but then so did Monk, Peterson and Tatum. This is a great slab of Garner confectionery with superb improvisation on standards: the antidote to many in jazz who are taking themselves too seriously.
Probably as good as ‘Concert By The Sea’, and certainly better recorded, you can hear an inventive mind discovering new things in pieces that he has played often before. Nobody has ever mythologised Erroll Garner. I have not enjoyed anything so much since my last espresso in Amalfi.
Garner lacks sentimentality. In ‘My Funny Valentine’ Garner avoids the usual angst-ridden interpretation and actually does make it funny! How often do you smile when listening to music? Here, he invents a slight melodic figure that he returns to after keeping the rhythm section and his audience guessing. He keeps the guessing with rococo and baroque imaginings throughout the night with those wild intros that seem to have little to do with the piece that he is about to play. When he finishes and leaps into the piece, he relieves the tension, the audience applauds and off it all rolls. One of the incidental pleasures of listening to Garner is that because he improvises on standards you can listen to how he shapes his improvisations and embellishments.
Some tunes do not gain from being garnerised: ‘Over The Rainbow’ does not respond well to treatment.
There are few surprises here; there is one new tune, not particularly memorable. What this album does is give a reminder that Garner was a great jazz artist who is true to himself, is entertaining and full of the joy of jazz.
My one caveat about the recording is that it is slightly over bright and it gives the piano an edge that is, occasionally, unpleasant.
The album is available in both CD and double-vinyl and is beautifully packaged with artwork and photographs from the Erroll Garner archive – housed at the University of Pittsburgh. The informative notes by Nate Chinen and Robin D. G. Kelley. give useful insights.
My tips: if you enjoy jazz that does not take itself too seriously, buy this. If you have an attic or a cellar, start a search, there is no knowing what ‘lost’ artefacts you might find.
P.S. The BBC Jazz 625 broadcast of the Garner trio which is available on YouTube was recorded a few days earlier than the Amsterdam concert.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
Mack Avenue Records
Erroll Garner: piano; Eddie Calhoun: bass; Kelly Martin: drums.
Recorded 7th November 1964
One ‘lost’ script from Stanley Kubrick has just been discovered. Last month new ‘lost’ material from John Coltrane was unearthed. Now we have this ‘lost’ album from Erroll Garner. Cynicism apart, this one is really good news, it was recorded as part of a European tour in 1964 before an audience of 2000 in the Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. This is pure Garner: no spiritual messages, no pompous lectures on audience behaviour, no attempt to ingratiate himself with a younger audience; this is two hours of pure piano pleasure. There is always the jibe that Garner makes everything sound the same. He does but then so did Monk, Peterson and Tatum. This is a great slab of Garner confectionery with superb improvisation on standards: the antidote to many in jazz who are taking themselves too seriously.
Probably as good as ‘Concert By The Sea’, and certainly better recorded, you can hear an inventive mind discovering new things in pieces that he has played often before. Nobody has ever mythologised Erroll Garner. I have not enjoyed anything so much since my last espresso in Amalfi.
Garner lacks sentimentality. In ‘My Funny Valentine’ Garner avoids the usual angst-ridden interpretation and actually does make it funny! How often do you smile when listening to music? Here, he invents a slight melodic figure that he returns to after keeping the rhythm section and his audience guessing. He keeps the guessing with rococo and baroque imaginings throughout the night with those wild intros that seem to have little to do with the piece that he is about to play. When he finishes and leaps into the piece, he relieves the tension, the audience applauds and off it all rolls. One of the incidental pleasures of listening to Garner is that because he improvises on standards you can listen to how he shapes his improvisations and embellishments.
Some tunes do not gain from being garnerised: ‘Over The Rainbow’ does not respond well to treatment.
There are few surprises here; there is one new tune, not particularly memorable. What this album does is give a reminder that Garner was a great jazz artist who is true to himself, is entertaining and full of the joy of jazz.
My one caveat about the recording is that it is slightly over bright and it gives the piano an edge that is, occasionally, unpleasant.
The album is available in both CD and double-vinyl and is beautifully packaged with artwork and photographs from the Erroll Garner archive – housed at the University of Pittsburgh. The informative notes by Nate Chinen and Robin D. G. Kelley. give useful insights.
My tips: if you enjoy jazz that does not take itself too seriously, buy this. If you have an attic or a cellar, start a search, there is no knowing what ‘lost’ artefacts you might find.
P.S. The BBC Jazz 625 broadcast of the Garner trio which is available on YouTube was recorded a few days earlier than the Amsterdam concert.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
