There is not much to add to the voluminous musical reviews that were written about Erroll Garner, one of the most popular Jazz pianist of the last century, nor to his masterpiece live album, Concert by The Sea. The rarest of all combinations - virtuosity, creativity AND an easily accessible artistic language - is what gave Garner the ability to reach such massive audiences few other Jazz artists ever could. What I always loved about him, which I know many others have as well, is his warm and joyous sound at the piano - a one man Jazz big band with strong, driving swing that you can’t help but move to.

As far as transcriptions go, Garner is a bit of an anomaly. One one hand, many Jazz pianists write him off as too “predictable”, imitating his style by playing quarter note chords in the left hand and block chords or octave melodies in the right hand. One the other, trying to play exactly like him would be a formidable task indeed, and a closer look at his playing will reveal much more than the few shallow “stock” playing techniques. The below transcription from one of my favorite, and one of his most iconic renditions of Cole Porter’s “It’s Alright With Me”, demonstrates just how fluid and rich his stream of ideas is, and how subtle is his rhythmic idiom between the two hands. This is one of the only transcriptions I’ve had to record slower than the original tempo - I just can’t pull it off at full speed! My main takeaway is definitely the way Garner uses his left pinky as a sort of snare drum, slamming it on various offbeats to create accents and a cross rhythm with the right hand playing the melody. This was my main discovery as to the secret of his sound - no other piano player has this particular rhythmic vehicle, and it is a big part of his driving swing and strumming-like accompaniment.

Enjoy, good luck, and apologies for the out-of-tune piano - It’s late winter and my piano got cold! 🥶