TT: George Shearing, R.I.P.

George Shearing, who in his day was both an immensely popular and an impeccably tasteful jazz pianist, died this morning at the age of ninety-one. I wrote at length about him for the New York Times in 2002. That piece was quoted in this morning's Associated Press obituary . Here's the relevant part:

Bad habits die hard, but now that ''crossover'' is no longer a dirty word, the time has come for George Shearing to be acknowledged not as a commercial purveyor of bop-and-water, but as an exceptionally versatile artist who has given pleasure to countless listeners for whom such critical hair-splitting is irrelevant. At 82, he is still active, still witty and still playing piano with the same luminous touch that put him on the map back when 52nd Street was lined with grubby little nightclubs instead of jumbo office towers. May he never stop swinging.

He never did.

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The George Shearing Quintet plays Denzil Best's "Move":