Veteran Bay Area pianist and trumpeter Dick Vartanian writes:
My brother-in-law was entertainment chairman of the Lion’s club in the early 1970s. They put on a benefit for the blind every year. He asked me if I could get some people to appear.
George Shearing was in San Francisco, so I asked him. His reply, as expected, was a direct yes. He played a few numbers with his trio and then announced to the audience that he had taken the liberty to bring a friend. At that point they played an intro and from the wings came, “Did you say you have a lot to learn?” followed by you know who.
The audience reaction was wonderful.
No doubt, especially if You Know Who sang as he did in the album they made together for Shearing’s Sheba label in 1971, and if Shearing dug into his store of harmonic knowledge as he does in this medley. It was assembled from the recording by YouTube contributor David Speed.
