Customer Reviews

More Grand Piano

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This is a lovely collection of solo Shearing in the same vein as the albums "Piano" and "Grand Piano" on the Concord label... if you like either of those, don't hesitate to get this one too. Here you'll find jazz tinged with impressionistic and classical influences. Of special note is "Change Partners" which incorporates the Thornhill tune "Snowfall" to create a beautiful hybrid. "My Favorite Things" is given a straight-ahead reading with some boroque ornamentation. "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" is a rich medidative, dreamy exploration. "People" is infused with Debussy-like whole tone exoticism. "Wind in the Willow" is the perfect reflective closer. My only reservation is on the up-tempo numbers... I find these stride style renditions less convincing and engaging. But the depth and beauty of the ballads here make this CD well worth getting.

This is the first solo cd I have bought by George. I knew he was a great performer in trio and quartet settings, but I didn't know about his solo work. Well, I found out that he can do solo with greatness too.

For this cd, I immediately heard "Echos of Dave McKenna" when I played this cd. This isn't a bad thing for Dave is one of my favorite jazz pianist. In the inlet George even talks about his sounding like Dave among other greats.

Also this cd had some classical sounds. George tried to give a classical sound to "My Favorite Things". This turned out to be a good move.

This cd had a pretty good repertoire.

Based on this cd, i'm going to add more solo product of Georges' to my collection.

This is the way jazz solo piano should be, although Shearing may not be as big of an improviser as say Earl Hines, his music is beautiful and melodiz and it's jazz at the same time.