Search - George Shearing :: Lullabies of Birdland: A Musical Autobiography

"There Is No Greater Love Than What I Feel For You"

Rebecca*rhapsodyinblue* | CA USA | 06/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

""How was it that a British-born blind pianist came to take the United States by storm with what became known as "The Shearing Sound?" ~ Alyn Shipton, Liner Notes ~



If you can appreciate the combined artistry and elegance of the legendary and notable jazz pianist, George Shearing, then you'll absolutely love this 2-CD-set featuring his musical autobiography. This is a showcase of his famous recordings most remarkably "September In The Rain," "Lullaby of Birdland," "You're My Everything," "Darn That Dream," "Easy To Love," "Too Late Now," "It Might As Well Be Spring" and "There Is No Greater Love." On some of the tracks, he is supported by some of the greatest jazz artists such as Wes Montgomery (guitar), Mel Torme, Joe Williams, Ernestine Anderson and Carmen McRae (vocals), Toots Thielemans (guitar), Marian McPartland (piano), Tito Fuente (percussion) and Ray Brown (bass), among many other jazz greats.



George Shearing has achieved a distinguished career in music and has proved himself to be a very creative piano player and arranger as well. His artistry is timeless and all of his recordings, performed solo or with partnership with other artists, are so innovative and musically significant.



My very favorite is a wonderful performance by The George Shearing Trio of a beautiful song "There Is No Greater Love" recorded in New York in May of 1987, featuring his jazz piano artistry, Ray Brown's bass and Marvin Smith's drums. You'll also enjoy the Latin-infused jazz arrangement of "Mambo Inn," and delight with "Heart and Soul," a composition by Hoagy Carmichael and Frank Loesser, with vocals by Joe Williams. "It Might As Well Be Spring" is another charmer with Mel Torme's vocals to add beauty to it.



Two classically-sounding tunes that beguiled my ears are "Emily" and "I've Got You Under My Skin." These are by far the most beautiful instrumental performances and Mr. Shearing does a great job in injecting that Debussy touch to his arrangements. In "Emily," the musical conversation between Mr. Shearing's piano and Jim Hall's guitar (two of my top favorite musical instruments), is just brilliantly mesmerizing. Same with "I've Got You Under My Skin," which features Barry Tuckwell on french horn.



"Lullaby Of Birdland" is also a stunner. It was recorded live at Kan-I Hoken Hall in Tokyo, Japan (November 1987) and features a duet with Neil Swainson on bass and was appreciatively received by a responsive audience. After this performance, the emcee said, "Mr. George Shearing - the BEST!" There are two other arrangements of this definitive George Shearing masterpiece.



One of my very highlights is a live recording of "New York, New York Medley" at Paul Masson Mountain Winery in Saratoga, California in August of 1987, with Mel Torme's interesting intro - here goes . . . (I'm transcribing as I listen). Mel Torme fans shouldn't miss this one.



Audience: Applause . . .



Mel Torme: "Thank you beautiful audience, thank you so much, we really appreciate it. And George, you've got a gorgeous apartment in New York City. And I love New York. So New York, candidly, is really on both of our minds. Would you, my fellow constituents, [laughter] would you please suspend . . . for just about four minutes and twelve seconds your natural California Chauvinism, okay? [laughter]. Won't you think about Liza Minnelli, won't you think about Robert De Niro, think about a certain movie they made together, then think about Sinatra - big hit record that he had - off of the title song of that movie. If you'll do that, nothing more - you'll have a rough idea of what we're going to do for you . . . right now. . . you know what we're going to do now, right? . . . Wrong!



And follows a bubbly and infectious medley of "For Me And My Gal," "Mack The Knife," "Birth Of The Blues," "Send A Little Love My Way" and "How High The Moon."



George Shearing: "Okay, Melvie, sing it already!"



Mel Torme now singing "New York, New York" . . . "Start spreading the news. . ."



Mr. Shearing has this to say about Mel Torme, "Both Mel and I felt that we were one musical mind contained in two separate bodies. He is the only person I've ever worked with where I always knew we could go on stage and do a show at the very highest level, without any rehearsal at all. It was a case of having ONE MUSICAL MIND."



This is a great collection of George Shearing's most remarkable hits of all-time. Very highly recommended!



Enjoy the music! ;)"