George Shearing answers the question of whether he was difficult to please musically as a young

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George Shearing discusses his quintet sound

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George Shearing discusses the influence of classical music on his work

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Q: “Was it accidental discovering the quintet sound? There are some recordings that are early on that are close to it but not quite that easily identifiable sound…”

A: “Well, it's a very good observation because it was an accident really because I was playing just previous to the quintet with Buddy DeFranco, John Levy and Denzil Best, and Buddy's wife was managing him and my ex was managing me and it was a question in the eyes of the women whether it would be the Buddy DeFranco-George Shearing Quartet or the George Shearing-Buddy DeFranco Quartet. One was negotiating with Capitol or Buddy was negotiating with Capitol and we with MGM. Later on, there was to be a complete turn around. We with Capitol and Buddy with MGM. But with two such diverse careers presided over by two healthily prejudiced women in favor of their individual men and their love for them and everything, it was rather destructive to a unified career of the two people, so then the fellows said “You heard Margie Hyams with her group, and Chuck Wayne with his, why don't we keep the rhythm section and see what happens with adding those two?"