, George Albert Born 1919.British jazz pianist and composer whose signature sound is marked by a unique quintet arrangement that includes bass, guitar, drums, and vibraphone.
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Shear·ing |
, George Albert Born 1919.|
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George Shearing |
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| Born George Albert Shearing on August 13, 1919, in the Battersea district of Southwest London, England; son of a coal worker. Made first recording in England, 1937; emigrated to New York City, 1947; formed first and most famous quintet, 1949; settled into lucrative recording associations with MGM (1950-55) and Capitol Records (1955-69); recorded with singers like Nancy Wilson, Peggy Lee, and Nat King Cole while signed to Capitol; disbanded quintet, 1978; signed with Concord, reinvigorating his career during the 1980s; signed to the Telarc label, 1992; invited to play before three U.S. presidents: Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan; performed at a Royal Command Performance for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip; member of the Friars Club and Lotos Club in New York, as well as the Bohemian Club in San Francisco, CA. Awards: Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans, 1978; Grammy Awards with Mel Tormé for best jazz vocal performance for An Evening with Mel Torme & George Shearing, 1982, and for Top Drawer, 1983; Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement, May 1993; invested an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, November 26, 1996; received the first American Music Award by the National Arts Club in New York City, March 1998. Addresses: Record company—Telarc International, 23307 Commerce Park Rd., Cleveland, OH 44122, (216) 464-2313, website: http://www.telarc.com. |
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:
George Shearing |
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
George Shearing |
| George Shearing | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 13, 1919 Battersea, London, England |
| Died | February 14, 2011 (aged 91) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz Bebop Swing Cool jazz |
| Occupations | Musician |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | 1947–2011 |
| Labels | MGM Capitol Concord Savoy |
| Website | www.georgeshearing.net/ |
Sir George Shearing, OBE (August 13, 1919 – February 14, 2011) was an Anglo-American 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, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s.[1] He died of heart failure on February 14, 2011 in New York City, at the age of 91.
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Born in Battersea, London, Shearing was the youngest of nine children. He was born blind to working class parents: his father delivered coal and his mother cleaned trains in the evening. He started to learn piano at the age of three and began formal training at Linden Lodge School for the Blind, where he spent four years.[2]
Though offered several scholarships, Shearing opted to perform at a local pub, the Mason's Arms in Lambeth, for "25 bob a week"[3] playing piano and accordion. He even joined an all-blind band during that time and was influenced by the albums of Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller.[1] He made his first BBC radio appearance during this time after befriending Leonard Feather, with whom he started recording in 1937.[2] In 1940, Shearing joined Harry Parry's popular band and contributed to the comeback of Stéphane Grappelli. Shearing won seven consecutive Melody Maker polls during this time. Around that time he was also a member of George Evans's Saxes 'n' Sevens band.
In 1947, Shearing emigrated to the United States, where his harmonically complex style mixing swing, bop and modern classical influences gained popularity. One of his first performances in the US was at the Hickory House. He performed with the Oscar Pettiford Trio and led a quartet with Buddy DeFranco, which led to contractual problems, since Shearing was under contract to MGM and DeFranco to Capitol Records. In 1949, he formed the first 'George Shearing Quintet', a band with Margie Hyams (vibraphone), Chuck Wayne (guitar), later replaced by Toots Thielemans (listed as John Tillman—), John Levy (bass) and Denzil Best (drums) and recorded for Discovery, Savoy and MGM, including the immensely popular single "September in the Rain" (MGM), which sold over 900,000 copies; "my other hit" to accompany "Lullaby of Birdland". Shearing, himself, would write of this hit that it was "as accidental as it could be."[3] Shearing credited the Glenn Miller Orchestra's reed section of the late 1930s and early 1940s as an important influence.
Shearing's interest in classical music resulted in some performances with concert orchestras in the 1950s and 1960s, and his solos frequently drew upon the music of Satie, Delius and Debussy for inspiration. He became known for a piano technique known as "Shearing's voicing," a type of double melody block chord, with an additional fifth part that doubles the melody an octave lower. In 1956, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.[3] He continued to play with his quintet, with augmented players through the years, and recorded with Capitol until 1969. He created his own label, Sheba, that lasted a few years. Along with dozens of musical stars of his day, Shearing appeared on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom. Earlier, he had appeared on the same network's reality show, The Comeback Story, in which he discusses how to cope with blindness.
In 1970, he began to "phase out his by-now-predictable quintet"[1] and disbanded the group in 1978. One of his more notable albums during this period was The Reunion, with George Shearing (Verve 1976), made in collaboration with bassist Andy Simpkins and drummer Rusty Jones, and featuring Stéphane Grappelli, the musician with whom he had debuted as a sideman decades before. Later, Shearing played with a trio, as a soloist and increasingly in a duo. Among his collaborations were sets with the Montgomery Brothers, Marian McPartland, Brian Q. Torff, Jim Hall, Hank Jones and Kenny Davern. In 1979, Shearing signed with Concord Records, and recorded for the label with Mel Tormé. This collaboration garnered Shearing and Tormé two Grammys, one in 1983 and another in 1984. Shearing remained fit and active well into his later years and continued to perform, even after being honoured with an Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993. He never forgot his native country and, in his last years, would split his year between living in New York and Chipping Campden, Oxfordshire, UK, where he'd bought a house with his second wife, singer Ellie Geffert. This gave him the opportunity to tour the UK, giving concerts, often with his long-time friend and collaborator, Mel Tormé, backed by with BBC Big Band. He was appointed OBE in 1996. In 2007, he was knighted. "So," he noted later, "the poor, blind kid from Battersea became Sir George Shearing. Now that's a fairy tale come true."
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.
Shearing was married twice, first to the former Trixie Bayes, to whom he was married from 1941 to 1973. Two years after his divorce he married his second wife, the singer Ellie Geffert. Geffert survived him after he died on February 14, 2011.[4]
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