George Shearing: 1919-2011

George Shearing, a British-born pianist whose blindness at birth gave him a heightened sense of time and harmony, and whose fondness for elegant swing and bebop led to the development of an enormously successful quintet sound in 1949, died of heart failure yesterday, February 14, in Manhattan. He was 91.

A professional musician since the late 1930s, Shearing became England's top jazz pianist by the end of World War II. He was encouraged to come to the U.S. in November 1946 by Metronome editor Leonard Feather, a fellow Englishman. Shearing's technique was so powerful that initially he was cast in New York clubs on 52nd Street as the English Art Tatum, albeit a more delicate one.

Quickly tiring of being positioned as the white versions of Tatum, Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson, Shearing returned to London and arranged for English big-band leader Ted Heath and among others. But with bebop's surge in popularity in New York in 1947 and greater recording opportunities with the emergence of small labels, Shearing returned to the U.S. that year, this time as a bop pianist and accordionist.

In 1948, Shearing teamed with clarinetist Buddy De Franco [pictured], bassist John Levy and drummer Denzil Best. The bop quartet played New York's Clique Club, which would become Birdland the following year.

John Levy not only was the bassist in Shearing's quartet and quintet, he also became his manager starting in the early 1950s. I spoke to John yesterday about Shearing and the early sound:

“Originally our group was set up for George to play with clarinetist Buddy De Franco, me on bass, and Denzil Best on drums. We played mostly at the New York’s Clique Club. Then Buddy landed a big contract with Capitol and George was signed by MGM. The two could no longer record together. With Buddy gone, Leonard Feather, who was close with George, suggested he substitute vibes and guitar for the sound of the clarinet. [Pictured: John Levy]

“George had been a band arranger in Britain, so he knew all about writing and voicing instruments. The sound of Buddy and George together was great but limited. How much of a sound could you really have with a quartet? It was basically a rhythm section with a lead horn. George, of course, would be voicing things on the piano with his block-chord thing, and his harmonic ideas were so great. But he’d take a solo or Buddy would and that was it.

“When George formed the quintet in late 1948 with Marjorie [Hyams] on vibes, Chuck [Wayne] on guitar, me and Denzil, the sound was amazing. Playing inside that group was really something. I felt so moved as a listener and as a player contributing to that sound. George was like a tasteful orchestra on that keyboard. Most people don’t realize that those quintet pieces weren’t written out. They were rehearsed over and over again until everyone knew their parts. I used to write out my part because I couldn’t remember all of that the way those guys could.

“Because George was blind, he had a stronger sense of hearing and feel. I remember he had this blind fellow from England who helped him with the arrangements. Both of them had seeing-eye dogs. Now dogs are pretty much dogs to most people when they’re walking around in the house on their padded feet. Yet George could tell these two dogs apart just by the way they walked.

“When we played in Detroit, we used to walk from the hotel where we were staying to the club. It was a short walk. But during a stretch on one block, there was a tree in the middle of the sidewalk. We’d be walking and George would instinctively pull off to one side even before reaching the tree. He could tell the difference in the air current, he said. The same was true with the spaces between parked cars. For George, it was all feel and hearing.

“When I think back on George, I think of a pianist with such a beautiful touch. His feeling on the keyboard was so special. It would grip you. I was always concerned with trying to listen to what the group was doing so I could keep time and fit in between the action. I didn’t want any solos. That wasn’t my thing. If I had four bars here or there, that was enough for me. And that was fine with George.

“What many people didn't know about George was his courage. Remember, in 1949, this guy had formed an integrated group with two white guys, two black guys and a white woman on stage together. Today, this might seem like so what. But back then, you just didn't do that, especially in some cities. [Pictured: John Levy and George Shearing in the early '50s]

"Many people told George that he’d do better if all of his musicians were white. He didn’t know what they were talking about. He’d get pissed and say, 'I don’t know what color they are. All I know is that they play what I like to hear and I love their intonation.' Only a few people had the nerve to come up to him and say stuff like that.

“We played mostly in New York but we toured a bit. We’d have to be careful in places like Salt Lake City, Kansas City and St. Louis where audiences were segregated by law. We’d play some clubs where blacks couldn’t even get in. But the white audiences loved the music we played. Funny, I think the fact that he was blind made them blind, too. They unconsciously put themselves in his position—caring only about the music, not who was playing. [Pictured: George Shearing with New York disc jockey William B. Williams in 1951]

"That was the amazing thing about it all. The music was what was important above all, and George was all about the music.” [Pictured: John Levy]

Rather than jam everything in on this post, I think I'll write about George Shearing for much of this week. I hope you don't mind.

JazzWax tracks: Probably the finest George Shearing collection is the four-disc Proper Box from the U.K., George Shearing: From Battersea to Broadway. It captures Shearing's recordings from 1939 to 1951. You'll find it here.

Want to dig Shearing's big band writing? He wrote two arrangements for England's Ted Heath that I know of: A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square and Ladybird, recorded by Heath in 1947 and 1949, respectively. You'll find them on a dynamite collection of Heath's recordings here. Sample the tracks.

JazzWax clip: Here's one of my favorite clips of the George Shearing Quintet in 1950, with Shearing on piano, Joe Roland on vibes, Chuck Wayne on guitar, Denzil Best on drums—and dig John Levy on the white bass...

Comments

[Don]

Marc,

Nice tribute to Sir George. We're looking forward to your future blogs about this incredible pianist. I really enjoyed the Piano Jazz show with his old friend from England (Marian McPartland) years ago.

Don

[Bruce Armstrong]

One of my most memorable evenings of “live jazz” occurred in the mid-1960s when I had the opportunity to hear the George Shearing Quintet at Shelly’s Manne-Hole in Hollywood. The other members of the quintet were Joe Pass (guitar), Haygood Hardy (vibes), Bob Whitlock (bass) and Colin Bailey (drums)—talk about an all-star lineup! I still remember that Joe Pass was featured on a burning, up-tempo “Stella By Starlight” and George was right there with Joe, both comping and soloing at a ferocious tempo! Later in the evening everyone left the stage but George who played a beautiful solo version of “The Bad and the Beautiful.” He was a true jazz master. RIP Sir George.

[Win Hinkle]

Man, I would loved to hear that version of the Bad And The Beautiful. I'll see if he recorded it. Very few people have made the comparison but I believe that Bill Evans owes a great deat to Shearing. The blocking is only part of it. I look forward to an entire week of posts about Shearing. Levy has offered new insight to George. Perhaps Marian could offer even more.
Beautiful.

[Juan Torras Barba]

I have got all of his vinyl records that they were more than 120...And I was his number 1 fan in Europe....

[Juan Torras Barba]

George influenced master Bill Evans very much.He did not missed any Shearing concerts in the 50,s.He also admired the master touch of Ray Bryant one of the my favourites pianists.
He also did many classical concerts by Mozart and Bach with symphonic orchestras.I have many letters from him.I met him several times and he told me :"you know about me more than myself do..."

[David Thompson]

I had the good fortune to study with George in NYC, back in 1981-82...
He was full of humor and warmth...and so incredibly bright and musically so masterful......He had a 9 ft Bosendorfer in his living room, and two Yamaha professional uprights in his teaching studio...We used to sit side by side, and work on songs and counterpoint..He had a supreme command of not only jazz, but of classical repertoire as well. I remember countless times he would stop in the middle of a tune like Stella By Starlight, and break into some Bach or Mozart or Chopin to illustrate a point about harmony, or to show how different composers had approached the same harmonic changes in different or similar ways. His wit was ever-present. He never missed a chance to say something humorous about a song, or the challenges of music and the piano, or to make fun of his own blindness....I remember one of his concerts in California at Paul Masson Winery...He announced to the audience that he was going to play a well known standard...."On a Clear Day..........(pause).....I still can't see a damn thing".......And so he did, playing a very modal dark rendition of the tune...... That was George...An amazing intellect and possessed with an incredibly strong will and passion for not only music, but for life itself.....If youve never listened to his solo album: George Shearing, Solo Piano, My Ship...give a listen sometime....
http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1176848/a/My+Ship.htm

just a masterpiece of an album played by one of the truly great pianists of our time.......
Here is a link to the one of his appearances with good friend Marian McPartland on Piano Jazz, back in 1987.....it really says it all....George will be greatly missed...

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=120607605&m=120567691