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This one's for Kathy (otherwise known as "Playagain), who put me on to this arrangement last year, I think it was... ...and after I blabbed about it in the other "Silver Bells" thread , she was happy to ask to hear it.

I am happy to share it. Please consider this "a statement of artistic intentions," as it is not as worked up as I had thought. (I have an idea for the interpretation, but the finer points of the dynamics and pedalling are eluding me at the moment.) Still, the piano tuning part of it all is getting better, bit by bit, perhaps, maybe, possibly, I hope.

This was recorded on the Lester with the little Tascam DP-004 using the built in condensor mics, after a day of chasing down fuzzy unisons and wonky intervals.

Hope you like it!

"Silver Bells" -- Shearing arr.

--Andy

Thanks, Andy!!! I love it! It is so, so pretty! You play it beautifully!
What a treat! I've listened to it several times already. It's such a pretty arrangement, and I love the way you play it.
Thanks, again!!!
Kathy

Andy,
You are making me really like the George Shearing arrangements. Looking at the piece, I didn't think it would sound so pretty. I think a lot of his arrangements don't seem to look like they are really melodious, but it's all in how you play them, and it looks like there is definitely an art to it! You've got it!

I love that old vintage White Christmas piece you posted--I was lucky to get some of the older Christmas music from family. Have you ever seen the other White Christmas Irving Berlin piano solo version from that same time period? It's copyright 1942. It's is so pretty. It also includes the intro part--it's the first page of the piano solo.

Thanks, again!!!
Kathy

Art, or artiface, perhaps!... I think the thing with these Shearing arrangements that we're talking about--the very accessible ones written for the mass market in the spinet heyday--is to know the song. Then, it's a matter of letting the "Shearing" aspect support the song, not define it.

I was born toward the end of that heyday and often have to find a rather "definitive" version of one song or another if it is unfamiliar to me, listening until it is firmly in my head before puzzling out the music as it appears in the Shearing books. Love those chords, though!

Many thanks for your encouragements! And, speaking of Irving Belin, no, I am not familiar with the 1942 piano solo version of "White Christmas." Perhaps you should record it!

Andy,
HAHA! I'll email it to you, and maybe you can record it.

That's a great idea to listen to a definitive version of the song first so you really know it. I've become familiar with lots of the American Songbook type songs now, but not jazzy versions, which I think can also give you another look at how the piece can sound. My brother is really into jazz. I should borrow some of his cds.

If you're ever in St. Louis on a Sunday or Monday night in July or early August, you should check out the Compton Heights Concert Band (www.chband.org) in Tower Grove Park or Francis Park. My brother has been a member for over 30 years. Then you have to go to Ted Drewes afterwards for a frozen custard.

Kathy