An Evening With Shearing - George Shearing

 

Mambo Inn

An Evening With Shearing

George Shearing and His Quintet

MGM Records E3122

1954

From the back cover: George Shearing was long known as "Britain's Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Jazz To America". But, the title has become a bit passeé! George didn't come by diplomatic pouch; he wasn't lent us; nor was he leased. He's here in America to stay – and his millions of fans on this side of the Atlantic have hailed a new adopted son. George and his family have settled on a delightful little farm in upper New Jersey and, to all reports, the Americanization of the talented Mr. Shearing is not limited to musical idioms alone. But, let's begin where we should –

George was born George Albert Shearing in London, England on August 13, 1919. He was born totally blind and most of his education was gained at the famous Linden Lodge School For The Blind. Luckily, his training included music lesson, and the piano was soon George's chosen instrument. Most of his musical instruction was through the near-miraculous Braille method. Since most of the Braille musical materials available to him was classical in nature, he gained a thorough background in serious music and a solid technique. Both are easily spotted in his jazz stylings and, indeed, set the Shearing style in jazz off as something nearly unique.

His first brush with jazz came when he was sixteen and some American jazz records came his way. He was fascinated by what he heard and sought out anything on the subject that he could find in Braille and on discs. On his graduation from Linden Lodge, he took a job as a pianist at a small London entertainment place called Mason's Arms. A series of other minor jobs followed until he found a place, in 1937, with the touring orchestra of Claude Bampton, a group of seventeen blind musicians.

When George left the Brampton band, he embarked upon a very successful solo career. There was a break in the solo rounds during the War, however, when he appeared as featured pianist for two years with the world-famed Ambrose Orchestra. Still later, simultaneously with his engagements with Ambrose, he carried on his own popular solo program over the B.B.C. and, that show continued long after he left Ambrose. A mark of his popularity in his native land is the fact that he placed as the outstanding British pianist in polls sponsored by England's important Melody Makers Magazine for seven straight years. In the meantime, he appeared as guest star with several British jazz units, large and small, and he enjoyed a side career penning arrangements for several well-known British orchestras. His contact with American "pop" music was kept alive through records – and, instinctively, George absorbed many a vital idea, latched on to many an important trend in American jazz. Another of the great pianistic influences of this period was the last "Fats" Waller, whom George met during a British tour by that beloved pianist-vocalist-composer. George himself reports that he went through just about every style of jazz piano playing possible before he found his last love: bop. He says punnishly that he was even "known as England's No. 1 boogie man – then I got tired of it." On the side, he continued to nurture his live for the classic – especially Bach and Debussy, the latter the favorite of his wife Trixie.

It was a difficult choice and a courageous one which led George to come to America for a brief professional visit in 1945. At home, he was the reining monarch of the keyboard – in America, he was little more than a name known by the inner circle of jazz cognoscente. The few engagements he filled were remarkable successful. Americans seemed to like George and George liked America and Americans. He returned with his wife and small daughter late in 1947 with the desire to become a permanent resident.

At first, it looked as though his decision was a wrong one. He had difficulty interesting agents and bookers in his talents. Engagements were few and far between. The golden promisee of the first visit had tarnished quickly. Then, The Three Duces, one of New York's famous 52nd Street jazzers, asked him to pool his talents with those or Oscar Pettiford and J.C. Heard to form a trio. George passed from that trouping to many anther – and slowly the Shearing fingers worked their magic. Soon, George entered the charmed circle of top-flight jazz progressives.

Then the Quintet was born – and, to all reports, by accident. George had been working with a quartet consisting of piano, clarinet, bass and drums. The group was approached to set down a few of its specialties on wax. At the last moment, the clarinetist learned that a previous contractual agreement made it impossible for him to fill the date. George quickly gathered together a new group, filling the missing place with guitar an vibraharp designed to blend in unison fashion with the piano. Thus, the famous Shearing "sound" was discovered! The first recoding session with MGM turned up September In the Rain – and the Sharing quintet became a permanent reality. Night club, jazzers, and theater engagements followed apace. Record hit after hit appeared. And the rest if history!

Gathered in this recorded collection are a bumper crop of Shearing efforts. There are wonderful arrangements of great melodic standards like The Continental and Body And Soul; there are stream-lined versions of old favorites from "memory lane" like Roses Of Picardy; Sid; and, just in case Hearing audiences might forget, George's delight in puns, there's something like Mambo Inn where the title can cut a couple of ways. That's what "An Evening With Shearing" added up to – and you'll find it a nightly pleasant event.

Mambo Inn

To A Wild Rose

The Continental 

Jumping' With Symphony Sid

Rose Of Picardy

Body And Soul

Little White Lies

I'll Remember April

The Breeze And I

Swedish Pastry

In A Chinese Garden