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
Love Love
George Shearing Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
O is for the only one I see.
V is very, very extraordinary.
E is even more than anyone that you adore can.
Love is all that I can give to you,
Love is more than just a game for two.
Two in love can make it.
Love was made for me and you.
L is for the way you look at me.
O is for the only one I see.
V is very, very extraordinary.
E is even more than anyone that you adore can.
Love is all that I can give to you,
Love is more than just a game for two.
Two in love can make it.
Take my heart and please don't break it,
Love was made for me and you.
(That's almost true)
For me and you.
The song "Love" by George Shearing and Mel Torme is a classic love song that explores the idea of love being more than just a fleeting emotion, but rather a profound and extraordinary experience. The lyrics are simple but powerful, with each letter in the word "love" representing a different aspect of the emotion. "L" represents the way your partner looks at you with admiration and affection, "O" symbolizes the uniqueness and exclusivity of the love between two individuals, "V" represents the intensity and extraordinariness of the experience of love, and "E" stands for the ineffable nature of love that cannot be fully described or contained by words.
The chorus of the song emphasizes the message that love is the ultimate gift one can give to another. Love is more than just a game for two people, but rather a bond that two people can build upon to create a lasting and meaningful relationship. Two people in love can overcome any obstacle and work together to create a life filled with happiness, warmth, and care. The song ends with the tagline "Love was made for me and you," which reinforces the idea that love is a universal emotion that transcends all boundaries and brings people together in a beautiful and meaningful way.
Overall, "Love" by George Shearing and Mel Torme is a timeless classic that embodies the universal nature of love and its power to bring people together. With its simple yet poignant lyrics and soothing melody, the song continues to inspire people to embrace love in all its forms and celebrate the ways in which it enriches our lives.
Line by Line Meaning
L is for the way you look at me.
I feel loved when you look at me with admiration and affection.
O is for the only one I see.
You are the only person I can see and love with all my heart and soul.
V is very, very extraordinary.
Our love is unique and exceptional, unlike any other relationship.
E is even more than anyone that you adore can.
My love for you is beyond anyone else's love that you may admire and cherish.
Love is all that I can give to you,
All I can give you is my love, which is invaluable and priceless.
Love is more than just a game for two.
Love is not a mere game or a competition for us, it is a sacred commitment.
Two in love can make it.
Our love for each other can conquer all hardships and difficulties that come our way.
Take my heart and please don't break it,
I trust you with my heart, please don't hurt me and shatter my trust.
Love was made for me and you.
We were destined to love and cherish each other, nothing can ever change that.
(That's almost true)
Our love for each other is almost too good to be true, but it is real and everlasting.
For me and you.
Our love is only for us, no one else can ever come between us.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: RALPH BLANE, HUGH MARTIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
mark warrington
great pianist and entertainer and a gentleman