Linton Garner RIP
Ron Hearn
Garner, passed earlier today in Vancouver, of a heart attack following a
fall in his apartment. He was 87. Linton has been a resident of Vancouver
for many years, playing in recent years at Rossini's restaurant here.
ron
Binky
Marke Andrews
Vancouver Sun
Friday, March 07, 2003
Jazz pianist Linton Garner, a mainstay on the Vancouver music scene
for the past 30 years, died Thursday of heart failure. He was 87.
Garner was born March 25, 1915, in Thomasville, N.C. He grew up in
Pittsburgh, the second of six children born to musical parents. His
younger brother, Errol Garner, became famous, and Linton's piano
playing was forever being compared to that of his more famous sibling.
Garner played trumpet in his Pittsburgh high school's orchestra. The
pianist in the same school band was Billy Strayhorn, who went on to
fame as Duke Ellington's chief songwriter.
At age 14, Garner played trumpet professionally, but, having cracked
three front teeth, switched to piano the following year. He formed a
band that toured the U.S. northeast, and was such a popular bandleader
that his musicians turned down an offer to join Fletcher Henderson's
band unless Garner was hired as well.
Henderson agreed, surrendering his piano chair to Garner and
relegating himself to the role of conductor.
Garner toured with vocalist Billy Eckstine, and played with Sarah
Vaughan, Fats Navarro, Della Reese and Miles Davis. He also performed
with rhythm-and-blues stars Aretha Franklin, Arthur Prysock, Bobby
Blue Bland, Smokey Robinson, Clyde McPhatter and the Coasters.
In 1963, he began working at a club in Montreal, moving his family
there the following year. In a 1997 interview, Garner told me: "I
wanted my children to experience a different culture, and they could
learn French. Montreal was a great city for black people."
While in Montreal, Garner befriended drummer Arni May, commuting from
Montreal to play with May's band in Ottawa. May, who runs Rossini's
restaurants in Vancouver, encouraged him to move to the west coast in
1974.
"He lived with us for two years when he moved here, and he was like a
father to us," said May, who established Garner as house pianist at
his Rossini's Kitsilano location.
"He's been a big influence on me. He taught me to accept people for
what they are. He taught me to reason with people. He didn't have a
bad word to say about anyone, even people who didn't treat him well."
May is lobbying for Garner to receive the Order of Canada.
Until he became ill two months ago, Garner was playing five nights a
week at Rossini's.
"He was a beautiful man," said Vancouver blues musician Tom Lavin, a
close friend of Garner who was with him the night before he died.
"He was a great musician and a great human being. Musically, he was a
minimalist. He only played the necessary notes, and they were the
right ones."
Vancouver jazz vocalist Kate Hammett-Vaughan, who'd been seeing a lot
of the pianist lately as part of a documentary on Garner by film-maker
Colin Browne, recalled a 1986 incident.
"I had knee trouble and was on a cane for six months. From that point
on, with a huge twinkle in his eye, Linton would ask me, 'So, Miss
Vaughan, how are those legs?'
"'They're fine, Mr. Garner,' I'd reply.
"'Very good,' he'd say, 'And please don't tell your husband I asked
about them.' "
Garner leaves two sons, Linton, Jr. and Leslie, both residents of
Montreal.
A memorial service will be held March 24 at St. Andrew's Wesley
Church, 1012 Nelson , time to be determined. The following night,
Rossini's Kitsilano restaurant will stage a celebration of what would
have been Garner's 88th birthday.
© Copyright 2003 Vancouver Sun
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More at:
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Glenn Wilson
at 87! . Let's all hope we can even hear music at that age, let alone make
it!
Does anyone have any recordings? I'd love to hear him.
Glenn
--
www.jazzmaniac.com
"Binky" <nom...@noserver.not> wrote in message
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Christopher Wigdor
(for some reason I thought he had a brother called George). Given that
Erroll Garner was my first jazz love, and that his recordings would still be
my first choice to take on the desert island, I know woefully little about
his family.
Christopher W.
"Ron Hearn" <rwh...@shaw.ca> wrote in message
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Ron Hearn
career, he recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro and Billy Eckstine.
He has one recording as leader - "Garner Plays Garner" (Enrica, 1959). More
recently, he appears on Vancouver saxophonist Ross Taggart's 1998 recording
"Ross Taggart and Co." (Boathouse BHRCD007).
ron
"Glenn Wilson" <glenn.wil...@pobox.com> wrote in message
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