Erroll Garner - Again (Mercury Records 1949)

"Again" is a popular song, recorded by many singers. The music was written by Lionel Newman, the words by Dorcas Cochran. It first appeared in the movie Road House (1948), sung by Ida Lupino An instrumental rendition was used in the movie "Pickup on South Street" (1953). By 1949, versions by Vic Damone, Doris Day, Tommy Dorsey, Gordon Jenkins, Vera Lynn, Art Mooney, and Mel Tormé all made the Billboard charts.

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'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.

With Erroll Garner on piano, he's accompanied by Leonard Gaskin (bass) and Charlie Smith (drums). Recorded in New York City, September 8, 1949. (Mercury Records)

Again, this couldn't happen again
This is that once in a lifetime
This is the thrill divine
What's more, this never happened before Though I have prayed for a lifetime
That such as you would suddenly be mine
Mine to hold as I'm holding you now and yet never so near
Mine to have when the now and the here disappear
What matters, dear, for when
This doesn't happen again
We'll have this moment forever
But never, never, again
We'll have this moment forever
But never, never, again

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