JOHN ABERCOMBIE

Born 1944 in Port Chester, NY, John Abercrombie grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, and began playing the guitar at the age of fourteen. By the time he was out of high school, he was ready to veer away from imitative Chuck Berry licks in favor of learning to play the instrument more seriously. While enrolled at Boston's Berklee College of Music, Abercrombie worked with other students and played local clubs and bars. "it was pretty much your standard guitar-organ-drums set up."


An offer to tour with organist Johnny Hammond led to his going on the road for weeks at a time, playing such spots as Count Basie's Lounge and the Club Baron in Harlem. During that same period, Abercrombie met the Brecker Brothers who were in the process of forming Dreams. They invited Abercrombie to play with them, and he was heard on Dreams' debut album on Columbia.

In 1969, following graduation from Berklee, Abercrombie decided to head south in hopes of breaking into the New York music scene. In the next few years he developed into one of New York's most in-demand session musicians. He recorded with Gil Evans, Gato Barbieri, Barry Miles and many other artists, and also became a regular with Chico Hamilton's group.

It was as the guitarist in Billy Cobham's band that Abercrombie first began attracting widespread attention among the general public. This ensemble was something of a Dreams reunion since it also featured the Brecker Brothers. Abercrombie is heard on Cobham's Crosswinds, Total Eclipse and Shabazz albums. He found himself playing large concert halls and arenas, on bills with such top rock attractions as the Doobie Brothers. "One night we appeared at the Spectrum in Philadelphia and I thought, what am I doing here?"

A short time later, at the Montreux Festival, Abercrombie ran into Manfred Eicher who invited him to record an album for ECM, The result was Timeless, on which he was joined by Jan Hammer and Jack DeJohnette. It received virtually unanimous critical acclaim. Gateway was released in November 1975; it marked the first collaborative effort of Abercrombie with DeJohnette and bassist Dave Holland. A second Gateway recording was released in June 1978. In 1979, Abercrombie formed his own quartet, which included pianist Richie Beirach, bassist George Mraz and drummer Peter Donald. The group has made three recordings: Arcade, Abercrombie Quartet, and M.

Abercrombie has also recorded with many other ECM artists; the most significant collaborations must surely be with drummer Jack DeJohnette (Abercrombie appears on all of DeJohnotte's Directions and Now Directions albums) and with fellow guitarist Ralph Towner. Abercrombie and Towners Sargasso Sea was released in 1976 and Five Years Later in 1982.

Abercrombie's touring trio with Mark Johnson and Peter Erskine is heard on Current Events, Getting There (with frequent guest Michael Brecker) and John Abercrombie/Marc Johnson/Peter Erskine. Critic, Chuck Berg has described the group as "solidified ... to the point where its sixth-sense interactions create a singleness of vision associated only with Olympian ensembles such as the trios of pianists Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson". On Current Events, released in 1988, John used guitar synthesizer for the first time on record. John Abercrombie/Marc Johnson/Peter Erskine, released in 1989, was recorded in Boston on April 21, 1988 and documents this innovative trio, live. Repertoire from their four-year association is presented, and standards often linked with Bill Evans are given resplendent treatment. On the 1990 release Animato, John collaborates with composer/synthesist, Vince Mendoza and drummer John Christenesen, and presents eight original compositions.

John's affinity for jazz standards complements his role as an active clinician and teacher. While preparing for a Harvard lecture, where John surveyed the history of jazz guitar, he explained 'When I'm playing tunes like Autumn Leaves or Stella By Starlight, as much as I've played those tunes over the years, I still enjoy playing them. And because I know them so well, I'm very free with them. I'm just as free with them as when I'm playing no chords at all. That, to me, is free jazz,"

John Abercrombie possesses a unique voice as a jazz guitarist combining evolving technologies with a tradition well represented by jazz standards. Further insight from a 1988 Jazziz interview:

Carrying on the tradition of jazz guitar from Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt to the present day is a very important aspect of my music… I'd like people to perceive me as having a direct connection to the history of jazz guitar, while expanding some musical boundaries which may not always involve the guitar itself.'

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John Abercrombie (born December 16, 1944 in Port Chester, New York) is an American Progressive jazz guitarist. Aside from his solo work he is known for his work with Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette and the Brecker Brothers. Abercrombie has recorded principally with the ECM label of Manfred Eicher. He also often explores the parameters of jazz fusion and post bop.

Abercrombie is 1967 graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He was presented with a Berklee College of Music Distinguished Alumni Award in 1998. Abercrombie's first notable recordings were two albums with the jazz-rock band Dreams in 1970.

The ongoing groups he has led or co-led include:

Gateway, with bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette (mid-1970s, and again mid-1990s)
duo with guitarist Ralph Towner (starting mid-1970s, occasionally through mid-1990s)
quartet with pianist Richie Beirach, bassist George Mraz, and drummer Peter Donald (late 1970s to early 1980s)
trio with bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Peter Erskine (mid-1980s to early 1990s)
trio with organist Dan Wall and drummer Adam Nussbaum (through 1990s)
quartet with violinist Mark Feldman, bassist Marc Johnson, and drummer Joey Baron (starting 2000)

Discography

Timeless (1974) with Jack DeJohnette & Jan Hammer
Characters (1977) solo
Arcade (1978) quartet with Richie Beirach
Straight Flight (1979)
Abercrombie Quartet (1979) quartet with Richie Beirach
M (1980) quartet with Richie Beirach
Night (1984) with Jack DeJohnette, Jan Hammer & Mike Brecker
Current Events (1985) with Marc Johnson & Peter Erskine
Getting There (1987) with Marc Johnson, Peter Erskine & Mike Brecker
John Abercrombie/Marc Johnson/Peter Erskine (1988) live
Animato (1989) with Vince Mendoza and Jon Christensen
While We're Young (1992) with Dan Wall and Adam Nussbaum
November (1993) with Marc Johnson, Peter Erskine & John Surman
Speak of the Devil (1994) with Dan Wall and Adam Nussbaum
Tactics (1996) with Dan Wall and Adam Nussbaum
Open Land (1999) with Dan Wall, Adam Nussbaum, Kenny Wheeler, Joe Lovano, Mark Feldman
Cat 'n' Mouse (2000) with Mark Feldman, Marc Johnson, & Joey Baron
Class Trip (2003) with Mark Feldman, Marc Johnson, & Joey Baron
Structures (2006) trio with Eddie Gomez and Gene Jackson
Farewell (2006) with George Mraz, Andy Laverne, Adam Nussbaum
The Third Quartet (2007) with Mark Feldman, Marc Johnson, & Joey Baron

With Gateway with Jack DeJohnette & Dave Holland:

Gateway (1975)
Gateway 2 (1977)
Homecoming (1994)
In the Moment (1994)

With Henri Texier:

Colonel Skopje (1988; 1995)

With Ralph Towner:

Sargasso Sea (1976)
Five Years Later (1981)

With Andy LaVerne

Nosmo King (1994)
Now It Can Be Played (1995)
Where We Were (1996)
A Nice Idea (2006)

With Kenny Wheeler:

Deer Wan (1977)
Music for Large & Small Ensembles (1990)
The Widow in the Window (1990)
It Takes Two! (2006)

With Marc Copland:

Second Look (1996)
That's For Sure (2002)
...And (2002)
Brand New (2004)

With Jeff Palmer:

Abracadabra (1987)
Ease On (1993)
Island Universe (1994)
Shades of the Pine (1994)
Bunin the Blues (2001)

With Lonnie Smith

Afro Blue (1993)
Purple Haze: Tribute to Jimi Hendrix (1995)
Foxy Lady: Tribute to Jimi Hendrix (1996)

With Charles Lloyd

Voice in the Night (1999)
The Water is Wide (2000)
Hyperion with Higgins (2001)
Lift Every Voice (2002)

With others:

Stark Reality Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop (1970) with Stark Reality
New Directions (1978) with Jack DeJohnette
Eventyr (1980) Jan Garbarek and Nana Vasconcelos
Drum Strum (1982) George Marsh, reissued as Upon a Time Album of Duets (1994)
Solar (1983) John Scofield
Witchcraft (1986) with Don Thompson
Emerald City (1987) with Richie Beirach
Landmarks (1991) Joe Lovano with Ken Werner, Marc Johnson and Bill Stewart
Double Variations (1990) Tim Brady
Brooklyn Blues (1991) Danny Gottlieb with Jeremy Steig, Gil Golstein, Chip Jackson
Electricity (1994) with Bob Brookmeyer and the WDR Big Band
Bush Crew (1995) Les Arbuckle, Mike Stern ,Essiet Okon Essiet, Victor Lewis
Standard Transmission (1997) Pat LaBarbera, Jim Vivian, Jacek Kochan
The Hudson Project (2000) Peter Erskine, John Patitucci & Bob Mintzer
Animations (2003) with John Basile
Three Guitars (2003) Badi Assad, and Larry Coryell
Speak Easy (2004) with Jarek Smietana, Harvie S, Adam Czerwinski
As We Speak (2006) Mark Egan trio with Danny Gottlieb
Baseline: The Guitar Album (2007) with Hein Van De Geyn
Topics (2007) with John Ruocco
Robert Balzar Trio: Tales (recorded 2006, released 2008)

TV Appearances

SOLOS: the jazz sessions (2005 - Bravo! Canada)

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(Born 1944, Port Chester, NY). John Abercrombie, who comes from Greenwich, Connecticut, began playing the guitar at fourteen, and by the time he was out of high school, he was ready to veer away from imitative Chuck Berry licks in favor of learning to play the instrument more seriously. He enrolled at Boston's Berklee School of Music. While there, Abercrombie worked with other students and played local clubs and bars. "It was pretty much your standard guitar-organ-drums set up." An offer to tour with organist Johnny Hammond Smith led to his going on the road for weeks at a time, playing such spots as Count Basie's Lounge and the Club Baron in Harlem. During that same period, Abercrombie met the Brecker Brothers who were in the process of forming Dreams. They invited Abercrombie to play with them, and he was heard on Dreams' dubut album on Columbia.

In 1969, following graduation, Abercrombie decided to head South in hopes of breaking into the New York music scene. In the next few years he developed into one of New York's most in-demand session musicians. He did record dates with Gil Evans, Gato Barbieri, Barry Miles and many other artists, and also became a regular with Chico Hamilton's group. It was as the guitarist in Billy Cobham's band that Abercrombie first began attracting widespread attention among the general public. This ensemble was something of a Dreams reunion since it also included the Brecker Brothers. Abercrombie is heard on Cobham's "Crosswinds", "Total eclipse" and "Shabazz" album. He found himself playing large concert halls, and arenas on bills with such top rock attractions as the Doobie Brothers. "One night we appeared at the Spectrum in Philadelphia and I thought, what am I doing here?". 

A short time later, at the Montreux Festival, Abercrombie ran into Manfred Eicher who invited him to record an album for ECM. The result was Timeless, on which he was joined by Jan Hammer and Jack DeJohnette. It received virtually unanimous critical acclaim. Gateway was released in November, 1975; it marked the first collaborative effort of Abercrombie with DeJohnette and bassist Dave Holland. A second Gateway recording, Gateway II was released in June 1978. 

In 1979, Abercrombie formed his own quartet which included pianist Richie Beirach, bassist George Mraz and drummer Peter Donald. The group has made three recordings: Arcade, Abercrombie Quartet and M. Abercrombie has also recorded with many other ECM artists; the most significant collaborations must surely be with drummer Jack DeJohnette (Abercrombie appears on all of DeJohnette's Directions and New Directions albums) and with fellow guitarist Ralph Towner. Abercrombie and Towner's Sargasso Sea was released in 1976 and their newest album, Five Years Later, came out in January 1982. 

Abercrombie's touring trio with Marc Johnson and Peter Erskine is heard on Current Events, Getting There (with frequent guest Michael Brecker), and John Abercrombie/Marc Johnson/Peter Erskine. Critic Chuck Berg has described the group as: "solidified ... to the point where its sixth-sense interactions create a singleness of vision associated only with Olympian ensembles such as the trios of pianists Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson". On Current Events, released in 1988, John used guitar synthesizer for the first time on record. John Abercrombie/Marc Johnson/Peter Erskine, released in 1989, was recorded in Boston on April 21, 1988 and documents this innovative trio live. Repertoire from their four-year association is presented, and standards often linked with Bill Evans are given resplendent treatment. John's affinity for jazz standards complements his role as an active clinician and teacher. In listening-preparation for a Harvard lecture, where John surveyed the history of jazz guitar, he explained: "When I'm playing tunes like 'Autumn Leaves' or 'Stella By Starlight', as much as I've played those tunes over the years, I still enjoy playing them. And because I know them so well, I'm very free with them. I'm just as free with them as when I'm playing with no chords at all. That, to me, is free jazz". 

John Abercrombie possesses a unique voice as a jazz guitarist combining evolving technologies with a tradition well-represented by jazz standards. Further insight into music comes forth in a 1988 "Jazziz" interview: "Carrying the tradition of jazz guitar from Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt to the present day is a very important aspect of my music...I'd like people to perceive me as having a direct connection to the history of jazz guitar, while expanding some musical boundaries which may not always involve the guitar itself". 

On the 1990 release Animato John collaborates with composer/synthesist Vince Mendoza and drummer Jon Christensen and presents eight original compositions.  

Selected Discography 

As leader

M
Abercrombie Quartet
Arcade
Characters
Timeless
with others
Ralph Towner/John Abercrombie: Five Years later
Jan Garbarek: Eventyr
Jack DeJonette: New Directions live in Europe
Gateway: Gateway
Towner/Abercrombie: Sargasso Sea
Jack DeJohnette Directions: New Directions; New Rags; Untitled 
Collin Walcott: Grazing Dreams; Cloud Dance

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GEORGE SHEARING

George Shearing enjoys an international reputation as a pianist, arranger and composer. Equally at home on the concert stage as in jazz clubs, Shearing is recognized for inventive, orchestrated jazz. He has written over 300 compositions, including the classic “Lullaby of Birdland,” which has become a jazz standard.

Shearing was born in 1919 in the Battersea area of London. Congenitally blind, he was the youngest of nine children. His father delivered coal and his mother cleaned trains at night after caring for the children during the day. His only formal musical education consisted of four years of study at the Linden Lodge School for the Blind. While his talent won him a number of university scholarships, he was forced to refuse them in favor of a more financially productive pursuit…playing piano in a neighborhood pub for the handsome salary of $5 a week! Shearing joined an all-blind band in the 1930’s. At that time he developed a friendship with the noted jazz critic and author, Leonard Feather. Through this contact, he made his first appearance on BBC radio.

In 1947, Mr. Shearing moved to America, where he spent two years establishing his fame on this side of the Atlantic. The Shearing Sound commanded national attention when, in 1949, he gathered a quintet to record “September in the Rain” for MGM. The record was an overnight success and sold 900,000 copies. His U.S. reputation was permanently established when he was booked into Birdland, the legendary jazz spot in New York. Since then, he has become one of the country’s most popular performing and recording artist. In 1982 and 1983 he won Grammy Awards with recordings he made with Mel Torme. Mr. Shearing was the subject of an hour-long television documentary entitled “The Shearing Touch” presented on the Southbank Show with Melvyn Bragg on ITV in the UK.

Three presidents have invited Mr. Shearing to play at the White House.. Ford, Carter and Reagan. He performed at the Royal Command Performance for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. He is a member of the Friars Club and the Lotos Club in New York and the Bohemian Club in San Francisco.

His awards and honors are many. In May 1975, he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Music from Westminster College in Salt Lake City. In May of 1994, Hamilton College in upstate New York awarded him another honorary doctorate in music. DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana presented him with an honorary doctorate of music on June 1, 2002. He received the prestigious Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans in 1978 and a community recreational facility in Battersea, south London, was named the George Shearing Centre in his honor. In May of 1993, he was presented with the British equivalent of the Grammy…the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement. In June of 1996, Mr. Shearing was included in the Queen’s Birthday Honors List and on November 26, 1996 he was invested by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his “service to music and Anglo-US relations.” He was presented the first American Music Award by the National Arts Club, New York City, in March of 1998.

In 1999, his 80th birthday was celebrated in England where he played to a sold-out house at the Birmingham Symphony Hall. Also appearing with him were the BBC Big Band, the strings of the London Symphony, Dame Cleo Laine and John Dankworth. BBC Radio 2 presented a 2 1/2-hour “Salute to Shearing” in honor of his birthday.

The following year another sold-out house at Carnegie Hall was treated to his birthday celebration featuring the George Shearing Quintet with Nancy Wilson, Dave Brubeck, Dr. Billy Taylor, the John Pizzarelli Trio, Tito Puente and Peter Schickele who brought a special greeting from PDQ Bach!

Mr. Shearing’s biography, “Lullaby of Birdland,” published by Continuum, was released February 2005. In conjunction with the autobiography release Concord Records released a composite of Shearing recordings in a 2-CD set entitled “Lullabies of Birdland.: A Musical Autobiography” which was immediately followed up with “Hopeless Romantics” with Michael Feinstein. Concord then released the collectors set Mel Tormé & George Shearing The Concord Years. Mr. Shearing’s popularity continues to rise.

In November 2006, a letter arrived from the Prime Minister's office in London reading, in part, "The Prime Minister has asked me to inform you, in strict confidence, that .......he has it in mind, on the occasion of the forthcoming list of New Year Honours, to submit your name to The Queen with a recommendation that Her Majesty may be graciously pleased to approve that the honour of Knighthood be conferred upon you." When the letter was read to him, George simply said, "I don't know why I'm getting this honor.....I've just been doing what I love to do." And, when asked by the press how he felt about receiving the highest honor the Queen can give, he replied, "My mind keeps flashing back on my beginnings as pianist playing in a pub for the equivalent of $5.00 a week. What a journey it has been from that pub to Buckingham Palace. Receiving such an honor as a Knighthood might also show young people what can be achieved in life if one learns his craft and follows his dreams."

So, the poor, blind kid from Battersea named George Shearing, the youngest of nine, whose father once delivered coal to the Palace, with four years of formal musical training but with a tremendous will to make good, traveled with his wife, Ellie, to London to claim his honor. On June 13, 2007 George was presented to Queen Elizabeth II in the Ballroom of Buckingham Palace. The Queen first touched him on each shoulder with the sword her father had used, then stepped down off the dais to put the medal around his neck, adjusted it, shook hands with him and talked to him for several minutes. He became Sir George Shearing "for his contribution to music", as the Lord Chamberlain put it. Now, that's a fairy tale come true!

After the ceremony, Sir George and Lady Shearing hosted a luncheon for some of their closest friends including Dame Cleo Laine and Sir John Dankworth, the BBC personality and interviewer, Michael Parkinson (who championed George's receiving a Knighthood on his radio and television shows), and the actress Julia McKenzie.  

The following week, Sir George's relatives came to lunch.....including his 97-year-old sister, Dolly. She was the life of the party....leading the Sing-Song between courses of the meal! And the celebratiions didn't stop there. The Shearings hosted a tea for the member of Parliament and former Home Secretary, David Blunkett, along with the Dean of Canterbury, The Very Reverend Robert Willis. Mr. Blunkett was also born blind and lived for ten years right next door to the Linden Lodge for the Blind.

And, the honors keep coming! Back in New York, on October 21, 2007, the Town Hall Foundation presented Sir George with its Annual Friend of the Arts Award "in recognition and appreciation of his babiding interest in the development, enrichment and support of the arts". With this award also came a medal placque, bearing Sir George's name, being placed on the back of one the seats in the legendary Town Hall.

But, come July 1 every year, one can find the Shearings traveling from their New York City apartment up to the beautiful Berkshires near Tanglewood where, for the entire summer, they will attend concerts by the Boston Symphony, entertain their many friends (both in and out of the music profession), and, yes, listen to the crickets while sipping a glass of wine while simply enjoying life together. 

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Sir George Shearing OBE (b. August 13, 1919) is a British jazz pianist who, during the 1950s, had a popular Jazz group for MGM Records and Capitol Records. He has written over 300 compositions and has had multiple albums on the Billboard magazine charts throughout the '50s, '60s, '80s and '90s.

He became known for a piano technique known as Shearing's voicing, a type of double melody block chord, with an additional fifth part that doubles the melody an octave lower.

Shearing's interest in classical music resulted in some performances with concert orchestras in the 1950s and 1960s, and his solos frequently draw upon the music of Debussy and, particularly, Erik Satie for inspiration.

Biography

Beginnings

Shearing was born on August 13, 1919 in Battersea, South London, England and was the youngest of nine children. He was born blind to working class parents: his father delivered coal and his mother cleaned trains in the evening. He started to learn piano at the age of three and began formal training at Linden Lodge School for the Blind, where he spent four years.

Though offered several scholarships, Shearing opted to perform at local pub, the Mason's Arms in Lambeth, for "25 bob a week" playing piano and accordion. He even joined an all-blind band during that time and was influenced by the albums of Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller. He made his first BBC radio appearance during this time after befriending Leonard Feather, whom he started recording with in 1937. In 1940 , Shearing joined Harry Parry's popular band and contributed to the comeback of Stéphane Grappelli. Shearing also won seven consecutive Melody Maker polls during this time. Around that time he was also a member of George Evans' Saxes 'n' Sevens band.

The US years

In 1947, Shearing moved to the United States, where he began to play in a harmonically complex style that mixed swing, bop and modern classical influences. One of his first gigs in the States was at the Hickory House. He performed with the Oscar Pettiford Trio and led a quartet with Buddy DeFranco, which led to recording problems since Shearing was with MGM and DeFranco was with Capitol Records. In 1949, he formed the first "George Shearing Quintet", a band with Marjorie Hyams (vibraphone), Chuck Wayne (guitar), John Levy (bass) and Denzil Best (drums) and recorded for Discovery, Savoy and MGM, including the immensely popular single, September in the Rain (MGM), which sold over 900,000 copies. Shearing himself would write of this hit that it was "as accidental as it could be."

In 1956, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He continued to play with his quintet, with augmented players through the years, and recorded with Capitol until 1969. He created his own label, Sheba, that lasted a few years.

1970s

Starting in 1970, Shearing began to "phase out his by-now-predictable quintet" and disbanded the group finally in 1978. One of his more notable albums during this period of time (1976) done in collaboration with bassist Andy Simpkins and drummer Rusty Jones (musician), is The Reunion, With George Shearing (Verve), which featured Stéphane Grappelli, the musician he had debuted with as a sideman many years before. Later, Shearing played with a trio, as a solo and increasingly in duo. Among his collaborations have been sets with the Montgomery Brothers, Marian McPartland, Brian Q. Torff, Jim Hall, Hank Jones and Kenny Davern. In 1979, Shearing signed with Concord Records, in particular working with Mel Tormé. This collaboration garnered Shearing and Tormé two Grammys, one in 1982 and then another in the following year.

Musical collaborations

Over the years, Shearing has also collaborated with singers including Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Ernestine Anderson, Dakota Staton, Carmen McRae, Nancy Wilson and, most notably, Mel Tormé, with whom he performed frequently in the late 80s and early 90s at festivals, on radio and for recordings.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Shearing performed and recorded extensively in a duo format with the extraordinary Canadian bassist Neil Swainson.

Shearing also made a recording with the classical French horn player Barry Tuckwell.

Shearing collaborated with the John Pizzarelli Trio to create the album The Rare Delight of You, which garnered extremely good reviews. The album cover, featuring Pizzarelli and Shearing posing in front of a solid blue background, was designed to resemble the cover of Nat King Cole Sings, George Shearing Plays, a legendary jazz recording with which it shares some similarities in style.

Recognition

Performed for US Presidents
Gerald Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
Performed at Royal Command Performance for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
In 1957, Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road contains a scene describing a Shearing concert
In 1975, received honorary degree of Doctor of Music from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In 1978, received the Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans.
Grammys:
1982 - An Evening With George Shearing And Mel Tormé
1983
In 1993, received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement.
In 1994, received honorary degree of Doctor of Music from Hamilton College in New York State.
In 1996, was included in the Queens Birthday Honours List and was invested by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his “service to music and Anglo-US relations."
In 1998, received the first American Music Award by the National Arts Club, New York, New York.
In 2003, received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" from BBC Jazz Awards.[4]
In 2007, was knighted for services to Music.

Discography

1947 Piano Solo — Savoy
1949 Midnight on Cloud 69 — Savoy
1949 George Shearing Quintet — Discovery
1950 You're Hearing the George Shearing Quartet — MGM
1951 An Evening with the George Shearing Quintet
1951 Souvenirs — London
1951 Touch of Genius — MGM
1952 I Hear Music — Metro
1955 Shearing Caravan — MGM
1955 Shearing in Hi Fi — MGM
1955 The Shearing Spell — Capitol
1956 Latin Escapade — Capitol
1956 Black Satin — Capitol
1956 By Request — London
1956 Velvet Carpet — Capitol
1957 Shearing on Stage — Capitol
1958 Blue Chiffon — Capitol
1958 Burnished Brass — Capitol
1958 Latin Lace — Capitol
1958 George Shearing on Stage! — Capitol
1958 Latin Affair — Capitol
1958 In the Night with Dakota Staton — Capitol
1959 Satin Brass — Capitol
1959 Satin Latin — MGM
1960 San Francisco Scene — Capitol
1960 On the Sunny Side of the Strip — GNP
1960 The Shearing Touch — Pausa
1960 White Satin — Capitol
1961 George Shearing and the Montgomery Brothers — Jazz
1961 Mood Latino — Capitol
1961 Nat King Cole Sings/George Shearing Plays — Capitol
1961 Satin Affair — Capitol
1961 The Swingin's Mutual! — Blue Note
1962 Jazz Moments — Blue Note
1962 Shearing Bossa Nova — Capitol
1962 Soft and Silky — MGM
1963 Touch Me Softly — Capitol
1963 Jazz Concert — Capitol
1963 Rare Form — Capitol
1963 Old Gold and Ivory — Capitol
1963 Latin Rendezvous — Capitol
1964 Out of the Woods — Capitol
1964 Deep Velvet — Capitol
1966 That Fresh Feeling — Capitol
1969 In the Mind — Capitol
1970 Out of This World — Sheba
1971 Music Is to Hear: Joe Williams — Sheba
1972 As Requested —Sheba
1972 The George Shearing Quartet — Sheba
1973 Gas — Sheba
1973 The George Shearing Trio, Vol. 1
1974 My Ship —Polydor
1974 Light Airy and Swinging — MPS
1974 The Way We Are — BASF
1975 Continental Experience — BASF
1976 The Reunion — Pausa
1977 500 Miles High
1979 Getting in the Swing of Things — Pausa
1979 Live — Concord Jazz
1979 Blues Alley Jazz — Concord Jazz
1979 Concerto for Classic Guitar and Jazz Piano — Angel
1980 Two for the Road — Concord
1980 In Concert at the Pavilion — Concord Jazz
1980 On a Clear Day — Concord Jazz
1980 Windows — Pausa
1981 Alone Together — Concord Jazz
1981 First Edition — Concord Jazz
1982 An Evening with George Shearing & Mel Tormé
1983 Top Drawer — Concord Jazz
1984 Live at the Cafe Carlyle — Concord
1985 An Elegant Evening — Concord Jazz
1985 Grand Piano — Concord Jazz
1986 Plays Music of Cole Porter — Concord
1986 More Grand Piano — Concord Jazz
1987 Breakin' Out — Concord Jazz
1987 Dexterity — Concord Jazz
1988 The Spirit of 176 — Concord Jazz
1988 Perfect Match — Concord Jazz
1989 George Shearing in Dixieland — Concord
1989 Piano — Concord Jazz
1991 Get Happy! - EMI Classics
1992 I Hear a Rhapsody: Live at the Blue Note
1992 Walkin': Live at the Blue Note — Telarc
1992 How Beautiful Is Night — Telarc
1994 That Shearing Sound — Telarc
1994 Great Britain's Marian McPartland & George Shearing — Savoy Jazz
1994 Cocktail for Two — Jazz World
1995 Paper Moon: Songs of Nat King Cole
1997 Favorite Things — Telarc
1998 Christmas with George Shearing Quintet
2000 Just for You: Live in the 1950s — Jazz Band
2001 Live at the Forum, Bath 1992 — BBC Legends
2001 Back to Birdland — Telarc
2002 Pick Yourself Up — Past Perfect
2005 Music to Hear — Koch
2006 Live Jazz from Club 15 — Request
2006 Swinging in a Latin Mood — Universal

References

a b c Richard S. Ginell. "George Shearing". Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
a b "George Shearing Biography". Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
a b c George Shearing w/ Les Tomkins (1966). "George Shearing: How I found the Sound". Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
BBC Jazz Awards

External links

George Shearing.net
George Shearing discography (at VH1)
Profile at IMDB

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ART BLAKEY

"This is the music of my culture: good, bad, or indifferent. It's the only culture America has brought forth." 

-Art Blakey

Arthur (Art) Blakey, October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, he was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the American Black Muslim Community. Art Blakey began his musical career, as did many jazz musicians, in the church. The foster son of a devout Seventh Day Adventist Family, Art learned the piano as he learned the Bible, mastering both at an early age. 

Along with Kenny Clarke and Max Roach, he was one of the inventors of the modern bebop style of drumming. He is known as a powerful musician and a vital groover; his brand of bluesy, funky hard bop was (and remains) profoundly influential on mainstream jazz. Over more than 30 years his band the Jazz Messengers included many young musicians who went on to become prominent names in jazz. The band's legacy is thus not only the often exceptionally fine music it produced, but as a proving ground for several generations of jazz musicians; Blakey's group is equivalent only to those of Miles Davis in this regard.

But as Art himself told it so many times, his career on the piano ended at the wrong end of a pistol when the owner of the Democratic Club —the Pittsburgh nightclub where he was gigging —ordered him off the piano and onto the drums.

Art, then in his early teens and a budding pianist, was usurped by an equally young, Erroll Garner who, as it turned out, was as skilled at the piano as Blakey later was at the drums. The upset turned into a blessing for Art, launching a career that spanned six decades and nurtured the careers of countless other jazz musicians. 

As a young drummer, Art came under the tutelage of legendary drummer and bandleader Chick Webb, serving as his valet. In 1937, Art returned to Pittsburgh, forming his own band, teaming up with Pianist Mary Lou Williams, under whose name the band performed.

From his Pittsburgh gig, Art made his way through the Jazz world. In 1939, he began a three-year gig touring with Fletcher Henderson. After a year in Boston with a steady gig at the Tic Toc club, he joined the great Billy Eckstine, gigging with the likes of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Sarah Vaughn.

In 1948, Art told reporters he had visited Africa, where he learned polyrhythmic drumming and was introduced to Islam, taking the name Abdullah Ibn Buhaina. It was in the late ’40s that Art formed his first Jazz Messengers band, a 17-piece big band.

After a brief gig with Buddy DeFranco, in 1954 Art met up with pianist Horace Silver, altoist Lou Donaldson, trumpeter Clifford Brown, and bassist Curly Russell and recorded "live" at Birdland for Blue Note Records. The following year, Art and Horace Silver co-founded the quintet that became the Jazz Messengers. In 1956, Horace Silver left the band to form his own group leaving the name, the Jazz Messengers, to Art Blakey.

Art’s driving rhythms and his incessant two and four beat on the high hat cymbals were readily identifiable from the outset and remained a constant throughout 35 years of Jazz Messengers bands. What changed constantly was a seeming unending supply of talented sidemen, many of whom went on to become band leaders in their own right. 

In the early years luminaries like Clifford Brown, Hank Mobley and Jackie McLean rounded out the band. In 1959, tenor saxophonist Benny Golson joined the quintet and — at Art’s behest — began working on the songbook and recruiting what became one of the timeless Messenger bands — tenor saxman Wayne Shorter, trumpeter Lee Morgan, pianist Bobby Timmons and bassist Jymmie Merritt.

The songs produced from ’59 through the early ’60s became trademarks for the Messengers — including Timmon’s Moanin’, Golson’s Along Came Betty and Blues March and Shorter’s Ping Pong.

By this time, the Messengers had become a mainstay on the jazz club circuit and began recording on Blue Note Records. They began touring Europe, with forays into North Africa. In 1960, the Messengers became the first American Jazz band to play in Japan for Japanese audiences. That first Japanese tour was a high point for the band. At the Tokyo airport, the band was greeted by hundreds of fans as Blues March played over their airport intercom and their visit was televised nationally.

In 1961, trombonist Curtis Fuller transformed the Messengers into a proper sextet, giving the band the opportunity to incorporate a big band sound into their hard bop repertoire. Throughout the ’60s, the Messengers remained a mainstay on the jazz scene with jazz greats including Cedar Walton, Chuck Mangione, Keith Jarrett, Reggie Workman, Lucky Thompson and John Hicks. In the jazz drought of the ’70s, the Messengers remained a strong force, with fewer recordings, but no less energy. At a time when many jazz musicians were experimenting with electronics and fusing their music with pop, the Messengers were a mainstay of straight-ahead jazz.

Art’s steadfast belief in jazz music left him well positioned to take advantage of the music’s resurgence in the early ’80s. Art had been working with musicians including trumpeter Valery Ponomarev, tenor Billy Pierce, alto saxman Bobby Watson and pianist James Williams. Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ 1980 entrance into the band coincided — and played no small part in — the resurgence of the music in the ’80s.

Throughout the ’80 and until his death in 1990, Art maintained the integrity of the message, incubating the careers of musicians including trumpeters Wallace Rooney and Terence Blanchard, pianists Mulgrew Miller and Donald Brown, bassists Peter Washington and Lonnie Plaxico and many others.

Art died at the age of 71 after a career that spanned six of the best decades of jazz music. The messenger has moved on, but his message lives on in the music of the scores of sidemen whose careers he nurtured, the many other drummers he mentored and countless fans who have been blessed to hear the Messengers’ music.

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Art Blakey, master of the drums, leader of the music. A native of Pittsburgh, went to New York in 1938 with pianist Mary Lou Williams. Later left Mary Lou to join Fletcher Henderson where he earned his wings, he was soon off to join the Billy Eckstine band along with Charlie Parker and Sarah Vaughan. After his stint with Mr. "B" Art went on to form the 17 Messengers which would develop over the years into the Jazz Messengers, which included some of the finest musicians 
that would influence the music; Clifford Brown, Horice Silver, Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Etc.. Art would also perform as a sideman for some of the most important musicians in the business.

Art Blakey's name has become synonymous with hard drive and pulsating excitement. He was a musician who believed that a jazz group should be a solid cohesive unit, not just "five guys blowing on the same changes." What made the Jazz Messengers different, was that the rhythm section did not just play time behind the horns, they backed up the horn section solidly and would set up the soloist, who in turn would would listen and pick up cues that would be thrown 
his way.

Those press rolls, that sock cymbal, his imaginative ride, the cohesiveness and form of his solo's, and most of all his ears; how he could listen to the band as a whole and as individuals. This is why any musician who came out of his school would always say that they never sounded as good they did when they had Art lighting that fire underneath them.

Excerpt from

Successful Mission for Influential Drummer

By G. Pascal Zachary

Like many venerable jazz musicians, the drummer Art Blakey hung on long enough to see his approach to music come back into style. A leading drummer of the post-World War II bop style epitomized by Charlie Parker, Blakey was better known for his leadership of his Jazz Messengers, one of the longest-running and consistently-excellent groups in jazz. The road to legendary status was winding, however. Eschewing the avant-garde, Blakey was ignored by jazz critics in the experimental 1960s and shunned by American audiences in the 1970s, when rock exerted its hegemonic control over the business of pop music. Unable to land a U.S. recording contract, he released numerous albums for European labels in the 1980s and won belated attention from American critics for his brief association with trumpet prodigy Wynton Marsalis. Ten years ago, Marsalis burst onto the jazz scene as a mature leader of his own tasteful group, and he credited a stint with Blakey's Messengers for his own poise and artistic direction. By the time of Blakey's death in 1990, a tour with the peripatetic Messengers was viewed as a sort of pre-requisite for up-and-coming jazz musicians. A quick way to be taken seriously by critics, record producers and audiences was to pass through Blakey's free-form university. Blakey's influence on young musicians was always hard to guage. He seemed to imbue in his acolytes an attitude of exuberant professionalism and fidelity to jazz acoustics rather than any particular compositional style. While a passionate drummer, Blakey almost never composed a song, relying instead on his sidemen for songs. Though his vintage-1950s groups produced solid recordings, filled with impressive solos, they suffered from a shortage of original material. It wasn't until the early 1960s that Blakey remedied this situation by assembling a series of small groups that rank with the best-ever in jazz. With Freddie Hubbard or Lee Morgan on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone and Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Blakey's Jazz Messengers had a Hall-of-Fame front-line whose compositional savvy was outstripped only by their extraordinary skills and emotional fire. Wedded to "hard" bop, Blakey's drumming was predictably swinging and his solos were astonishing for their power, wit and poly-rhythms. Yet he relied heavily on his sidemen to provide an aesthetic for his group; he was an unusually generous leader when it came to passing out assignments (which may well explain the longevity of the Jazz Messengers). Hubbard, Fuller and especially Shorter embraced new jazz idioms even as the rock-steady Blakey clung to more catholic tastes. Blakey wasn't standing still, however. In the 1970s, he showed ample signs of absorbing the language of both the so-called "free" jazz and rock-tinged fusion. Blakey's flirtation with fresh styles would not last long, however. By the end of the decade, he had returned to his roots and essentially spent his remaining years re-creating the hard bop sound, relying on a new generation of musicians who revered him and were obsessed with turning post-War jazz into a kind of American classical music. In this regard, Wynton Marsalis became Blakey's most important disciple, a testament to the fiery drummer's seminal influence. The easy romanticizing of hard bop, and its surprising prominence in the 1990s, elevated in importance the Jazz Messengers's first early recordings. The emphasis by critics on purity and swing lent a new luster to these tired 1950s records and brought belated-acclaim for Blakey's stunning early 1960s releases (especially the adroit "Free For All" and the haunting "Freedom Rider" in which Blakey's extended solo is the paragon of jazz modernism). In this fresh critical light, Blakey's recordings from the 1980s and early 1990s were viewed as a welcome revival. His younger-generation Messengers performed jazz standards with verve and, at times, brilliance but contributed few original tunes worth remembering. Still, Blakey was a magnet for young talent, and he showcased such top young players such as Mulgrew Miller, Javon Jackson, Bobby Watson and Donald Harrison. The nostalgia for Blakey's most fertile period and the renewed appreciation for straight-ahead jazz has meant that music from the 1970s�� Blakey's "down" period in terms of popularity��has been unfairly neglected. During the decade of the 1970s, American audiences abandoned acoustic jazz, and Blakey struggled to retain first-class musicians and the support of record labels and club owners in the U.S. Setting aside his neo-bop classicism, which he pioneered, Blakey took in band members whose tastes were decidedly more pop than jazz. Chuck Mangione's little-known stay in the Messengers's trumpet chair was perhaps the ultimate reflection of the breakdown in the cultural concensus about the elements of authentic jazz. Yet for Blakey afficianados, the 1970s have much to offer, as a new re-issue from Fantasy Records demonstrates. Mission Eternal contains two full albums recorded by a superb Blakey band in March 1973 and originally released by the Prestige label under the titles of "Buhaina" and "Athenagin." A cut below Blakey's best recordings of the 1960s, these albums nevertheless show an awareness of the avant-garde, a taste for Latin beats and inspired performances by strong sidemen. Cedar Walton anchors the group on piano and contributes some strong compositions, notably Mission Eternal. Carter Jefferson, an inventive saxophonist who deserves wider appreciation, strikes a good balance between fidelity to standards and the inevitable search for new sounds. His solo on "Gertrude's Bounce" is brutish yet melodic. Vocalist Jon Hendricks, who joins the group on two cuts, is mesmerizing on the jazz standard "Moanin'" and ghostly on "Along Came Betty," an original by Benny Golson that Hendricks put lyrics to. And conga player Tony Waters is steady throughout, no small achievement given Blakey's commanding presence on drums...

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