Erroll Garner - Eldorado

[Lionel Mandrake]

I heard this on the radio and decided it was too good not to share.

[SkatmanRoth]

1. Play it eight to the bar with a strong left hand

What comes out is the Eldorado Stomp

[Lionel Mandrake]

2. Like almost all boogie-woogie, this is a 12-bar blues.

Axel Z. plays piano in a very old style, and he does it very well.

I used to listen to, and play, a lot of boogie-woogie. My favorite boogie-woogie pianist was Pete Johnson, whose home town was Kansas City and whose best composition was sometimes called "Kaycee Feeling", although various other names for this tune are listed on his recordings. Here is the oldest version I have found:

This performance has a certain quietness which is not characteristic of boogie-woogie. Later he played the same tune in a quicker tempo and with more gusto:

The ten-inch 78 RPM records lasted no more than three minutes, which is why 3 minutes is the traditional length of a tune.

The title "Eldorado Stomp" resembles the title of the tune in the OP, but musically and stylistically they are completely different.

Boogie-woogie typically involves only three chords; in the key of C they are C, F, and G major chords, and are played in the following progression: CCCCFFCCGGCC (or something quite similar). Boogie-woogie is generally played, as you said, eight to the bar with a strong left hand.

Erroll Garner's "Eldorado" is an original composition in AABA form. Each A section has 16 bars, and the B section (the bridge) has 8 bars. The harmony is quite sophisticated, involving many chords with enriched harmonies, e.g., 9th, 11th and 13th chords. These harmonies are characteristic of the swing and bebop styles and have been part of jazz ever since.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

3. Good stuff! We need more jazz in the Lounge.

I did my part, I put up Joe Pass doing All the Things You Are.

[Lionel Mandrake]

4. Thank you.

Joe Pass was one of the greatest jazz guitarists.



It's hard to get people to really listen to jazz. Jazz is like classical music in that it is mostly inaccessible to the uninitiated. Musicians sometimes try as hard as they can to make jazz accessible, as Branford Marsalis did on the Jay Leno Show, but for the most part the audience still doesn't get it.

Don't give up hope. People can be educated. Some of them, anyway.

[Lionel Mandrake]

5. Speaking of Joe Pass and Erroll Garner, ...

Here is Joe Pass playing a tune composed by Erroll Garner: