At 78 jazz pianist George Shearing doesn't plan to stop playing music.
"I will never retire," the veteran musician said during a phone interview from his home in New York. "But I will cut back and focus on doing the things that I want to do."Thank goodness. Otherwise, Shearing, who used to play regularly at the former Hotel Utah in the '70s and '80s, wouldn't be returning to Salt Lake City for a concert at the Hilton Hotel on Tuesday, April 15. (Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are available for $15 at the Hilton front desk, 150 W. 500 South.)
Shearing, who spoke in a grandfatherly tone, talked candidly about his life in the music business.
"I am the youngest of nine children," the English-bred musician said. "I was born blind, and my childhood was limited to how much a blind child could get to play without access to the sighted crowd.
"Money was always a problem in my family," Shearing said. "My mother was an alcoholic, and no one in my family played any type of musical instrument - except for my brother who played a little clarinet for a while. I guess it was my determination that helped me get in front of the crowd, so to speak."
Shearing's father delivered coal, and his mother spent the evenings cleaning trains. "I began playing the piano because of the way it made me feel," Shearing said. "I mostly play by ear, of course."
All through his younger years and right up to college, Shearing played the ivories. "I turned down a few college scholarships to play in pubs and clubs around the city for $5 a night because of my family's money-factor.
"By the time I was 28, I had moved to New York with my English wife and 5-year-old daughter. I sent off letters to agents all over town and played for them."
In 1949, Shearing began making a name for himself. Many called him an English Teddy Wilson. "Who needed another person that sounded like him? So I decided to get a quintet together, and really focused on making a name for myself."
His quintet played in clubs around the Big Apple and landed intermission spots during concerts by Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.
"I had an apprenticeship you couldn't buy," chuckled Shearing. "One night when Hank Jones had a night off, I asked if I could play a show for Ella. After the show, things started rolling."
In addition to being blind, Shearing said one of his challenges was his mouth.
"Before I had firmly made a name for myself, I remember sitting in a session with Charlie Parker," Shearing said. "Instead of asking him politely what he wanted to play, I said, `Hey, man, what would you like to blow?'
"He quickly said, `All the five shots, up and down.' Luckily, I had taken a few music theory classes when I was younger. I learned real fast to put your talent where you mouth was."
During his lengthy career, Shearing has earned two Grammy Awards (1982 and 1983), received an honorary doctorate degree from Salt Lake City's own Westminster College in the early 1970s, garnered the Horatio Alger Award in 1978, and in 1996 became a member of the Order of the British Empire. He also opened the Shearing Center in Battersea, United Kingdom.
He is also one of the few musicians who have been invited to play at the White House by Presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan and has delivered a Royal Command Performance in England for the queen and Prince Phillip.
"Things like these just gradually happen," the humble Shearing said. "I just worked at what I do best. Like I said, I'm enjoying all of this too much to fully retire. But now, I can pick and choose to do the things I like.
"And coming back to Salt Lake City is one of those things."