ERROLL GARNER – 1944 | The Classics Chronological Series – 802 (1995) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Pianist Erroll Garner's earliest recordings were taped privately at Baron Timme Rosenkrantz's apartment in New York. While Garner practiced, stretched out and tried out new ideas, Rosenkrantz kept a recorder running. The resulting discs were originally not planned for release, but in the early 1950s (with Garner's great popularity), some did come out. This Classics CD, one of four that contain all of the performances, finds Garner performing for as long as ten minutes ("Floating On a Cloud") on one piece. His style was not quite fully formed (it would solidify in 1945), and Garner sounds surprisingly impressionistic on such numbers as "The Clock Stood Still," "Autumn Mood" and "Overture to Dawn." Only on the faster pieces is he fairly distinctive, making this CD (and its follow-up) a true historical curiosity. Scott Yanow
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