Erroll Garner Biography - A Very Quick Guide

American jazz pianist and composer Erroll Garner (1921–1977) was a prolific composer, celebrated concert artist and major recording figure. Entirely self-taught, he began playing at the age of three and was performing professionally by seven. During his lifetime he became one of the world’s most recognisable and influential pianists, developing a highly personal style often compared with Art Tatum, Fats Waller and, in its harmonic colour, Claude Debussy.

Garner recorded for more than forty labels, earned several Grammy nominations and produced one of jazz’s best-selling albums, Concert by the Sea. His catalogue includes nearly two hundred works, most famously “Misty,” which ASCAP ranked among the top twenty songs of the 20th century. He also wrote music for ballet, film, television and orchestra, and appeared on major television programmes such as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show and The Dick Cavett Show. His career stretched from early jobs on Allegheny riverboats to leading performances in premier concert halls worldwide.

Since his death in 1977, Garner’s musical legacy has grown steadily. Through the work of Octave Music—the successor to the company he founded with manager Martha Glaser—new releases, multimedia projects and international partnerships have introduced his work to a new generation of listeners.