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1983 · Album

Top Drawer

↑ George Shearing

Shearing and Tormé, Swinging Easy

A late-period meeting of two pros who never needed to prove anything, trading phrases with easy confidence.

Top Drawer, released in 1983, is a record of two seasoned musicians working in a comfortable groove. Mel Tormé sings and George Shearing plays piano, with Don Thompson on bass providing the anchor. The setting is a small-group vocal-and-piano format, and what stands out is how little the record reaches for effect. It is not a reinvention of either man. It is two people who knew their material well enough to play with it.

The music leans on the standards and swing-era material each performer had been living with for decades. Shearing's block-chord voicings give the arrangements a lightly polished shine, and Tormé's phrasing is precise without being stiff. Listen to how the two of them trade space and push each other on the uptempo numbers. It is pleasant, sometimes sharp, and rarely overwrought.

Where does it sit? This is not the place to start with either artist. Shearing's classic quintet recordings and Tormé's earlier vocal work with strong arrangers are the better entry points. Top Drawer is for listeners who already know both men and want to hear them relaxed together. AllMusic reviewer Stacia Proefrock gave it four out of five, and it earns that for craft and good company.

Who's playing
Don Thompsonbass
George Shearingpiano
Listen next
By George Shearing
Beauty and the Beat! 1959
More Cool Jazz
There Comes a Time 1976
Gil Evans
Recording Info
Track listing
1Shine on Your Shoes3:11
2How Do You Say Auf Wiedersehen?5:50
3Oleo4:20
4Stardust5:51
5Hi Fly3:28
6Smoke Gets in Your Eyes6:07
7What's This3:18
8Away in the Manger3:56
9Here's to My Lady3:21
Musicians
Further Reading
Read more

Where next?

More by George Shearing
Beauty and the Beat! 1959
♫
George Shearing and the Montgomery Brothers 1966
Bossa Nova 1963
On the Sunny Side of the Strip 1960
All 32 albums →
More Cool Jazz
There Comes a Time 1976
Gil Evans
Live at the Berlin Jazz Days 1980 1982
Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz Meets Warne Marsh Again 1976
Warne Marsh
Tutu 1986
Miles Davis
All 72 Cool Jazz artists →

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