Sir George Albert Shearing, OBE (13 August 1919 – 14 February
2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group
that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. The
composer of over 300 titles, including the jazz standard "Lullaby of
Birdland", had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s,
1960s, 1980s and 1990s.
The youngest of nine children, Shearing was born in
Battersea, south-west London, into a poor, working-class family. His father
delivered coal and his mother cleaned trains by night, having cared for her
children during the day. Blind from birth, George showed musical aptitude,
memorising tunes he had heard on the radio and picking them out on the family's
piano, taking lessons from a local teacher and then continuing his studies for
four years at the Linden Lodge School for blind children in Wandsworth.
Offered university musical scholarships, he turned them down in favour of paid work as a solo pianist in local pubs, starting when 16 at the Mason's Arms, Battersea, and concentrating first on popular songs and then branching out into jazz. He achieved a degree of prominence with Claude Bampton's newly formed, all-blind stage orchestra in 1937, joining as second pianist: press coverage of the time describing this as "a phenomenal venture".
Offered university musical scholarships, he turned them down in favour of paid work as a solo pianist in local pubs, starting when 16 at the Mason's Arms, Battersea, and concentrating first on popular songs and then branching out into jazz. He achieved a degree of prominence with Claude Bampton's newly formed, all-blind stage orchestra in 1937, joining as second pianist: press coverage of the time describing this as "a phenomenal venture".
A fellow band member, the partially sighted drummer Carlo
Krahmer, encouraged Shearing's jazz interests. Spurred on by access to
Krahmer's record collection, Shearing formulated an approach heavily influenced
by Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller,
plunging into the London after-hours club scene and sometimes playing alongside visiting American stars such as the tenor-saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, while observing Waller at first hand. He made his first solo radio broadcast in 1938 and began to record regularly, either as a soloist or with groups led by Vic Lewis and the top players of the day. In 1941 he met and married Trixie Bayes.
plunging into the London after-hours club scene and sometimes playing alongside visiting American stars such as the tenor-saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, while observing Waller at first hand. He made his first solo radio broadcast in 1938 and began to record regularly, either as a soloist or with groups led by Vic Lewis and the top players of the day. In 1941 he met and married Trixie Bayes.
With what now appears to be dazzling speed, he moved
through bands and small groups fronted by prominent leaders including the
clarinettist Harry Parry, Bert Ambrose, Harry Hayes and the French jazz
violinist Stéphane Grappelli, with whom he recorded frequently, Grappelli being
at that point resident in London as a refugee from German-occupied Paris.
So complete was Shearing's mastery of jazz piano that the
Melody Maker poll voted him the top British pianist for seven years in a row.
Aware of being the proverbial big fish in a rather small local pond, Shearing
accepted an invitation from the British writer Leonard Feather, a friend from
London who had already emigrated, to visit New York in late 1946. He stayed for
three months and recorded a trio date for the Savoy label. Encouraged by this
experience and enthralled by what he had heard, Shearing moved for good in
December 1947.
By now heavily into bebop, he began to attract attention
as the intermission pianist at the Hickory House on 52nd Street, sometimes
acting as Ella Fitzgerald's accompanist on her pianist's night off before
finally landing a quartet engagement at the Clique Club with the fine clarinetist Buddy De Franco.
Set to record, De Franco had to drop out for contractual reasons and Feather came to the rescue, suggesting that Shearing might try a quintet instead, adding guitar and vibraphone to the usual piano, bass and drums trio.
Set to record, De Franco had to drop out for contractual reasons and Feather came to the rescue, suggesting that Shearing might try a quintet instead, adding guitar and vibraphone to the usual piano, bass and drums trio.
Voiced in block chords with Shearing using the
"locked-hands" style pioneered by the pianist Milt Buckner, where the
melody is harmonized in the right hand and echoed in the left, the quintet's
new approach caught on immediately, their recording of September in the Rain,
made for MGM in February 1949, selling 900,000 copies. Where bebop had seemed
over-complex to many listeners, here was a musical style that sounded modern
and new, but was easy to enjoy. By now one of the hottest tickets in jazz,
Shearing's quintet toured endlessly, recorded incessantly and played
residencies at the best clubs in every major American city.
By 1968, Shearing's nimble, witty jazz style was
showcased in smaller line-ups, with trios giving way to duos, this pared-down
format allowing him a free rein to move from Bach to bebop in a single number.
He also formed a vital partnership with the singer Mel Tormé, their
collaboration resulting in Grammies in 1983 and 1984, and he briefly reformed
his quintet in 1994 for recordings.
In 2004, he released his memoirs, Lullaby of Birdland,
which was accompanied by a double-album "musical autobiography",
Lullabies of Birdland. Shortly afterwards, however, he suffered a fall at his
home and retired from regular performing. He died of heart failure in New York
City, 14 February 2011 at the age of 91.
(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia & The Guardian)
Here’s George at a live recording from the Munich Philharmonie during 1992
Here’s George at a live recording from the Munich Philharmonie during 1992
2 comments:
For “The Ultimate George Shearing” go here;
https://www35.zippyshare.com/v/ak638HAJ/file.html
1 Cheek To Cheek
2 Autumn Leaves
3 Basie's Masement
4 If I Had You
5 The Continental
6 Days Of Wine And Roses
7 The Folks Who Lived On The Hill
8 Young And Foolish
9 I'll Be Around
10 Try A Little Tenderness
11 Baubles, Bangles And Beads
12 Opus For Mozart
13 Lullaby Of Birdland
14 Black Satin
15 Bernie's Tune
16 One Note Samba
17 On The Street Where You Live
18 Call Me Irresponsible
19 Makin' Whoopee
20 Strangers In The Night
21 What The World Needs Now Is Love
22 Don't Sleep In The Subway
23 By The Time I Get To Phoenix
24 Yesterday
After many years leading a quintet live and recording on the MGM label, Shearing moved to Capitol where he was featured in a wide range of settings from solo pianist to featured soloist with big bands. This compilation by EMI covers a good deal of the Capitol period and shows his great versatility and ability to swing no matter what the circumstances. Unless you already have the CDs of Shearing on Capitol, you will find this CD both rewarding and a good introduction to the work of this superb pianist.
Bob, thank you for sharing The Ultimate...yes he is.
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