George Shearing (13 August 1919 - February 14, 2011) was a well-known jazz pianist and inventor of the famous "Shearing Sound": a form of smooth cocktail jazz characterised by block chords played on the piano along with similar chords played on the vibraphone. Shearing was born in the Battersea area of London, United Kingdom. Congenitally blind, he was the youngest of nine children. He started to learn piano at the age of three. ...show more

George Shearing (13 August 1919 - February 14, 2011) was a well-known jazz pianist and inventor of the famous "Shearing Sound": a form of smooth cocktail jazz characterised by block chords played on the piano along with similar chords played on the vibraphone. Shearing was born in the Battersea area of London, United Kingdom. Congenitally blind, he was the youngest of nine children. He started to learn piano at the age of three.

After limited training and extensive listening to recorded jazz, he began playing at hotels, clubs and pubs in the London area, sometimes solo, occasionally with dance bands. In 1940, Shearing joined Harry Parry's popular band and became a star in Britain, performing for the BBC, playing with Stéphane Grappelli's London-based groups of the early 1940s, and winning seven consecutive Melody Maker polls. In 1946, Shearing established himself in the United States. In 1955, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Leading a quintet (piano with guitar, bass, drums and vibraphone), which over the years included Cal Tjader, Margie Hyams, Denzil Best, Israel Crosby, Joe Pass and Gary Burton, Shearing had a succession of hugely popular records including September in the Rain and his own composition, Lullaby of Birdland (1952). His style, including the joint playing of the melody by piano and vibraphone, was also widely copied, becoming part of the idiom of pop music, so that his records from that period now sound far less innovative than they did at the time. 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 Torff, Jim Hall, Hank Jones and Kenny Davern. ...show less