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George Shearing

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

George Shearing · Sir George Albert Shearing was a British jazz pianist and composer, born on 13 August 1919 in Battersea in London and died on 14 February 2011. He was the youngest of nine children and was born blind. His father delivered coal, and his mother cleaned trains in the evenings. At three he began learning the piano, and later he took formal lessons at a school for the blind. He played in a pub in Lambeth, in a band of blind musicians, and was influenced by records by Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller. He began recording in 1937 together with Leonard Feather.

Music and breakthrough

In 1940 he joined Harry Parry's band, and around 1942 Stéphane Grappelli asked him to join his group, with which he toured from 1943. Later he emigrated to the United States, where his harmonically rich style, a blend of swing, bop and modern classical influences, caught on. In 1949 he formed the first George Shearing Quintet, with, among others, the vibraphonist Margie Hyams, the guitarist Chuck Wayne, later replaced by Toots Thielemans, the bassist John Levy and the drummer Denzil Best. The single September in the Rain sold more than 900,000 copies in the United States alone.

Influence

Shearing wrote more than three hundred songs, including the jazz standards Lullaby of Birdland and Conception. He had albums on the Billboard charts in the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s, such as Beauty and the Beat! from 1959 and Sassy Meets Shearing! from 1962. The writer Jack Kerouac heard him at Birdland and described his playing in On the Road.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Lullaby of Birdland and notice how the piano plays melody and chords at the same time. Can you also hear the vibraphone and the guitar joining in the sound of the quintet?

Discography

Studio albums

See also

Categories: Artists