Is it time for my solo?

Yes.

I'm Adam Manus, and Peter Martin is out on the jazz cruise this week, so I am

Roland Solo here at the You'll Hear at podcast. Welcome in, everybody. This podcast is

brought to you by Open Studio. Go to Open Studiojadjazz.com for all your jazz lesson needs.

Today, we're talking about a pianist that has become very near and dear to my heart.

I am criminally late to the game with the great Errol Garner, but I find him endlessly fascinating.

And Errol Garner has made his way into a regular rotation of music that I listen to with pure joy.

And I think it's because of just the sheer force of swing that Errol Garner plays with.

He's got an incredibly sophisticated touch on the piano.

He sits super high. You'll see here we're about to watch a video in 1964.

He sits incredibly high at the piano and to where his elbows are above the keyboard.

It looks kind of funky, but it works for him, especially with his style.

And his style is what I really am the most interested in.

I think having grown up in the era of music that I've

grown up in, bebop is like this critical, crucial tool for all of us to learn how to play

music. And Earl Garner doesn't have a ton of bebop in his playing. He was about the same age as

Charlie Parker, but has an incredibly different

approach to a lot of his quote-unquote jazz contemporaries. And some people at the time didn't

even consider him, you know, a jazz pianist. He's much more of a swing pianist and an entertainer,

it seems, than a lot of his contemporaries. But his music is still incredibly deep to me anyway.

And I think it just goes to show you the power of swing.

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