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George Shearing
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George Shearing enjoys an international reputation as a pianist, arranger and composer. Equally at home on the concert stage as in jazz clubs, Shearing is recognized for inventive, orchestrated jazz. He has written over 300 compositions, including the classic “Lullaby of Birdland,” which has become a jazz standard. Shearing was born in 1919 in the Battersea area of London. Congenitally blind, he was the youngest of nine children. His father delivered coal and his mother cleaned trains at night after caring for the children during the day. His only formal musical education consisted of four years of study at the Linden Lodge School for the Blind. While his talent won him a number of university scholarships, he was forced to refuse them in favor of a more financially productive pursuit…playing piano in a neighborhood pub for the handsome salary of $5 a week! Shearing joined an all-blind band in the 1930’s. At that time he developed a friendship with the noted jazz critic and author, Leonard Feather. Through this contact, he made his first appearance on BBC radio. In 1947, Mr. Shearing moved to America, where he spent two years establishing his fame on this side of the Atlantic. The Shearing Sound commanded national attention when, in 1949, he gathered a quintet to record “September in the Rain” for MGM. The record was an overnight success and sold 900,000 copies. His U.S. reputation was permanently established when he was booked into Birdland, the legendary jazz spot in New York. Since then, he has become one of the country’s most popular performing and recording artist. In 1982 and 1983 he won Grammy Awards with recordings he made with Mel Torme. Mr. Shearing was the subject of an hour-long television documentary entitled “The Shearing Touch” presented on the Southbank Show with Melvyn Bragg on ITV in the UK. Three presidents have invited Mr. Shearing to play at the White House.. Ford, Carter and Reagan. He performed at the Royal Command Performance for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. He is a member of the Friars Club and the Lotos Club in New York and the Bohemian Club in San Francisco. His awards and honors are many. In May 1975, he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Music from Westminster College in Salt Lake City. In May of 1994, Hamilton College in upstate New York awarded him another honorary doctorate in music. DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana presented him with an honorary doctorate of music on June 1, 2002. He received the prestigious Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans in 1978 and a community recreational facility in Battersea, south London, was named the George Shearing Centre in his honor. In May of 1993, he was presented with the British equivalent of the Grammy…the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement. In June of 1996, Mr. Shearing was included in the Queen’s Birthday Honors List and on November 26, 1996 he was invested by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his “service to music and Anglo-US relations.” He was presented the first American Music Award by the National Arts Club, New York City, in March of 1998. In 1999, his 80th birthday was celebrated in England where he played to a sold-out house at the Birmingham Symphony Hall. Also appearing with him were the BBC Big Band, the strings of the London Symphony, Dame Cleo Laine and John Dankworth. BBC Radio 2 presented a 2 1/2-hour “Salute to Shearing” in honor of his birthday. The following year another sold-out house at Carnegie Hall was treated to his birthday celebration featuring the George Shearing Quintet with Nancy Wilson, Dave Brubeck, Dr. Billy Taylor, the John Pizzarelli Trio, Tito Puente and Peter Schickele who brought a special greeting from PDQ Bach! Mr. Shearing’s biography, “Lullaby of Birdland,” published by Continuum, was released February 2005. In conjunction with the autobiography release Concord Records released a composite of Shearing recordings in a 2-CD set entitled “Lullabies of Birdland.: A Musical Autobiography” which was immediately followed up with “Hopeless Romantics” with Michael Feinstein. Concord then released the collectors set Mel Tormé & George Shearing The Concord Years. Mr. Shearing’s popularity continues to rise.
Lorne Lofsky: Steward of the Canadian Guitar Tradition
by John Chacona
Guitarist Lorne Lofsky rocketed to fame when It Could Happen To You (Pablo Records, 1981), his debut release as a leader, was produced by fellow Canadian Oscar Peterson. Lofsky has since toured and recorded with a wide range of musicians from all around the world, including Peterson, but his hometown of jny: Toronto has been his ...
Hi-Hats Off to The Jazz Corner on Its 25th
by Gloria Krolak
Twenty-five years ago, on March 30, 1999, Bob and Lois Masteller opened their club, The Jazz Corner, on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. They had both enjoyed productive careers, he in human resources, she in property management. Now it was time to indulge their passion for jazz. Bob grew up with music in the house--his dad ...
Can You Judge an Album By Its Label?
by Dave Hughes
This article was first published at All About Jazz in March 1999. For almost as long as there have been record labels, many labels have sought to build a reputation or a brand identity for themselves in terms of the genre of music presented on their labels or the technical quality of their product. ...
John Patitucci Trio At The Jazz Forum
by Scott Lichtman
John Patitucci Trio The Jazz Forum Tarrytown, NY February 9, 2024 Elite bassist John Patitucci brought his trio to Tarrytown, NY, on Friday night. Known for his eclectic work over four plus decades with artists including Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, and scores of others, Patitucci, pianist David Virelles and drummer Adam ...
Is There Really Only One Guitar And Drums Duo Album in Jazz History?
by Ian Patterson
A veritable mountain of duo albums color jazz history. Vocal and piano duos abound. Think Ella Fitzgerald and Ellis Larkins, Tony Bennet and Bill Evans, or Carmen McRae and George Shearing for starters. Guitar and piano duos? Plenty of those too. Jim Hall and Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and Joe Pass spring to mind. ...
Louis Stewart's Out On His Own: A Landmark Solo Guitar Recording
by Ian Patterson
Dublin's finest export? Not Guinness, but Irish jazz guitarist Louis Stewart (January 5, 1944--August 20, 2016). A guitarist of tremendous skill, invention and personality, Stewart was certainly the first world-class jazz musician to emerge from Ireland and make a name on the international stage. During a fifty-plus-year career, Stewart played with Benny Goodman, ...
A Song Is Born (with George Shearing)
By Joe Williams
Label: Arkadia Records
Released: 2022
Track listing: Just Friends; I Let a Song Go Out of; Nobody’s Heart Belongs to Me; Blues In My
Heart; Shake Rattle and Roll;
A Child
is Born; I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water; Little Girl Blue; Who She Do?; Sometimes I'm
Happy; Roll 'Em Pete;
Tenderly;
The Comeback.
Don Thompson & Rob Piltch: Bells... Now and Then
by Pierre Giroux
Multi-instrumentalist Don Thompson and guitarist Rob Piltch are two Canadian musicians who, in 1981 and 1982, recorded an album entitled Bells for the Umbrella label. The material has been remastered and reissued as Bells...Now and Then, bookended by two new recordings of compositions by Thompson. Don Thompson has been a highly-regarded part ...
Eddie Higgins: Elegance And Confidentiality
by Daniele Trucco
This article was translated into English and was first published on meer.com.The story of a refined pianist, feted as a sideman by the greats of international jazz and an authentic star of the Japanese record scene.The Ascent I met pianist Eddie Higgins on three separate occasions--the first time was in 2006 at ...
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