Cinema in Carouge: evening dedicated to jazzman Erroll Garner

One of the greatest standards in the history of jazz music, “Misty”, will be in the spotlight Thursday evening at the Cinéma Bio, with the preview screening of the documentary of the same title, dedicated to the immense career by Erroll Garner. An evening that promises to be rich in history and music.

The director of the film, Georges Gachot, to whom we owe the excellent “Where are you, João Gilberto?”, will be present to comment on his work. He will be accompanied by one of the most famous contemporary trumpeters, Nils Petter Molvær. The opportunity for the latter to play a few songs before the screening.

And God… dialed “Misty”

A masterpiece of the genre, “Misty” was written by Erroll Garner in 1954. Legend has it that he came up with the arrangement while observing the fog through a window. Another version says that he thought more of his wife during a plane trip. The only certainty is that, knowing neither how to read nor write music, Erroll Garner would have first hummed the melody before finding a piano to compose it.

The piece quickly exploded the pianist’s career and established itself as one of the greatest jazz standards. Covered countless times by the greatest (including Johnny Mathis, Ella Fitzgerald, Lloyd Price and Dakota Staton), “Misty” will also give its name to the first (and excellent) film directed by Clint Eastwood: “Play Misty for Me » (“A chill in the night”, 1971).

Erroll Garner had a short life: his body gave way in 1974 after a devastating lung cancer. Having passed away at the age of 55, the pianist is in the spotlight today in Georges Gachot’s new film, “Misty”, previewed at Bio on Thursday evening, and which will be released in theaters on December 25 .

Georges Gachot is also not his first film dedicated to a musical figure. He became known to the general public in 2003 with the release of “Martha Argerich, Nocturnal Conversation”, a documentary focusing on the life of the Argentine virtuoso.

The next generation!

While the life of Erroll Garner will be deciphered on screen, the Bio will also welcome a jazz legend, for a short concert before the screening. An essential figure in the new urban jazz of the 90s, trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær embodies, according to specialists, the worthy successor to Miles Davis, while adding an electronic touch to his compositions.

Born in 1960 in Norway, he started his career in 1982, when he left the island of Sula to go to Oslo. He very quickly adopted a style mixing trumpet, dulcimer and guitar, altering and retouching his tracks. Propelled onto the international scene with the album “Khmer”, he is also dubbed by jazz purists, such as Jan Garbarek, pillar of the ECM label, which produces Nils Petter Molvær.

Author-composer, he maintains fruitful relationships with the seventh art, notably through the composition of the soundtrack for “Great Freedom”, directed by Sebastian Maese and winner of the Jury Prize in the Un certain regard section of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.

It is therefore a triple event taking place at Bio this Thursday: screening of the film, discussion with Georges Gachot, and concert by Nils Petter Molvær, the evening being organized in collaboration with the AMR. And being a member of the association gives access to a reduction on the ticket price.

Andrea Di Guardo has been a journalist at the Tribune de Genève since March 2024. Locally, he is also interested in cultural and international subjects. He holds a Master’s degree in journalism and communication and a Bachelor’s degree in political science.More info

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