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
Nobody
George Shearing Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Heigh-ho, who cares?
Nobody writes his songs to me
No one belongs to me
That's the least of my cares
I may be sad at times and disinclined to play
But it's not bad at times to go your own sweet way
Nobody's arms belong to me
I admire the moon
As a moon
Just a moon
Nobody's heart belongs to me today
Ride, Amazon, ride
Hunt your stags and bears
Take life in its stride
Heigh-ho, who cares?
Go hunting with pride
Track bears to their lairs
Ride, Amazon, ride
Heigh-ho, who cares?
Nobody's heart belongs to me
Heigh-ho, that's bad
Love's never sung her songs to me
I have never been had
I've had no trial in the game of man and maid
I'm like a violin that no one's ever played
Words about love are Greek to me
Nice girls won't speak to me
I despise the moon
As a moon
It's a prune
Nobody's heart belongs to me today
The lyrics of George Shearing's song Nobody's Heart are about a person who feels detached and disconnected from the world around them. The singer in the song has never experienced love and seems to have no desire for it either. They are content to go their own way and not be tied down by the expectations of society. The lyrics suggest a sense of loneliness and alienation, but also a degree of independence and freedom.
The first stanza of the song describes the singer's lack of romantic attachments. Nobody's heart belongs to them, nobody writes songs for them. They are indifferent to these things, however, describing them as the least of their cares. They may feel sad or uninspired at times, but they are also happy to have the freedom to do as they please. The following stanza continues this theme, describing the fact that the singer has never been in love and has had no experience with the game of man and maid. The lyrics suggest a certain distance from the world of romance and a lack of interest in it.
The final couplet of the song, "I despise the moon / As a moon / It's a prune", is a curious one. It suggests a sense of disillusionment or cynicism, as if the singer is no longer able to see the beauty in things that are traditionally associated with romance and love. The use of the word "prune" is also quite jarring, as it is an unexpected comparison to make. Overall, the song conveys a sense of detachment and independence, as well as a certain sadness or dissatisfaction with the status quo.
Line by Line Meaning
Nobody's heart belongs to me
I am single and nobody loves me
Heigh-ho, who cares?
I don't care
Nobody writes his songs to me
I don't have a songwriter writing songs for me
No one belongs to me
I don't have anyone who belongs to me
That's the least of my cares
I don't care much about it
I may be sad at times and disinclined to play
Sometimes I feel sad and don't feel like doing anything
But it's not bad at times to go your own sweet way
However, it's not bad to do things on my own
Nobody's arms belong to me
Nobody holds me tight
No arms feel strong to me
Nobody makes me feel strong or protected
I admire the moon
I like the moon
As a moon
Just as a natural satellite orbiting the earth
Just a moon
Nothing more than a moon
Nobody's heart belongs to me today
Today, like any other day, nobody loves me
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: LORENZ HART, RICHARD RODGERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
William Parker
such sadness in Larry Hart's lyric's; thinly veiled reflection of his life, but beautiful.
Local French Man
Lyrics :
Nobody's heart belongs to me
Hiegh ho, who cares
Nobody writes his songs for me
No one belongs to me
That's the least of my cares
I may be sad at times
And disinclined to play
But it's not bad at times
To go your own sweet way
Nobody's arms belong to me
No arms feel strong to me
I admire the moon as a moon, just a moon
Nobody's heart belongs to me today
vfr.marc
A definitive version of this bittersweet and unusual refrain by Rodgers and Hart.
福田ゴンベイ
Ｉ ｂｏｕｇｈｔ ｔｈｉｓ ａｌｂｕｌ ｗｈｅｎ Ｉ ｗａｓ 20 years old but ｎｏｗ ｓtill be ｍｙ ｔｒｅａｓｕｒｅ and forever.
David Anthony Stone
wonderful, I love Doris Day with Andre Previn at piano
badkarmabaroo
Haunting.
wikatas
j'ai l'album vinyl ,le même et cette chanson n'est pas deçu??????pourtant j'ai l'original...
Erdman West III
I have the LP and this isn't on it. hhmmmmm