tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post7067812383428739267..comments2024-01-06T18:34:30.188-08:00Comments on I Witness: ShearingIWitnessEdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312808828448124509noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-45520085683464719132011-02-16T08:53:05.742-08:002011-02-16T08:53:05.742-08:00Alan has the unfortunate "rap" (see his ...Alan has the unfortunate "rap" (see his new book) of being angry, sarcastically Kurtz only, when in fact he often dons the robes of informed educator and incisive commentator; his poise and prose are then well met indeed. <br /><br />So a tip of the Leimy cap to Mr. Kurtz for filling in the Shearing info I omitted--and for reminding me of that missed "Conception."IWitnessEdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18312808828448124509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-2419308136370081262011-02-16T04:02:44.950-08:002011-02-16T04:02:44.950-08:00Early in his career, after moving from England to ...Early in his career, after moving from England to America, George Shearing committed the cardinal sin among jazz musicians: popularity. Yet the great 1949-52 recordings by his quintet are among the most luminously pleasurable tracks in jazz history. My favorites are the medium-tempo standards "East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)," "September in the Rain," "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," "I'll Remember April" (all 1949), "For You" and "I'll Be Around" (both 1950). Shamefully, these have never been suitably restored and reissued.<br /><br />And that of course dovetails with your February 5 post "Partial Mosaics." The rights to Shearing's quintet gems, originally owned by MGM, in time passed to Verve, were later acquired by PolyGram and ultimately gobbled up by Universal Music. Along the way, haphazardly strewn reissues came and went with, at best, lackluster remastering.<br /><br />Once the millennium turned and the 50-year UK copyrights expired, British firms such as Proper Records issued partial compilations that were royally mediocre. Audio was often abysmal, to wit the lovely "Indian Summer," rendered virtually unlistenable by Proper's wretched reproduction.<br /><br />Let me reiterate. This body of work ranks among the finest jazz recordings of the postwar era. And no one, including me, has ever heard it reproduced with anything even close to the fidelity that it richly deserves.<br /><br />As for your confession that you can't name a Shearing original apart from "Lullaby of Birdland," the first one I'd mention is "Conception" (1949), which so intrigued Miles Davis that he and arranger Gerry Mulligan transformed it into "Deception" (1950) for <i>Birth of the Cool</i>. In 1956, Bill Evans--who was very much influenced by Shearing--covered "Conception" for his debut as a leader, incorporating the extended Miles/Mulligan structure to yield an adroit composite that might've been called "Con/Deception."Alan Kurtzhttp://www.amazon.com/Stereotypes-Black-Music-African-American-Compromise/dp/1453853669/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291054567&sr=1-1noreply@blogger.com