Come Away to the Skies (Based on Early American Hymn Tunes - No. 2)

Sir George Albert Shearing OBE (13 August 1919 – 14 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 songs, including the jazz standards "Lullaby of Birdland" and "Conception", and had multiple albums on the Billboard charts.

Born in Battersea, London, Shearing was the youngest of nine children. He was born blind to working-class parents and started to learn piano at the age of three, beginning formal training at Linden Lodge School for the Blind, where he spent four years.

Though he was offered several scholarships, Shearing opted to perform at a local pub, the Mason's Arms in Lambeth, for "25 bob a week" playing piano and accordion. He joined an all-blind band, and was influenced by the records of Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller. Shearing made his first BBC radio broadcast during this time, after being befriended by Leonard Feather, with whom he started recording in 1937.

He won six consecutive Top Pianist Melody Maker polls from this time onward.

He remained fit and active well into his later years and continued to perform, even after being honored with an Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993. He never forgot his native country and, in his last years, would split his year between living in New York and Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire.

He was appointed OBE in 1996 and was knighted in 2007.

This collection of widely varied pieces was published by The Sacred Music Press in 1977. I got my copy as a digital download from Lorenz, and have enjoyed doing the entire group.

The writing is colorful and creative, ranging from hymn harmonizations, but also includes "genuine" organ writing such as trios and canons.

If you're looking for something "cool" to play, I highly recommend these pieces!

Photos of George Shearing are attached below.

Sources of texts and tunes are given in the First Comment.