Spring Is Here and Lover – 1964
Erroll Garner
The unique pianist at the peak of his powers
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Erroll Garner (1921-77) was a one-of-a-kind performer, a brilliant pianist with his own orchestral sound who enjoyed emulating the Count Basie Orchestra at times.
Garner, who never learned to read music, considered Art Tatum and Earl Hines to be inspirations along with the Basie band yet had his own very original and immediately distinctive sound by the mid-1940s.
One could always hear the melody in Garner’s accessible playing except during his frequently outlandish introductions; check out how he starts “Lover.”
From 1964 with quiet support from bassist Eddie Calhoun and drummer Kelly Martin, Garner takes “Spring Is Here,” into some unusual directions (including quoting “It Might As Well Be Spring”) before romping on “Lover,” all of it played with joy.
-Scott Yanow
Ella Fitzgerald