George Shearing at 82

(Compiled from an April 2002 phone interview)


George Shearing is a man who knows what he does and does not want from both his music and from life in general. But then, the legendary pianist and composer has the benefit of 82 years in which to have ordered his priorities.

His musical artistry has taken Shearing from his birth in the Battersea area of London to performing at the White House to his investiture by Queen Elizabeth II as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Along the way he has written over 300 compositions including the classics “Lullaby of Birdland” and “September In The Rain.”

Shearing’s international reputation as a performer places him in the highest echelons of improvised music. The creation in 1949 of the unique aural blend of the Shearing Quintet combining piano, guitar and vibes with bass and drums is in itself a milestone in the development of Jazz.

During a phone call from his New York apartment Shearing termed his long time associate bassist Neil Swainson as, “Perhaps the finest bassist with whom I’ve ever worked.” High praise from one who has teamed with such giants of the bass as Ray Brown.

However when discussing the vicissitudes of life as an itinerant pianist Shearing serves notice that he is not about to tolerate what he deems a substandard instrument. Of such instruments he says, “I try not to be exposed to them because I have certain expectations which I expect to be met. Otherwise I might be saddled with an upright piano, four keys not working and that’s not going to do me any good at all. As a matter of fact, apart from not doing me any good, it dampens considerably my ability as a pianist.”

While Shearing’s abilities enable him to possess a musical composition and make it his own, he does have boundaries when choosing material. As the pianist put it, he looks for , “Good harmonies, a naturally flowing melody and good construction. In other words if somebody were to come to me and say I’ve got this tune (sings melody to Yankee Doodle) I would say. . Next!”

According to Shearing the ideal combination of music and lyric is what he seeks. “You see I don’t only look for a tune, I look for a lyric as well. And, how well the lyric fits the tune. I love lyrics, I mean this is where maybe two-thirds of the intelligence of a song resides.”

But no matter how good his source material may be, Shearing is not above, as he put it, “taking liberties.” He explained, I’ve been fortunate enough in meeting Steven Sondheim several times. One of the times I said to him, ‘Steven I don’t know if you have heard my recording of “Send In The Clowns.” If you did, I hope that you didn’t mind my taking a little bit of liberty with the lyrics. I had changed some of the note values around so the lyrics made more sense. He said, ‘No be my guest that’s fine.’ He’s a very intelligent man.”

When asked for his view of the future of jazz, Shearing admits to an unawareness of bordering on unconcern with the next big thing saying, “You know I’m sorry but maybe I’m too old to be bothered about what’s coming up.”
Shearing went on to say that if someone were to ask him about a song written in the past several years his reply would be, “I don’t. know and I don’t expect anything. I know it’s an elitist attitude. I think that between them Jerome Kern and Cole Porter and those people have said the whole thing.”

There surely is no fear of being left behind by the passing parade in George Shearing. To illustrate the point he said, “I know I should keep up more but I’m still trying to discover what there is to keep up with.”