George Shearing - Our Favorites '2021

Tracks list

Tracklist:

01. Lullaby of Birdland
02. Autumn Leaves
03. Strange
04. September Song
05. Yesterdays
06. Cuban Fantasy
07. The Man I Love
08. Cali Mambo
09. Magic
10. Dancing on the Ceiling
11. Goodnight, My Love
12. A Foggy Day
13. Starlit Hour
14. Its Not for Me to Say
15. All of You
16. Mambo No. 2
17. To the Ends of the Earth
18. You Are There
19. Lulus Back in Town
20. Serenata
21. Tu, Mi Delirio
22. No Moon at All
23. The Moon Was Yellow
24. Round Midnight.
25. You Stepped out of a Dream
26. Mambo Caribe
27. Juana Palangana
28. The Story of Love
29. Ill Close My Eyes
30. All or Nothing at All
31. Have You Met Miss Jones
32. Afro No. 4
33. If You Were Mine
34. Its Easy to Remember
35. Estampa Cubana
36. Autumn in New York
37. Sand in My Shoes
38. Mine
39. Rondo
40. Anywhere
41. Wonder Struck
42. Mambo Balahu
43. Lets Call the Whole Thing Off
44. These Things You Left Me
45. If I Had You
46. Moonray
47. Cuckoo in the Clock
48. Blue Moon
49. First Floor Please
50. Cheek to Cheek
51. Basies Masement
52. Burnished Brass
53. Dearly Beloved
54. Deep Night
55. In the Blue of Evening
56. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
57. Day by Day
58. You Look Like Someone
59. The Night Is Young and Youre so Beautiful
60. Memories of You
61. Chelsea Bridge
62. Beautiful Love
63. Just Plain Bill
64. Blue Rainbow
65. I Could Write a Book
66. Night Flight
67. Oh Look at Me Now
68. Blame It on My Youth
69. Ship Without a Sail
70. You and the Night and the Music
71. The Nearness of You
72. Sleepy Manhattan
73. Tintilin
74. Jackies Mambo
75. Salud
76. Dont Call Me
77. This Is Africa
78. Stairway to the Stars
79. Yesterdays Child
80. All Night Long
81. Born to Be Blue
82. On Green Dolphin Street
83. Say Si Si
84. Lets Live Again
85. Midnight in the Air
86. Out of This World
87. Blue Lou
88. Inspiration
89. All Through the Day
90. Te Arrango la Cabeza
91. The Things We Did Last Summer


 Read MoreThe wild success of this urbane sound obscures Shearings other
great contribution during this time, for he was also a pioneer of exciting,
small-combo Afro-Cuban jazz in the 50s. Indeed, Cal Tjader first caught the
Latin jazz bug while playing with Shearing, and the English bandleader also
employed such esteemed congueros as Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, and Armando
Peraza. As a composer, Shearing was best known for the imperishable, uniquely
constructed bop standard Lullaby of Birdland, as well as Conception and
Consternation. His solo style, though all his own, reflected the influences of
the great boogie-woogie pianists and classical players, as well as those of Fats
Waller, Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Erroll Garner, Art Tatum, and Bud Powell --
and fellow pianists long admired his light, refined touch. He was also known to
play accordion and sing in a modest voice on occasion.

Shearing, who was born blind, began playing the piano at the age of three,
receiving some music training at the Linden Lodge School for the Blind in London
as a teenager but picking up the jazz influence from Teddy Wilson and Fats
Waller 78s. In the late 30s, he started playing professionally with the Ambrose
dance band and made his first recordings in 1937 under the aegis of fellow Brit
Leonard Feather. He became a star in Britain, performing for the BBC, playing a
key role in the self-exiled Stéphane Grappellis London-based groups of the
early 40s, and winning seven consecutive Melody Maker polls before emigrating in
New York City in 1947 at the prompting of Feather. Once there, Shearing quickly
absorbed bebop into his bloodstream, replacing Garner in the Oscar Pettiford
Trio and leading a quartet in tandem with Buddy DeFranco. In 1949, he formed the
first and most famous of his quintets, which included Marjorie Hyams on vibes
(thus striking an important blow for emerging female jazz instrumentalists),
Chuck Wayne on guitar, John Levy on bass, and Denzil Best on drums. Recording
briefly first for Discovery, then Savoy, Shearing settled into lucrative
associations with MGM (1950-1955) and Capitol (1955-1969), the latter for which
he made albums with Nancy Wilson, Peggy Lee, and Nat King Cole. He also made a
lone album for Jazzland with the Montgomery Brothers (including Wes Montgomery)
in 1961, and began playing concert dates with symphony orchestras.

After leaving Capitol, Shearing began to phase out his by-then-predictable
quintet, finally breaking it up in 1978. He started his own label, Sheba, which
lasted for a few years into the early 70s -- and made some trio recordings for
MPS later in the decade. In the 70s, his profile had been lowered considerably,
but upon signing with Concord in 1979, Shearing found himself enjoying a
renaissance in all kinds of situations. He made a number of acclaimed albums
with Mel Tormé, raising the singers profile in the process, and recorded with
the likes of Ernestine Anderson, Jim Hall, Marian McPartland, Hank Jones, and
classical French horn player Barry Tuckwell. He also recorded a number of solo
piano albums where his full palette of influences came into play. He signed with
Telarc in 1992 and from that point through the early 2000s continued to perform
and record, most often appearing in a duo or trio setting. Shearing, who had
remained largely inactive since 2004 after a fall in his New York City
apartment, died of congestive heart failure at New Yorks Lenox Hill Hospital on
February 14, 2011. He was 91. ~ Richard S. Ginell

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