thanks, george shearing
Growing up with my parents' record collection at hand, I had a rich source of musical input. One album close to my heart is George Shearing's Shearing On Stage, whose liner notes I pored over as I listened and listened. Later, I bought more of his stuff for my own shelf.
I found out today that he died on Valentine's Day. Fitting: so much of his music was so romantic. What a fantastic musician. His quintet lineup, with guitar and vibes, and no trumpet or sax or trombone, introduced a distinct sound to jazz. His unusual technique, limning melodies with whole chords rather than just soloing with the right hand and comping with the left, made his piano sound like a horn section.
This astounding clip says it all. Notice that he starts off his solo with the traditional solo-and-comping, then at about 2 minutes breaks into his nimble one-man-sectional sound. Man! He had heart, he had technique, and close observers will remember that when this clip was filmed very few bands, even in jazz, included both white and black players on the same stage. I guess some things are hard to explain to a blind Englishman.
His signature sound was famously imitated in the theme music to "Frasier." Here's a clip of his most famous composition, "Lullaby of Birdland."
We'll miss him.
I found out today that he died on Valentine's Day. Fitting: so much of his music was so romantic. What a fantastic musician. His quintet lineup, with guitar and vibes, and no trumpet or sax or trombone, introduced a distinct sound to jazz. His unusual technique, limning melodies with whole chords rather than just soloing with the right hand and comping with the left, made his piano sound like a horn section.
This astounding clip says it all. Notice that he starts off his solo with the traditional solo-and-comping, then at about 2 minutes breaks into his nimble one-man-sectional sound. Man! He had heart, he had technique, and close observers will remember that when this clip was filmed very few bands, even in jazz, included both white and black players on the same stage. I guess some things are hard to explain to a blind Englishman.
His signature sound was famously imitated in the theme music to "Frasier." Here's a clip of his most famous composition, "Lullaby of Birdland."
We'll miss him.
Comments