[78-L] George Shearing

[JD]

> Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:10:18 +0000
> From: Royal Pemberton <ampex354 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [78-L] George Shearing
> To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
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> One of the first 78s I heard or had as a kid was MGM 11354, 'Lullaby of
> Birdland'/'When lights are low'....played it beyond to death.

To hear what Shearing was really capable of one must hear the London and 
Discovery solo & tro 78s
of circa 1947-48 which predate the more commercial but still great quintet. 
Along with Bill Evans and Teddy Wilson he was one of the most innovative 
jazz pianists of all time, invented a new piano style and was a colossal 
musician. On some of those 78s on up-tempo jazz choruses he does what seems 
almost impossible, phrasing like a jazz trumpet or saxophone player, ie: a 
wind instrument. A true original and a great loss to the music arts.
Jack Daney