A girl can’t get enough zylophone. A new TOP 30 album of 2012 and jazz to boot! This was real score last week at the thrift store on Cumberland in Courtenay. It has a room full of records 3 for 1.50! George Shearing Quintet recorded in Santa Monica, California. I know nothing about jazz other than I love it. This album, played loudly.. is dynamite. It reminds me of living in Nova Scotia and visiting Kate’s parent’s house ~ where her dad had jazz blasting through speakers in each room, as early as 5 am. I’m not sure what he’d say about this album? or my taste? Also Kate ~ Jack Kerouac was a big fan of Shearing’s before others even heard of either of them.
George Shearing’s autobiography “Lullaby of Birdland” is available at Amazon.com
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. 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.
Here’s his website where he most certainly looks like an older Chevy Chase! click here for george shearing quintet home page
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.’ In 1970, he began to “phase out his by-now-predictable quintet”[1] and disbanded the group in 1978.
dropping the needle...
