Best Shearing Recordings

Since no one has responded to this post, I will try to help. I hoped an expert on Shearing would bail us out.

My favorite recordings are all on LP, so I cannot say how many are available as CD.

The 1960 LP of "The Swingin's Mutual" was on Blue Note? My collection is in storage, but I think this is correct. Great music, decent recording.

The 1979 "Blues Alley and Jazz" is a better recording, and typical of much of the Concord Jazz label that I am very fond of.

The release in 1980 of "On a Clear Day" is another Concord Jazz. This begins a period on Concord where the recordings are very warm and do real justice to the tone and color of Shearing's Piano..

My favorite is the 1982 release "Evening with George Shearing and Mel Torme' ". If you are at all a fan of Mel Torme', this is a must buy. Concord Jazz label also.

More recently the Telarc people did "That Shearing Sound" (in 1994 or 1995?) I do not own this but word is that it is very good musically. Telarc is somewhat spotty on recording, some excellent, others poor at best.

There are a wealth of earlier releases on MGM and Metro records, but most are from the 1940's and early 1950's. Clean LP's this far back are not as easy to find, and unknown if these are released on CD.

I really enjoy his collaboration with Nancy Wilson, the title of which doesn't readily come to mind. He also collaborated with Wes Montgomery and Wes's musician brothers. I find his other recordings sort of boring except for the hot covers.

"The Swingin's Mutual" was issued on Capitol Records, catalog number ST 1524. It was released in April, 1961.

I own several Shearing recordings -- some on Concord, plus some previous labels. My personal favorite continues to be a recording from around 1960, "George Shearing in San Francisco", which I think was issued on the Capitol label.