Erroll Garner – Classic Albums Collection (4 CDS) ENLIGHTENMENT

Esteemed American jazz pianist and composer Erroll Garner, known for his early swing playing, his ballads – his best-known composition, ”Misty”, has become a jazz standard – and later his experimentations, particularly his re-interpretations of musical theater scores, was, in the words of Allmusic’s Scott Yarrow; ”…one of the most distinctive of all pianists” and, ”a brilliant virtuoso.” Garner received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at the height of his career in 1960. Born in 1923 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to an African-American family, the infant was a twin with brother Ernest. Erroll began learning piano at the age of three, while his elder siblings were taught by one Miss Bowman, and from an early age Erroll would sit and play anything she had demonstrated, He attended George Westinghouse High School, as did fellow pianists Billy Strayhorn and Ahmad Jamal. Garner was self-taught and remained an ”ear player” all his life – he never learned to read music. At the age of seven, he began appearing on radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh with a group called the Candy Kids, and by 11, he was playing on the Allegheny riverboats. At age 14 in 1937, he formed a duo with local saxophonist Leroy Brown. This collection brings together eight original albums from the more contemporary period in the career of Erroll Garner, recorded between 1955 and 1961 for the Columbia Records label. An era which, according to fans and critics alike, witnessed much of his most interesting work, this set functions as an ideal starting point for those new to Garner’s music, and a welcome reminder of the man’s genius for the already well versed.

Disc: 1
1. I’ll Never Smile Again
2. Then You’ve Never Been Blue
3. Talk of the Town
4. Solitaire
5. A Cottage For Sale
6. That Old Feeling
7. Over The Rainbow
8. The Way You Look Tonight
9. Turquoise
10. Pavanne
11. Impressions
12. Confessin’
13. I May Be Wrong
14. Skylark
15. Summertime
16. Flamingo
17. Reverie
18. Blue and Sentimental
19. I Can’t Give You Anything But Love

Disc: 2
1. I’ll Remember April
2. Teach Me Tonight
3. Mambo Carmel
4. Autumn Leaves
5. It’s All Right With Me
6. Red Top
7. April In Paris
8. They Can’t Take That Away From Me
9. How Could You Do A Thing Like That To Me
10. Where Or When
11. Erroll’s Theme
12. Girl Of My Dreams
13. But Not For Me
14. Passing Through
15. Time On My Hands
16. Alexander’s Ragtime Band
17. Full Moon And Empty Arms
18. Mambo 207
19. The Way Back Blues
20. Ol’ Man River

Disc: 3
1. Moonglow
2. Sophisticated Lady
3. Robbin’s Nest
4. Creme De Menthe
5. Humoresque
6. How High The Moon
7. Fancy
8. Groovy – Day
9. The Man I Love
10. Misty
11. Exactly Like You
12. You Are My Sunshine
13. What Is This Thing Called Love
14. Frantonality
15. Again
16. Where Or When
17. Love In Bloom
18. Through A Long And Sleepless Night
19. That Old Feeling

Disc: 4
1. The Way You Look Tonight
2. Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe
3. Sweet And Lovely
4. Mack The Knife
5. Lover Come Back
6. Misty
7. Dancing Tambourine
8. Thanks For The Memory
9. Just One Of Those Things
10. I’m Gettin’ Sentimental Over You
11. Blue Lou
12. Come Rain Or Come Shine
13. The Lady Is A Tramp
14. Sweet Lorraine
15. Dreamstreet
16. Mambo Gotham
17. Oklahoma Medley