Voicing of Errol Garner's left hand?
Warren
Hi all,
Does anyone understand how Errol Garner voices his left hand when playing
the "plodding" quarter note style? Some times it sounds like 10ths with
added 6th or 7th, but other time it sounds like a more narrower spread, as
in no more than a 6th or 7th.
My understanding is that Errol had very large hands, and could easily reach
a tenth. It's a bit of a stretch for me, especially if you are going from
a black to white key, or vise versa.
The other thing is, I usually play the left hand in root position, which
doesn't sound like what he is doing. It sounds more like he uses
inversions, as the left hand doesn't seem to shift around much.
Anyone with a better ear than I have that can shed some light on this
situation?
Thanks for your time.
Regards,
Warren
(remove "s" to respond by e-mail)
Andrew P. Mullhaupt
Warren wrote in message <6n5fsl$1...@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net>...
>Hi all,
>
>Does anyone understand how Errol Garner voices his left hand when playing
>the "plodding" quarter note style
Yes. You can go on a lot about the voicings, but truth is sometimes he's
just grabbing a fistfull. (Scrambled eggs? Yes, but it's how he scrambles
them.....)
What happens after you play a style for long enough is that you have a
muscle memory that shapes your hand so that even if you don't think about a
chord shape and just comp on the beat, you get chords of one sort or
another. (Unless you're Marcus Roberts or Cecil Taylor).
This is one place where the 'musicality' idea of classical and jazz can
depart sharply. The older classical advice is normally to hear the sound you
want before you realize it - so your expression is highly intentional. In
jazz improvisation, there are a lot of places where this is limiting. You're
supposed to color outside the lines, even lines that nobody knows are there.
Errol was outside the lines a lot with his left hand, but by now we have
heard it enough that the lines have moved, or new ones have been painted,
etc.
Rock and blues players especially need to look in both directions. You're
supposed to color outside the lines but sound like you didn't.
As an example, you catch little bits of this dichotomy when Bernie Worrel
quotes variations of Eddie Harris in P-funk and one of the guitar players
(probably Eddie Hazel) is right back at him with another inversion. A
learned discussion of (then) cutting edge jazz in the back line of P-Funk?
Why not. They just don't dare miss that delayed "one".
Easier said than done.
Later,
Andrew Mullhaupt
Michael
The voicings he used in his left hand were primarily a first or second
inversion of a 10th, (usually not root position, and rarely a tonic involved)
& consisting usually of 3 to 4 notes. He sort of had a rolling or strumming
technique, in which all the keys would not hit together...so this in turn
would give the illusion of the more narrow spread you might be hearing.
Warren wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Does anyone understand how Errol Garner voices his left hand when playing
Dean L. Surkin
If I remember correctly, author/pianist/teacher John Mohegan did an analysis
of Errol Garner's left hand voicings. They aren't merely fistfuls of notes,
but according to Mohegan, followed definite voicing patterns.
E.g., for a II chord (minor chord), omit the root and play the following
(spelling from bass to tenor): 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th. If this voicing takes you
too high or too low in the tenor register, use 7th, 9th, 3rd and 5th (this
will have a minor second between the 9th and the 3rd; it sounds pretty).
Resolve this to the V chord by voicing it 7th, 9th, 3rd and 13th (same as
6th), or in the other voicing, 3rd,13th,7th,9th. The voice leading is
smooth.
--Dean L. Surkin
For e-mail, remove anti-Spam "xxxx" from e-mail address.
Andrew P. Mullhaupt wrote in message
<6n5t4p$m...@dfw-ixnews6.ix.netcom.com>...
>
>Warren wrote in message <6n5fsl$1...@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net>...
>>Hi all,
>>
>>Does anyone understand how Errol Garner voices his left hand when playing
>>the "plodding" quarter note style
>
>Yes. You can go on a lot about the voicings, but truth is sometimes he's
>just grabbing a fistfull. [snip]
Tom Croft
I really don't know how Errol Garner voiced his left-hand chords, but
the voicings Dean described (3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th or 7th, 9th, 3rd,
and 5th for a II chord and 7th, 9th, 3rd and 13th or 3rd, 13th, 7th,
and 9th for a V chord) are very common rootless left hand voicings.
They were used extensively by Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly, for
example, and are discussed in detail in Mark Levine's The Jazz Piano
Book. The voice leading is very nice, but I don't like the 13th in
the V chord or the 9th in the II chord with some melodies/tunes. In
some contexts they work very well; in others, there are better choices
such as the spare root-position voicings Bud Powell, Thelonius Monk,
and Horace Silver used so often in the 1950's.
Tom
Doug McKenzie
>Hi all,
>
>Does anyone understand how Errol Garner voices his left hand when playing
>the "plodding" quarter note style? Some times it sounds like 10ths with
>added 6th or 7th, but other time it sounds like a more narrower spread, as
>in no more than a 6th or 7th.
>
>My understanding is that Errol had very large hands, and could easily reach
>a tenth. It's a bit of a stretch for me, especially if you are going from
>a black to white key, or vise versa.
>
>The other thing is, I usually play the left hand in root position, which
>doesn't sound like what he is doing. It sounds more like he uses
>inversions, as the left hand doesn't seem to shift around much.
>
>Anyone with a better ear than I have that can shed some light on this
>situation?
>
>Thanks for your time.
>
>Regards,
>
>Warren
> (remove "s" to respond by e-mail)
>
>
Dear Warren
I have posted a Midi file of a 'quickie', done (sort of) in the style
of Garner of 'Dearly Beloved' - by Jerome Kern/Johnny Mercer on the
newsgroups alt.binaries.sounds.midi and alt.binaries.sounds.midi.jazz
newsgroups.
You can put it thru' your sequencer and have a look at the Left Hand.
Like you, I've got small hands - can't reach 10ths. I use standard
Jazz rootless Left Hand Voicings for the most part. These have the 3rd
or 7th on the bottom.
While these chords are played right on the beat, often the bottom note
(either the 3rd or the 7th) is struck quite percussively on the 'and'
(most often) of beat 3 and it is held while the rest of this chord is
added right on beat 4.
If playing this Garner style for solo piano, I play these 3rds and
7ths more often and use it to substitute for a bass line. 3rds and
7ths (the guide tones) can work quite well as a bass line.
Aside from chords in the LH, he sometimes plays octave bass notes,
often anticipating a new chord and he often uses pedal tones of
octaves on the 5th in the 'turnaround' at the end of each chorus.
Of course the R.Hand lags quite significantly behind the L.H. and of
course there are the tremolos, grace notes etc. that are also a part
of the Garner sound.
Doug McKenzie
Warren
>I have posted a Midi file of a 'quickie', done (sort of) in the style
>of Garner of 'Dearly Beloved' - by Jerome Kern/Johnny Mercer on the
>newsgroups alt.binaries.sounds.midi and alt.binaries.sounds.midi.jazz
>newsgroups.
Hi Doug,
Thanks for the responce. Your midi file was really very good. I assume
that this is something that you created yourself? You've got the "Garner
flavor" down pretty good.
Tell me how you created this file. What do you use for a keyboard, what
soft ware, and how do you create the rhythm and bass line?
>You can put it thru' your sequencer and have a look at the Left Hand.
Please explain what the "sequencer" is. I assume that it is soft ware that
will graphically display the midi file in music staff notation....correct.
Is this software that can be purchased, and do you have a recommendation of
a favorite and where I can get a copy.
I did have the opportunity to see Garner here in Syracuse many years before
he died. The memory is pretty faint, as it was a long time ago.
Cheers,
Larry Lewicki
I have never really sat down and figured out what Errol Garner did
with his right hand. Sounds almost like an octave and a fifth.
Is there any "simple formula" for this?
BTW what Garner recordings are recommended? I don't own any - but
I recognize the sound when I hear it.
Thanks,
Larry
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Larry Lewicki | National Semiconductor |Opinions are mine and in *NO* |
*l...@galaxy.nsc.com | Santa Clara, CA |way represent National Semi. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
jazz...@ix.netcom.com
< I have never really sat down and figured out what Errol Garner did
with his right hand. Sounds almost like an octave and a fifth.
Is there any "simple formula" for this?>
4 notes right hand (close harmony), often he used tone clusters (non
chords). On ballads he often broke up octaves playing the high note
first and then the low note.
> BTW what Garner recordings are recommended? I don't own any - but
> I recognize the sound when I hear it.
Anything! but try to get one of the Columbia Cd's. (His later things) or
if possible get "Concert By The Sea".
P.S. I have a few examples on my web site.
Main page ---->Lounge ---->Garner
--
Al
Please Visit Me At
http://alevy.com
jazz...@ix.netcom.com