AccuRadio Song Of The Day-George Shearing

Artist:George Shearing
Song:Lullaby Of Birdland
Album:A Proper Introduction To George Shearing: Conception



Pianist George Shearing was the foremost proponent of "Cocktail Jazz". I guess if he was around today it would be called Smooth Jazz. I liked him best when he accompanied singers. He also wrote the jazz standard Lullaby Of Birdland which is probably one of the most recorded songs in history. Shearing was born Aug. 13, 1919 in Battersea, London, England. He was born blind and he learned to play piano as a child. Though he was offered scholarships, Shearing preferred to play local clubs and he started appearing on the radio after he became friends with jazz critic Leonard Feather. Shearing moved to the US in 1947 and signed with MGM Records. His recording of September In The Rain sold almost a million copies. Birdland was a jazz club at the corner of Broadway and 44th St. in New York City named after Charlie Parker. In 1952, club owner Morris Levy planned a live radio broadcast and he asked Shearing to record a theme for the show. But Shearing didn't like the song Levy gave him so he offered to write one. Shearing struggled with this for weeks until one night during dinner it came to him and he wrote Lullaby Of Birdland in ten minutes. It's based on the tune of the popular song Love Me Or Leave Me. He recorded it and it was the theme of the radio show. That should have been the end of it. But a couple of years later George David Weiss wrote lyrics for Lullaby Of Birdland and Sarah Vaughan recorded it on her classic 1954 album with Clifford Brown. Shearing then recorded his original version which MGM released as a single in 1954. Shearing's band at the time was Joe Roland on vibes, Dick Garcia on guitar, Al McKibbon on bass and Marquis Foster on drums. This recording is available on this CD from the British label Proper. Shearing recorded Lullaby Of Birdland many times over the years. And it's a jazz standard so plenty of others recorded it too. Here's George Shearing performing Lullaby Of Birdland. Thanks to Jazz Standards for the Lullaby Of Birdland history.