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
How Deep Is The Ocean
George Shearing Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'll tell you no lie
How deep is the ocean?
How high is the sky?
How many times a day do I think of you?
How many roses are sprinkled with dew?
To be where you are?
How far is the journey
From here to a star?
And if I ever lost you, how much would I cry?
How deep is the ocean?
How high is the sky?
How far would I travel
To be where you are?
How far is the journey
From here to a star?
And if I ever lost you, how much would I cry?
How deep is the ocean?
How high is the sky?
How high is the sky?
The lyrics of the song "How Deep Is The Ocean" by George Shearing are a series of questions that express the depth of love the singer feels for their significant other. The recurring refrain "How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky?" serves as a metaphor for the vast and infinite nature of the love between the two individuals. The singer asks how much they love their partner, answering with the rhetorical question, "How deep is the ocean?" The ocean represents a symbol of eternity and depth, emphasizing the depth of feelings that they have for their significant other. They then ask how often they think of them in a day and how many roses are sprinkled with dew, indicating that they are constantly on their mind and are viewed as a precious and delicate entity.
The lyrics also allude to the long distances the singer would go to be with their lover, asking how far they would need to travel to be where they are, and how far it is to journey from Earth to a star. The final lines express the fear of losing their partner, stating that the tears they would shed would be equivalent to the depth of the ocean and the height of the sky.
Line by Line Meaning
How much do I love you?
I want to communicate my love to you, and I am not being untruthful.
How deep is the ocean?
I want to illustrate the magnitude of my love for you by comparing it to the vastness of the ocean.
How high is the sky?
I want to quantify my love for you by comparing it to the infinite height of the sky.
How many times a day do I think of you?
You are constantly in my thoughts, and I am always contemplating our relationship.
How many roses are sprinkled with dew?
I am using hyperbole to express how much you mean to me by imagining a beautiful landscape of dew-covered roses.
How far would I travel to be where you are?
I am willing to go to great lengths and distances to be in your presence.
How far is the journey from here to a star?
I am again using hyperbole to express the immense distance I am willing to travel to be with you.
And if I ever lost you, how much would I cry?
The thought of losing you is devastating, and I cannot imagine the pain I would feel.
How high is the sky?
I am repeating this metaphor to reinforce the vastness of my love for you.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: IRVING BERLIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Yuma Uesaka
My Ship 0:00
Yesterdays 4:57
Happy Days Are Here Again 7:50
When I Fall In Love 10:30
Londonderry Air 14:34
April In Paris 16:51
The Entertainer 22:05
Tenderly 24:52
How Deep Is The Ocean 28:10
Autumn In New York 31:27
Greensleeves 34:36
Send In The Clowns 39:58
Yuma Uesaka
My Ship 0:00
Yesterdays 4:57
Happy Days Are Here Again 7:50
When I Fall In Love 10:30
Londonderry Air 14:34
April In Paris 16:51
The Entertainer 22:05
Tenderly 24:52
How Deep Is The Ocean 28:10
Autumn In New York 31:27
Greensleeves 34:36
Send In The Clowns 39:58
Reisser Jean-Michel, aka Beethoven
Fabulous album, recorded on one of the very best piano n the world, the very famous piano at MPS studio in Villingen, Scharztwald, Germany, Steinway Hamburg, handed made. I went to this place a dozens time. Every body played on that piano, Basie, Duke, Oscar, Erroll, Bill Evans, Monty Alexander, George, Friedrich Gulda, Andre Previn etc etc and they all said that was one of the 3 best piano in the world at that time. This recording is a great Masterpiece to me. You did a great job on that Man. Bravo !
romi
its a Bösendorfer Imperial Grand
Leandro Fortes - Music
What an amazing performance! Thanks for Shearing !
Matt Holland
This is my most favorite solo piano album of all time. Incredible blending of jazz and classical concepts, and some unexpected tunes and singing along the way. Mr. Shearing creates a great musical conversation with each piece, taking you through thoughtful ups and downs, choruses and verses, making this recording stand out in stark contrast to other solo jazz recordings that might lose you along their meandering way. One of the finest solo recordings for piano ever produced no doubt. I believe the original liner notes speak of an experimental recording technique as well, which is responsible for the rich base, balanced tones, and incredibly full sound for one piano.
eric liang
thank you for uploading this; one of the most beautiful solo piano albums of all time imo. george was the best
Bryan West
Thank you for the transcription. The piano sounds excellent, great tone and clarity over the whole range, good job, great music.
Christoph Ueberhorst
Fantastic swinging version of When I fall in love. The runs alone are totally fascinating!!!
Najponk Jazz
This is gorgeous 🎹 I bought this LP few years ago in Villingen MPS studio where we did recorded my trio for HGBS records....
Donald SCHERZI
Great album and piano arrangements.