Original Recordings 1947-1952George Shearing burst on to the American jazz scene in 1949 with everything going against him he was English, blind, white and played the piano in a time when Art Tatum, Bud Powell and Theolonius Monk were changing the face of Jazz. In spite of this Shearing not only created a sound of his own, he also became a huge commercial success, inventing a sound that helped make jazz accessible to a variety of audiences in the 1950s. His greatest success came with hits such as ‘September In The Rain’ and ‘Lullaby Of Birdland’ and now, although in his late 80s, Shearing is still active on the jazz circuit outliving nearly all his contemporaries with his musicality, sense of humour and love for entertaining.