Erroll Garner
Piano Solo on
Bird's Nest

About

Erroll Garner closes out the solos on piano with two choruses, following Charlie Parker at approximately 299 BPM. Set within a swinging rhythmic framework, the 32-bar AABA form and the key of B♭, the solo tests the player's command at high velocity. Built on the chord changes of "I Got Rhythm," the harmonic foundation is a familiar one in the jazz repertoire, inviting inventive melodic departures. Coming last in the solo order, Garner has the task of building on everything that came before while steering the performance back toward the closing head. Parker's two-chorus alto saxophone solo launches directly into the performance without a composed theme, and Erroll Garner follows with two commanding choruses of piano that demonstrate his remarkable ability to maintain harmonic clarity and rhythmic drive at extreme tempos.

Erroll Garner was 25 to 26 years old at the time.