Thursday, February 17, 2011

George Shearing, 1919-2011


















George Shearing- "My Funny Valentine" (video stream)

People who suggest that they were born in the wrong era baffle me. I'm just glad to be here. I freely acknowledge, however, that I experience music through a contemporary filter. Django Reinhardt's scratchy recordings from the 1930s strike me as up to date as Jay Electronica. Other artists, George Shearing among them, evoke a period that seems somewhat foreign to me. His romantic and formal sensibility, while immediately accessible, is rooted in an entirely different time and place. I can appreciate it- I can even love it- but I'm several steps removed from its origin. George Shearing died on Valentine's Day. He was 91.

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My latest ECM infatuation: Mistico Mediterraneo by Paolo Fresu, Daniele di Bonaventura and A Filetta.

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Max, the man behind Nuthatch-47, has a new song and video. (Via Wayward Blog.)

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Who Is Arcade Fire? has made me laugh out loud every day this week.

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The Life and Times is responsible for my tenth favorite album of 2009. The band is performing at the Middle of the Map festival in April.

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While there's still no mention of the news at the Kansas City Symphony's site, a recording featuring the ensemble won Grammy Awards for "Surround Sound Album" and "Producer of the Year, Classical."

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Hey, Kansas City music lovers- this is what a real record store looks like. Grimey's in Nashville is just killing it.

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Kansas City Click: Motorhead will make everything louder than everything else Thursday at the Midland Theater.

Phonologotron performs at City Center Square on Friday.

Thomas Pridgen's band The Memorials will be at the Riot Room on Saturday.

I previewed Todd Clouser's Sunday appearance at the Record Bar for Plastic Sax.

Julian Lage plays the Blue Room on Monday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

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