Erroll Garner performing “Penthouse Serenade” with Eddie Calhoun on bass and Kelly Martin on drums live on Jazz 625. From his earliest years, Erroll Garner's relationship with music was defined by an intuitive genius. By four, he was recreating melodies on the piano by ear, soon revealing a photographic memory for sound. He could absorb a lengthy and intricate piece after a single hearing, later performing it with flawless recall. This innate ability meant he never learned to read music, buildin

Dizzy Gillespie said: "Earl Hines changed the style of the piano. You can find the roots of Bud Powell, Herbie Hancock, all the guys who came after that." Erroll Garner said, "When you talk about greatness, you talk about Art Tatum and Earl Hines" He differed from the stride pianists of the 1920s by breaking up the stride rhythms with unusual accents from his left hand. While his right hand often played octaves so as to ring clearly over ensembles, Hines had the trickiest left hand in the busine