[Dixielandjazz] Johnny guarnieri

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

On Agustin's site thereisjazzaftercoltrane   ---  there's a text of Joe Turner 
talking about pianists of the greatest relevance to this site.  And Joe cites 
Johnny Guarnieri as the outstanding impersonator of other pianists, something 
which came to mind when some years ago I acquired a Vic Dickenson quartet LP, 
since JG there playfully delivers quite a lot of the sorts of thing Earl Hines 
was doing as a band or quartet pianist at the time. 


Quite apart from the incredible manic stride he went in for later on --Ken 
Gallacher asking him how that was possible was almost knocked over when JG said 
"you mean this?" and did the Trolley Song after the fashion of Donald Lambert -- 
the delicacy of which JG was capable can boggle the mind. Pre-CD I passed on a 
tape of the Guarnieri solo Ellington set to a young German pianist of more 
modernist interests and a strong European background. He'd never heard quite 
that combination of all the subtleties of a player of Debussy with everything 
else. 

It's there in the early solo recordings too. With dynamics from fff to ppp at 
least. Just because he could do the imitations didn't mean he lacked an 
individual voice., either/