Garner, Erroll

Bop wasn't supposed to be as accessible as the popular big-band jazz that preceded it, but it's albums like this that give the lie to such generalizations. Serenade to Laura contains some of the most inventive and yet beguiling jazz piano ever recorded, and has been seducing listeners for 60 years and counting. Erroll Garner cut the original 14 sides on this LP across almost four years, in trio sessions on both coasts, backed initially by John Levy on bass and George DeHart on drums; and later by John Simmons on bass and Alvin Stoller on drums. By turns his playing is elegant, jaunty, and sublimely lyrical -- and sometimes all of that within the same phrase -- and often laced with touches of the unexpected; his approach to "Laura", for example, has in it what sounds like a momentary quote from "I'll Remember April," a song of roughly similar vintage (and with some equally haunting movie associations linked to it). And his highly defined rhythm and variations on "Moonglow" transform the familiar piece into something quietly dazzling. [The album was reissued on CD in 1993 with its original song lineup, and in 2003, it was remastered in 24-bit digital, with one bonus track added on.] ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide