Erroll Garner Trio - I Cover The Waterfront (Columbia Records 1951)
"I
Cover the Watefront" is a 1933 popular song and jazz standard composed by
Johnny Green with lyrics by
Edward Heyman. The song was inspired by
Max Miller's 1932 best-selling novel
I Cover the Waterfront. The song became instantly popular, and many artists covered it in 1933. A 1933 motion picture, also inspired by
Miller's book and also titled I Cover the Waterfront, was re-scored at the last minute to include the tune.
Erroll Louis Garner (June 15,
1921 -- January 2,
1977) was an
American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad "
Misty", has become a jazz standard. Allmusic.com calls him "one of the most distinctive of all pianists" and a "brilliant virtuoso".
Born with his twin brother Ernest in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to an
African American family on June 15, 1921, Erroll began playing piano at the age of three. His elder siblings were taught piano by Miss
Bowman. From an early age Erroll would sit down and play anything she'd demonstrated, just like Miss Bowman, his eldest sister
Martha said. He attended
George Westinghouse High School, as did fellow pianists
Billy Strayhorn and
Ahmad Jamal. Garner was self-taught and remained an "ear player" all his life – he never learned to read music. At the age of seven, he began appearing on the radio station
KDKA in
Pittsburgh with a group called the
Candy Kids. By the age of 11, he was playing on the
Allegheny riverboats. At 14 in
1937, he joined local saxophonist
Leroy Brown.
He played locally in the shadow of his older pianist brother
Linton Garner and moved to
New York in
1944. He briefly worked with the bassist
Slam Stewart, and though not a bebop musician per se, in
1947 played with
Charlie Parker on the famous "
Cool Blues" session. Although his admission to the Pittsburgh music union was initially refused because of his inability to read music, they eventually relented in
1956 and made him an honorary member. Garner is credited with having a superb memory of music. After attending a concert by the
Russian classical pianist
Emil Gilels, Garner returned to his apartment and was able to play a large portion of the performed music by recall.
Short in stature (5 ft 2 in), Garner performed sitting on multiple telephone directories.] Considering that his small hands could barely span an octave on the piano keyboard, his rapid right-handed octave and chordal passages were all the more amazing. 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.
Garner made many tours both at home and abroad, and produced a large volume of recorded work. He was, reportedly,
The Tonight Show host
Johnny Carson's favorite jazz musician, appearing on
Carson's show many times over the years.
Garner's first recordings were made in late 1944 at the apartment of
Timme Rosenkrantz; these were subsequently issued as the five-volume
Overture to
Dawn series on
Blue Note Records. His recording career advanced in the late
1940s when several sides such as "
Fine and Dandy" and "
Sweet 'n'
Lovely" were cut. His
1955 live
album Concert by the Sea was a best-selling jazz album in its day and features
Eddie Calhoun on bass and
Denzil Best on drums.
This recording of a performance at the
Sunset Center, a former school in
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, was made using relatively primitive sound equipment, but for
George Avakian the decision to release the recording was easy. Other works include 1951's
Long Ago and Far Away and
1974's
Magician, both of which see Garner perform a number of classic standards.
Often the trio was expanded to add
Latin percussion, usually a conga.
In 1964, Garner appeared in the UK on the music series
Jazz 625 broadcast on the
BBC's new second channel. The programme was hosted by
Steve Race, who introduced Garner's trio with Eddie Calhoun on bass and
Kelly Martin on drums. Because Garner could not write down his musical ideas, he used to record them on tape, to be later transcribed by others.
Erroll Garner died from a cardiac arrest on January 2, 1977. He is buried in Pittsburgh's
Homewood Cemetery.
Erroll's accompanied by
John Simmons (bass) and
Shadow Wilson (drums). Recorded in
New York City,
January 11, 1951. (
Columbia Records)
I cover the waterfront
I'm watching the sea
Will the one I love
Be coming back to me
I cover the waterfront
In search of my love
An I'm covered
By a starlit sky above
Here am I
Patiently waiting
Hoping and longing
Oh how I yearn
Where are you
Have you forgotten
Will you remember
Will you return
Will the one I love
Be coming back
To me