Lullaby of Birdland: The Autobiography of George Shearing

by George Shearing, Alyn Shipton

Pianist George Shearing is that rare thing, a European jazz musician who became a household name in the US, as a result of the "Shearing sound"―the recordings of his historic late 1940s quintet. Together with his unique "locked hands" approach to playing the piano, Shearing's quintet with guitar and vibraphone in close harmony to his own playing revolutionized small group jazz, and ensured that after seven years as Melody Maker's top British pianist, he achieved even greater success in America. His compositions have been recorded by everyone from Sarah Vaughan to Miles Davis, and his best known pieces include "Lullaby of Birdland", "She" and "Conception". His story is all the more remarkable because Shearing was born blind. His candid reminiscences include a behind the scenes experience of New York's 52nd Street in its heyday, as well as memories of a vast roll-call of professional colleagues that includes all the great names in jazz.

Genres: Biography

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2000

Reviews

[Annabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was given by Berneval Montes. Beloved piano teacher, fellow bibliophile, and dear friend.

I was not always a fan of jazz. And the Shearing sound is something that grew on me over the years. I may have heard George Shearing's music before, but the first time I consciously listened to him was on a pirated CD. I can't recall the album, but I know I was generally unimpressed. George Shearing came into my periphery around the same time I discovered how to burn CDs, sometime in 2000. Shearing was and is not a mainstream staple in the Philippines, and I never saw his albums at any of the established music stores (back then, if you asked for jazz, they gave you Kenny G). I discovered his music in a hole-in-the-wall shop of what-nots in Tanjay town, selling for fifty pesos per (pirated) CD. But he was just one of my wonderful finds. I also found CDs featuring Ray Anthony and Paul Weston, and an album that remains one of my favorites: The Best of The Norman Luboff Choir.

A few years down the line, my mom's close friend (Aning Diago) mentioned something in passing that piqued my interest: George Shearing was blind. By this time, the internet had evolved, and I had access to Napster and Limewire, where I could download song titles on demand (albeit at an average, dial-up pace of 30-40 minutes per song--with the chance of termination each time the phone rang). I remember finding some titles I liked and burning these on CD, as there were no USBs then. I decided I liked his playing, for as long as he played the songs I already liked in the first place.

Fast forward to 2013 and 2014, when jazz fan Oscar Peñaranda lent me a hard drive filled with late-night recordings from a San Francisco jazz station. I listened to some of it, but wasn't really taken with the selections, since I felt most of the songs were too heavy on the bass. But I have a weakness for melancholic music. And while hammering on my laptop one morning I heard the sparest, the simplest, unhurried opening notes to what I assumed would be the introduction to another sassy, brassy song. The intro took over a minute before the song revealed itself to be a very sedate, melancholic take on that sassiest, brassiest of ditties, Mack the Knife. Purely piano, it took my breath away. And I realized, if this classifies as jazz, then classify me a fan. I've pursued more of the Shearing sound since then, and another arrangement I especially like is his splicing of Erik Satie's Gymnopedie into his version of Lorenz Hart's It Never Entered My Mind.

Reading Shearing's book felt like a very candid series of conversations with the guy over wine and cheese. All for me--spoiled by his mother as a kid, the guy's self-imposed eating preferences left much to be desired, and he never ate fish, cheese, Chinese food, among other many delectables. Were it not for his first wife Trixie, Shearing would not have achieved this much success as a performer. Second to his father, who bought him a piano for the princely sum of five pounds, plus three pounds for a couple of piano lessons, it was Trixie who steered this gifted child-turned-musical virtuoso into the George Shearing we know today. In those early gritty days of wartime gigs and hustling for rations, it was Trixie who drove for him, even during the height of the London bombings, Trixie who loaded and unloaded musical instruments from a station wagon in the heady days of Shearing's initial quintet, and Trixie who dealt with bookings, agents, managers. All this while pregnant, nursing a child, and keeping house. She was roadie, manager, minder, and all-around PA, whose dedication and hard work were perfectly matched by his musical talent and flair. And he owes it all to his playing what must have been a particularly inspiring rendition of All the Things You Are, which prompted Trixie to approach the piano bench and engage him in conversation. It was sad to read of their divorce, and the perfunctory manner he narrated her exit. I admire his insistence in keeping mum about the factors that led to their breakup, but the fact that the book contains no photos of his first wife but quite a few of his second, whom I admit was a more compatible match for him, makes me suspect it was acrimonious and contentious, at least at some point. His many friendships with musical legends I'm familiar with--Frank Sinatra (what a shame they never recorded, let alone jammed together), Nat King Cole, Johnny Mercer, Mel Torme, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vauhgn--made this even more worthwhile reading (surprisingly missing was Hoagy Carmichael). But I guess what I'll remember most about this book is my visual of a blind young boy circling his block on a bicycle, confident and carefree as any other young, sighted boy on a bicycle. That momentum would eventually propel him to be the legend he is today.

Spotify links to George Shearing's Mack the Knife and It Never Entered My Mind:
https://open.spotify.com/track/2Xwcqb...
https://open.spotify.com/track/62M17H...