R.I.P. George Shearing

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From the BBC:

Anglo-American jazz pianist Sir George Shearing, best known for his song Lullaby of Birdland, has died in New York aged 91 of heart failure.

Blind from birth, he began his career in London before moving to the US in 1947 and becoming one of the best known jazz pianists of the post-war era.

Made an OBE in 1996 and knighted in 2007, he was renowned for his unusual “locked hands” style of playing.

Nat King Cole and Peggy Lee were among the music stars he worked with.

Sir George played for three US presidents as well as the Queen and led his own quintet for decades.

He was still performing into his 80s but suffered a serious fall in 2004 that led to months in hospital and nursing home care.

The previous year he had received a lifetime achievement honour at the BBC Jazz awards.

At the time of his knighthood, Sir George spoke fondly of his early years “playing in a pub for the equivalent of $5 a week”.

“Receiving such an honour as a knighthood might also show young people what can be achieved in life if one learns his craft and follows his dreams,” he added.

A sad day for Jazz – on earth, at least.

4 thoughts on “R.I.P. George Shearing”

  1. Ah music you could sing along to and actually hold your partner when you danced! Rather have a few scratchy 78s than a stack of Lady Gaaaag CD!

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  2. Jazz isn’t my thing, so I’m not greatly attracted to George Shearing’s music (my bad). I looked at a few yt videos of him playing, however, and he was doubtlessly a great musician – who will be missed by many.

    Arcade Fire beat out Lady Gaga for the best album Grammy Award last night. They’re a great group (in my opinion) from Montreal. I picked up their winning CD a couple of months ago, but had no idea it was in contention for a Grammy; I just liked the music.

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  3. Arcade Fire

    One of the biggest prizes handed out during the February 13 Grammy awards went to rockers Arcade Fire. Their highly acclaimed album “The Suburbs” was crowned Album of the Year. While Arcade Fire’s win was a surprise, it wasn’t totally unexpected, as “The Suburbs” dominated many critics’ best-of lists of 2010.
    Arcade Fire’s Win Butler was visibly stunned as the group accepted their trophy and then quickly rushed to perform the last song of the night. Band members Win and Will Butler are the grandsons of the late Alvino Ray, W6UK.
    The song “We Used to Wait” from their winning album relates to communications and, during their concert performances of the song, the band displays images of Amateur Radio QSL cards. Arcade Fire was profiled in an article by Allen Pitts, W1AGP, that appeared in the November 2010 issue of QST.

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  4. Thank God for recordings.
    Proving his creativity and his adeptness, George was able to move so easily from genre to genre within even one song, and then keep reminding us the primary envelope was jazz all the while. He just had a lot of fun doin’ his thing, performing, making people happy with his music. What is it with those blind guys?
    Sorry to hear of his passing.

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