A sad lullaby

And so farewell to the master of jazzy Blues, the marvellous Sir George Shearing, at the ripe old age of 91.

Battersea-born yet one of the most influential artists in America, among the friends who paid him tribute today were Dave Brubeck and John Pizzarelli. I wrote in celebration of the great man two years ago, and posted the sublime Sarah Vaughan version of his most famous number.

Here to mark this sad occasion is the masterful collaboration between giants - Mr Shearing and Miss Peggy Lee - on his most famous legacy, Lullaby of Birdland. RIP, a maestro...

George Shearing and Peggy Lee - Lullaby of Birdland

Sir George Shearing obituary in The Telegraph

I can change your temperature from hot to cold

As we celebrate the 90th birthday of the phenomenal legend George Shearing (read my blog for the great man's birthday last year), I have discovered a most spectacular version of one of the jazz standards that George made his own.

I'm sure he was quite happy when Miss Betty Grable decided to put some of her singular va-va-voom into How come you do me like you do?...

Betty Grable - How come you do me like you do?

And there’s a weepy ol’ willow - he really knows how to cry

Today we celebrate the 89th birthday of a true giant of the music industry, Mr George Shearing OBE.

I have been a longtime fan of George's beautiful piano skills, and his contribution to many of the greatest jazz/swing songs of the last century are legend, but there are things many people don't know about this genius of a man.

Although he is lauded as one of the finest of all jazz musicians - a truly all-American musical genre - George was actually born into humble beginnings in Battersea, south London.

Despite being the composer of, or key player in, classic Blues songs such as Lullaby of Birdland (a standard adopted by artistes of the calibre of Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Eartha Kitt as a staple of their own repertoire) and September in the Rain, George is in fact a blind white man.

George worked with many of the greats over the years - in his teens he was a regular performer in jazz bands with Stephane Grappelli, and in his heyday of the 1950s and 1960s he worked with artists such as Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Nancy Wilson and Mel Tormé, among others.

Words cannot really express the contribution this man has made to the musical world!

George Shearing and Peggy Lee - Lullaby of Birdland

George Shearing Quintet - I'll Be Around

About George Shearing