Lullaby of Birdland: The Autobiography of George Shearing (Bayou Jazz Lives S)
"Together they [Shearing and Shipton] have produced a book that is tightly edited and true to the voice of its subject. Suffused with warmth and good humor…this is recommended for larger jazz collections."" -Library Journal"“Lullaby of Birdland, with all its pleasures, is to some extent the fruit of a collaboration between Shearing and the British jazz writer and broadcaster Alyn Shipton…Together they have produced a book which is well and tightly edited, which never bogs down in unnecessary detail or strays waywardly from the matters at hand, and in which Shearing consistently sounds like himself and not an edited version…The pages are suffused with warmth and good humor…” –January magazine, 03/04 (H.V. Cordry)“Titled after Shearing’s most famous composition, this book is written with a punning sense of humor – a style that marks both Shearing’s private life and stage performances. He fills his books with tales of making music with some of the most important jazz artists of the 20th century. Shearing’s grace, charm, and humor are everywhere in this book, including the dust jacket photograph, which shows him looking into a mirror adjusting his tie. Highly recommended.” – Choice, 10/2004“George Shearing, OBE, is such an institution that his 80th birthday was celebrated with a concert at Carnegie Hall. This year, perhaps preparing for his 85th birthday next month, he’s glanced over his life in a book that’s occasionally rueful but mostly high-spirited.” – The National Post, 7/6/04 (Robert Fulford)“The fact that he could recall an ancient joke going back to the 1920s is an expression of his love of boyish word-play and his engaging personality, both of which come out in this autobiography, constructed with the knowledgeable aid of the author and broadcaster Alyn Shipton.” –matnew, August 2004“He is also admirably frank about his personal ups and downs, and outspoken about the world of jazz. Anybody who has ever enjoyed Shearing’s music will also enjoy the story of the man behind it.” –Yorkshire Post Magazine, August 7, 2004Recommended as a noteworthy title in the e-newsletter –ForeWord This Week, September 2004 (ForeWord Reviews)Reviewed -Jazz Special (Scandinavia)