George Shearing Quintet “I Hear Music”

This is a fantastic Shearing Quintet record that you might be able to pick up for nothing (he released so many records, and many of them, seemingly are not that collectable—as is a lot of jazz—lucky for me). It’s on MGM, and I believe it’s a 1955 12-inch version of the original 1952 10-inch—but with a few additional songs. It has a kind of low-rent, modern art cover—it resembles one of those “Percussion in Hi-Fi” records. But it’s great from beginning to end—a dozen songs, all good, including the four Shearing compositions. It sounds to me like there’s more space on a lot of the songs than in some of the later stuff (I mean later, as in the Sixties). But that might just be particular to these recordings. Or perhaps it’s just blue-sky day, today, or an ice-cream parlor in Hell. There’s a bit of very general, uncredited, liner notes about the “Shearing Sound,” and then notes on each song, including composition and song origin, and individual musicians—not uniform on the whole record—so I’m not listing them all here. There’s fine playing by everyone, all in attendance—but also some of my favorite Shearing piano solos from any Shearing record. Yes, I’ve gone on and on—in the past—about how George Shearing is the most memorable music of my entire childhood—what I heard from the crib (or before) until moving out—but I’m keeping this review short (it’s the new way!). Every single song here is a standout, so I’m not listing them all, or any of them. All twelve of them, fine. Also, I have more Shearing records, currently, than any other artist, so there will be more LP reviews, soon. But this really may be my favorite one, so far.

4.4.25