LEGENDARY JAZZ PIANIST AND COMPOSER SIR GEORGE SHEARING DIES AT 91

George Shearing, the British piano virtuoso who overcame blindness to become a worldwide jazz star, and whose composition «Lullaby of Birdland» became an enduring jazz standard, died on Monday in Manhattan.

One of the world’s most influential and beloved jazz pianists and composers, Sir George Shearing, died this morning of cardiac arrest.

Sir George Shearing, OBE (August 13, 1919 – February 14, 2011) was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group which recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records.

The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s.

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.

George Shearing credited the Glenn Miller Orchestra’s reed section of the late 1930s and early 1940s as an important influence.

Shearing’s interest in classical music resulted in some performances with concert orchestras in the 1950s and 1960s, and his solos frequently drew upon the music of Satie, Delius and Debussy for inspiration.

BBC

-> Sir George Shearing’s offical bio

Mehr:

http://www.georgeshearing.net/

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Shearing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxmIvXm6uIU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX-sVnk9Ui4&feature=related

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/feb/14/george-shearing-dies-aged-91?INTCMP=SRCH

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/arts/music/15shearing.html

http://www.derbund.ch/kultur/pop-und-jazz/JazzLegende-George-Shearing-ist-tot/story/18903432