The distinctive sound of both the quintet and Mr. Shearing himself—he used a so-called locked-hands style in which his hands played melody and harmony in close quarters, with the melody line ...

Pianist George Shearing died this past Monday February 14, 2011 due to heart failure, invoking an honest outpouring of love for his work and a resurgence of attention upon his impressive career.

Shearing was born in 1919 in the Battersea area of London. Congenitally blind, he was the youngest of nine children. His father delivered coal and his mother cleaned trains at night after caring for ...