Editing Erroll Garner (section)

==Playing style==
{{Original research|section|date=September 2021}}
Short in stature ({{convert|5|ft|2|in|cm|disp=sqbr}}), Garner performed sitting on multiple telephone directories.<ref name="Wilson"/><ref name="Wilson2">{{cite news|first=John |last=Wilson|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F60B17FC345415738DDDA00A94DD405B858AF1D3 |title=Return of Erroll Garner; Phone Book Is Still His Prop at Village Gate|newspaper=The New York Times|date= May 29, 1965|page= 16}}</ref> He was also known for his vocalizations while playing, which can be heard on many of his recordings. He helped to bridge the gap for jazz musicians between nightclubs and the concert hall.

Called "one of the most distinctive of all pianists" by Scott Yanow, Garner showed that a "creative jazz musician can be very popular without watering down his music" or changing his personal style.<ref name="allmusic"/> He has been described as a "brilliant virtuoso who sounded unlike anyone else", using an "orchestral approach straight from the swing era but...open to the innovations of bop."<ref name="allmusic"/> His distinctive style could [[Swung note|swing]] like no other, but some of his best recordings are ballads, such as his best-known composition, "[[Misty (song)|Misty]]", which rapidly became a [[jazz standard]] – and was featured in [[Clint Eastwood]]'s film ''[[Play Misty for Me]]'' (1971).

Garner may have been inspired by the example of [[Earl Hines]], a fellow Pittsburgh resident who was 18 years his senior, and there were resemblances in their elastic approach to timing and use of right-hand octaves. Garner's early recordings display the influence of the [[Stride (music)|stride piano]] style of [[James P. Johnson]] and [[Fats Waller]]. Garner's melodic improvisations generally stayed close to the theme while employing novel chord voicings and other devices. He developed a signature style that involved his right hand playing slightly behind the beat while his left strummed a steady rhythm and punctuation, creating an insouciant quality and at the same time an exciting rhythmic tension. He would also enhance the effect by accelerating and decelerating the beat in the right hand, a device nicknamed the "Russian Dragon" (rushing and dragging). The independence of his hands also was evidenced by his masterful use of three-against-four and more complicated [[polyrhythm]]s between the hands. In trio settings, he often played the 3:2 son [[Clave (rhythm)|clave]] rhythm pattern in his left hand chording on Latin tunes, and on swing tunes, he played the similar 12/8 Rhumba clave rhythm pattern. Garner frequently improvised whimsical introductions—often in stark contrast to the rest of the tune—that left listeners and even fellow band members in suspense as to what the piece would be or when the introduction wouldcome to an end.

Bassist [[Ray Brown (musician)|Ray Brown]] called Garner "The Happy Man". Pianist [[Ross Tompkins]] described Garner's distinctiveness as due to "happiness".<ref name="nepr.net"/>