Shearing Piano

• Artist: George Shearing
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1956 12 10-1957 06 23
• Type: Compilation (best of)
• Genre: Jazz

Review

This is one of the earliest releases to feature George Shearing exclusively as a solo pianist, and the CD reissue of the long unavailable LP adds ten previously unissued tracks. He is rather surprisingly low-key on most of these interpretations, even though they are mostly ballads, possibly because of Capitol's original marketing concept. "Stella by Starlight" is especially odd, starting off rather dreamy and evolving into more of an arrangement that sounds as if a classical pianist is making a crossover recording. Many of the other songs have long since disappeared from the jazz scene (if any of them were regularly played) since the original record came out in the 1950s; they include long forgotten songs such as "Guilty," "Friendly Persuasion," "High on a Windy Hill," and "Sigh No More." The newly added material includes a version of "My Funny Valentine," which has a rather unusual bassline and later hints at various classical composers, especially Mozart. Music by Rachmaninov is incorporated into his arrangement of "Tenderly," and a theme by Poulenc is worked into "On the Street Where You Live"; there's also an interpretation of Debussy's "Reverie." Although this isn't a very representative release from George Shearing's considerable discography (spanning over a half century), it should not be condemned because it doesn't sound like his better-known jazz recordings. As long as one isn't expecting Shearing's typical locked hands and often humor-filled style that's heard on most of his releases, this CD should please any jazz fan who is in the mood for something mellow. ~ Ken Dryden, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Stella by Starlight	Ned Washington, Victor Young	George Shearing	(5:48)
On the Street Where You Live	Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe	George Shearing	(2:54)
Guilty	Gus Kahn, Richard Whiting, Harry Akst	George Shearing	(3:17)
Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love)	Dimitri Tiomkin, Paul Francis Webster	George Shearing	(2:51)
For Every Man There's a Woman	Harold Arlen, Leo Robin	George Shearing	(2:37)
It Might as Well Be Spring	Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II	George Shearing	(5:11)
High on a Windy Hill	Joan Whitney, Alex Kramer	George Shearing	(3:03)
If	Stanley Damerell	George Shearing	(2:51)
A Tune for Humming	Frank Loesser	George Shearing	(2:55)
Sigh No More	Noël Coward	George Shearing	(4:08)
My Funny Valentine	Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart	George Shearing	(3:58)
In the Still of the Night	Cole Porter	George Shearing	(3:05)
So Would I	Johnny Burke, James Van Heusen	George Shearing	(3:17)
Tenderly	Walter Gross, Jack Lawrence	George Shearing	(5:55)
Can't We Be Friends?	Paul James, Kay Swift	George Shearing	(2:33)
It Never Entered My Mind	Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart	George Shearing	(3:18)
Memories of You	Eubie Blake, Andy Razaf	George Shearing	(4:26)
Don't Explain	Billie Holiday, Arthur Herzog Jr.	George Shearing	(2:31)
Homesick, That's All	Gordon Jenkins	George Shearing	(2:27)
Reverie	Claude Debussy	George Shearing	(4:53)

Credits

George Shearing (Piano), George Shearing (Main Performer), Michael Cuscuna (Reissue Producer), Ron McMaster (Mastering), Patrick Roques (Reissue Design)