George Shearing is a jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader whose quintet, with its unique “Shearing Sound,” remained popular for three decades. Shearing, who was born blind, grew up in England where he first established his reputation as a pianist. He immigrated to the United States in 1947, later becoming a citizen. He was an integral part of the thriving 52nd Street jazz scene in the ’40s and established his own group in the early ‘50s. His witty autobiography not only traces his life but his musical partnerships with many jazz greats such as Mel Torme, Joe Pass, and Toots Thielemans.

Alyn Shipton is an author, publisher and jazz broadcaster. He presented the BBC World Service show “Jazzmatazz” for six years and in 2003 won the Willis Conover / Marian McPartland Lifetime Achievement Award for Jazz Broadcasting. His award-winning books include New History of Jazz and Groovin’ High, a biography of Dizzy Gillespie. He has written two other jazz biographies, Fats Waller: His Life and Times and The Glass Enclosure: The Life of Bud Powell , and edited three volumes of oral history.