Shearing was born in the Battersea area of London, United Kingdom. Congenitally blind, he was the youngest of nine children. He started to learn piano at the age of three. After limited training and extensive listening to recorded jazz, he began playing at hotels, clubs and pubs in the London area, sometimes solo, occasionally with dance bands. In 1940, Shearing joined Harry Parry's popular band and became a star in Britain, performing for the BBC, playing with Stéphane Grappelli's London-based groups of the early 1940s, and winning seven consecutive Melody Maker polls.
In 1946, Shearing established himself in the United States. In 1955, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Leading a quintet (piano with guitar, bass, drums and vibraphone), which over the years included Cal Tjader, Margie Hyams, Denzil Best, Israel Crosby, Joe Pass and Gary Burton, Shearing had a succession of hugely popular records including September In The Rain and his own composition, Lullaby Of Birdland (1952). His style, including the joint playing of the melody by piano and vibraphone, was also widely copied, becoming part of the idiom of pop music, so that his records from that period now sound far less innovative than they did at the time. Later, Shearing played with a trio, as a solo and increasingly in duo. Among his collaborations have been sets with the Montgomery Brothers, Marian McPartland, Brian Torff, Jim Hall, Hank Jones and Kenny Davern.
In the 1970s, Shearing's profile had been lowered considerably, but upon signing with Concord Records in 1979, Shearing found himself enjoying a renaissance.
Over the years, Shearing has also collaborated with singers including Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Ernestine Anderson, Carmen McRae, and most notably, Mel Tormé, with whom he performed frequently in the late 80s and early 90s at festivals, on radio and for recordings.
Recently, Shearing collaborated with the John Pizzarelli Trio to create the album The Rare Delight of You, which garnered extremely good reviews. The album cover, featuring Pizzarelli and Shearing posing in front of a solid blue background, was designed to resemble the cover of Nat King Cole Sings George Shearing Plays, a legendary jazz recording with which it shares some similarities in style.
Shearing's interest in classical music resulted in some performances with concert orchestras in the 1950s and 1960s, and his solo's frequently draw upon the music of Debussy and, particularly, Erik Satie for inspiration. Shearing also made a recording with the classical French horn player Barry Tuckwell.
Shearing wrote a number of jazz arrangements of hymn tunes for the organ in collaboration with organist Dale Wood, that have been published in sheet music form.
(2) For a long stretch of time in the 1950s and early '60s, George Shearing had one of the most popular jazz combos on the planet -- so much so that, in the usual jazz tradition of distrusting popular success, he tended to be underappreciated. Shearing's main claim to fame was the invention of a unique quintet sound, derived from a combination of piano, vibraphone, electric guitar, bass, and drums. Within this context, Shearing would play in a style he called "locked hands," which he picked up and refined from Milt Buckner's early-'40s work with the Lionel Hampton band, as well as Glenn Miller's sax section and the King Cole Trio. Stating the melody on the piano with closely knit, harmonized block chords, with the vibes and guitar tripling the melody in unison, Shearing sold tons of records for MGM and Capitol in his heyday.
The wild success of this urbane sound obscures Shearing's other great contribution during this time, for he was also a pioneer of exciting, small-combo Afro-Cuban jazz in the '50s. Indeed, Cal Tjader first caught the Latin jazz bug while playing with Shearing, and the English bandleader also employed such esteemed congueros as Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, and Armando Peraza. As a composer, Shearing was best known for the imperishable, uniquely constructed bop standard "Lullaby of Birdland," as well as "Conception" and "Consternation." His solo style, though all his own, reflected the influences of the great boogie-woogie pianists and classical players, as well as those of Fats Waller, Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Erroll Garner, Art Tatum, and Bud Powell -- and fellow pianists long admired his light, refined touch. He was also known to play accordion and sing in a modest voice on occasion.
Shearing, who was born blind, began playing the piano at the age of three, receiving some music training at the Linden Lodge School for the Blind in London as a teenager but picking up the jazz influence from Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller 78s. In the late '30s, he started playing professionally with the Ambrose dance band and made his first recordings in 1937 under the aegis of fellow Brit Leonard Feather. He became a star in Britain, performing for the BBC, playing a key role in the self-exiled Stéphane Grappelli's London-based groups of the early '40s, and winning seven consecutive Melody Maker polls before emigrating in New York City in 1947 at the prompting of Feather. Once there, Shearing quickly absorbed bebop into his bloodstream, replacing Garner in the Oscar Pettiford Trio and leading a quartet in tandem with Buddy DeFranco. In 1949, he formed the first and most famous of his quintets, which included Marjorie Hyams on vibes (thus striking an important blow for emerging female jazz instrumentalists), Chuck Wayne on guitar, John Levy on bass, and Denzil Best on drums. Recording briefly first for Discovery, then Savoy, Shearing settled into lucrative associations with MGM (1950-1955) and Capitol (1955-1969), the latter for which he made albums with Nancy Wilson, Peggy Lee, and Nat King Cole. He also made a lone album for Jazzland with the Montgomery Brothers (including Wes Montgomery) in 1961, and began playing concert dates with symphony orchestras.
After leaving Capitol, Shearing began to phase out his by-then-predictable quintet, finally breaking it up in 1978. He started his own label, Sheba, which lasted for a few years into the early '70s -- and made some trio recordings for MPS later in the decade. In the '70s, his profile had been lowered considerably, but upon signing with Concord in 1979, Shearing found himself enjoying a renaissance in all kinds of situations. He made a number of acclaimed albums with Mel Tormé, raising the singer's profile in the process, and recorded with the likes of Ernestine Anderson, Jim Hall, Marian McPartland, Hank Jones, and classical French horn player Barry Tuckwell. He also recorded a number of solo piano albums where his full palette of influences came into play. He signed with Telarc in 1992 and from that point through the early 2000s continued to perform and record, most often appearing in a duo or trio setting. Shearing, who had remained largely inactive since 2004 after a fall in his New York City apartment, died of congestive heart failure at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital on February 14, 2011. He was 91. ~ Richard S. Ginell, Rovi
Bop
George Shearing Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She was just Miss Jones to me.
And then I said, "Miss Jones, you're a girl who understands
I'm a man who must be free."
And all at once I lost my breath, and all at once was scared to death,
And all at once I owned the earth and sky.
And now I've met Miss Jones, and we'll keep on meeting till we die,
Miss Jones and I.
And all at once I lost my breath, and all at once was scared to death,
And all at once I owned the earth and the sky.
Now I've met Miss Jones, and we'll keep on meeting till we die,
Miss Jones and I, Miss Jones and I, Miss Jones and I.
The song "Have You Met Miss Jones?" by George Shearing tells the story of a man who meets a woman named Miss Jones and falls in love with her. The song opens with the man meeting someone who asks if he has met Miss Jones. At that point, she was just another person to him, but once he met her, everything changed. He tells her that he is a man who must be free, but he finds himself losing his breath and feeling scared to death in her presence. However, he also feels that he owns the earth and sky. The song ends with the assertion that the man and Miss Jones will keep meeting until they die.
The lyrics of "Have You Met Miss Jones?" have a sense of whimsy and romance to them. The repeated refrain of "Miss Jones and I" gives the song a sense of continuity and emphasis on their relationship. Throughout the song, the lyrics describe the feeling of falling in love in a way that many people can relate to – the way that meeting someone special can make you feel like you own the world. The musical interlude in the middle of the song breaks up the lyrics and gives the listener a chance to enjoy the melody and the skills of the musicians playing it.
Line by Line Meaning
Have you met Miss Jones? someone said as we shook hands,
I was introduced to a woman named Miss Jones while meeting someone else.
She was just Miss Jones to me.
I didn't know much about her and didn't have a personal relationship with her.
And then I said, "Miss Jones, you're a girl who understands / I'm a man who must be free."
I expressed to Miss Jones that I valued her understanding of my need for personal freedom.
And all at once I lost my breath, and all at once was scared to death, / And all at once I owned the earth and sky.
I experienced a rush of emotions and felt overwhelmed by the intensity of the moment, as if the world was mine to conquer.
And now I've met Miss Jones, and we'll keep on meeting till we die, / Miss Jones and I.
Despite my initial reservations, I am now involved with Miss Jones and we will continue to see each other until death separates us.
(musical interlude)
There is a pause in the lyrics for a musical interlude.
And all at once I lost my breath, and all at once was scared to death, / And all at once I owned the earth and the sky.
Again, I experienced strong emotions and felt a sense of power and control over my surroundings.
Now I've met Miss Jones, and we'll keep on meeting till we die, / Miss Jones and I, Miss Jones and I, Miss Jones and I.
I reiterate my commitment to Miss Jones, acknowledging her importance in my life by repeating her name three times.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., IMAGEM MUSIC INC
Written by: LORENZ HART, RICHARD RODGERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Terencio jazzpiano
Nice ! Shearing himself really liked this album, according to his biography.
He spends a few pages complimenting Burton's writing and arranging.
S. Flavius Mercurius
Sort of Third Stream. Bach counterpoint meets jazz.
vova47
Strange tune and it certainly doesn't swing despite some good players involved,
LtoTheM.H
This certainly swings buddy!