1. Have You Met Miss Jones
2. I Only Have Eyes For You
3. Consternation
4. Cherokee
5. Bebop's Fables
6. Life With Feather
7. September In The Rain
8. Bop Look And Listen
9. Nothing But D Best
10. East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon)
11. In A Chinese Garden
12. Carnegie Horizons
13. I'll Remember April
14. Jumping With Symphony Sid
15. Tenderly
16. Pick Yourself Up
17. Roses Of Picardy
18. There's A Lull In My Life
19. We'll Be Together Again
20. Lullaby Of Birdland
When it comes to Shearing
it is possible to navigate between the Scylla
of "cocktail bop" and the Charybdis
of "chamber jazz" to arrive at a
more just examination of his place in the
scheme of things. At a time when Nat Cole’s
trio was becoming so successful and when Red
Norvo was spearheading his own timbral changes
in small groups, Shearing’s importance is
apt to be overlooked. It was hardly his fault
that he achieved a certain renown.
The evidence has recently
been laid out in a significant Proper box,
four discs’ worth of early Shearing; this
Naxos gives us a fair run of the quintet’s
hits. We begin though with the trio and a
1947 side with Gene Ramey and Cozy Cole before
two sides made back in London with Canadian
bassist Jack Fallon (good) and English drummer
Norman Burns (crude). On Cherokee Shearing
reverted to his accordion, the instrument
he’d played successfully in bands for a number
of years. But these are appetisers for the
meal, the Quintet recordings. Shearing solos
at speed, sometimes it’s true rather facetiously,
but with enviable tonal nuance. When the various
components locked in place – try the loping
September In The Rain, the group moved
with splendid lightness and aplomb. When it
rabble-roused, as it does on Life with
Feather, it can sound frantic.
Shearing never lost his ear
for colour and for a good tune; he clearly
also never lost an affection for Albert Ketèlbey,
whose shade he seems to invoke in In A
Chinese Garden – clever guitar styling
from Chuck Wayne. At its best one is reminded
just how elegant the quintet was, how cleverly
things meshed – and how vital Marjorie Hyams
was and – not least – just how fortunate Shearing
was to have John Levy and Denzil Best on-board.
Naturally the title track
comes last but there are no dull moments here.
If you lack Shearing material I’d direct you
to the comprehensive Proper box but for a
single disc summation of early Shearing this
will do nicely – good transfers as well.
Jonathan Woolf
CD Reviews
NAXOS JAZZ LEGENDS 8.120823 [59.30]
