The George Shearing Quintet With Nancy Wilson – The Swingin's Mutual!
Although artistic sensibilities don’t often go hand in hand with business acumen, the exceptions prove the rule. Perhaps no one from Columbus better embodied both traits than Nancy Wilson. Keenly self-aware of her talent and her limited musical knowledge, Wilson knew exactly what she wanted and went out and got it. She waited until she was 22 and had established herself in Columbus before striking out for New York, expressly to secure a management contract with John Levy and a record deal with Capitol. Those decisions set in motion a series of events that led directly to her third and, to that point, most successful album, The Swingin's Mutual! with the George Shearing Quintet.
Capitol Records – T-1524
1961
Levy was the manager of her friend Cannonball Adderley, and Wilson instinctively felt he would understand where she wanted to take her career. She knew what she wanted her brand to be long before that term was commonly used for artists, let alone people in general. She wanted to be a song stylist playing supper clubs rather than a jazz singer playing jazz clubs. She wanted a long career and a comfortable lifestyle built around her God-given singing talent. That’s exactly what she accomplished.
John Levy had been British jazz pianist George Shearing’s bass player before moving into management and taking Shearing on as a client. Levy also managed jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal. According to Jamal, Wilson made her New York debut with his group.
“Nancy Wilson's first appearance in New York was on my show,” Ahmad recalled in a 2011 Smithsonian Jazz Oral History interview. “My singer was Gloria Lynne. (Wilson) was an extra added attraction that John put on. Then John started managing her, Joe Williams, Cannonball, but first was George Shearing.”
Shearing and Wilson apparently hit it off immediately. “George Shearing is so enthusiastic over the talents of Nancy Wilson, the New York secretary-turned-vocalist,” The Columbus Dispatch gushed in an April 20, 1960 article. “He’s donated his expensive talents to the role of rehearsal pianist for the stardom-bound girl.”
Despite his mixed reputation among jazz critics, George Shearing was at the peak of his commercial success in 1960. Both Levy and Capitol were clearly salivating over the cross-promotional possibilities of their two artists. In case there was any doubt, they even had them hold a copy of one of each other’s albums on the cover. Had this album been recorded a year or two later, Nancy Wilson’s name might have received top billing. But her star was still on the rise at the time of these sessions.
The first recording session took place on June 29, 1960, at Capitol’s New York studio. At the time, her first album, Like in Love, had just been released. Barely a year had passed since she left Columbus, and Wilson was already recording her third album for Capitol. It must have been a welcome change of pace to work with a quintet after her first two albums featured big bands directed by Billy May. With Shearing having worked as Wilson’s rehearsal pianist, the two already had a familiarity and comfort level when The Swingin's Mutual sessions began.
The June 29 session yielded three of the album's vocal highlights: “Born to Be Blue,” “The Things We Did Last Summer,” and “All Night Long.” Two additional sessions followed on July 5 and 6, producing several more vocal and instrumental tracks. The project wasn't completed until January 7, 1961, when four additional instrumental arrangements were recorded.
As was common in this era, the original album provided little in the way of musician credits, leaving some uncertainty about the personnel. I reached out to Warren Chiasson, who was playing with the George Shearing Quintet at the time. "Even though I was with the George Shearing Quintet at this particular time, I had taken some time off to go back to Nova Scotia to attend a family matter," Chiasson noted. "So I am not on this album with Nancy Wilson, even though we were doing concerts featuring her as a special guest at the (time)."
He believes the session featured Eddie Costa on vibes, George Duvivier on bass, and Walter Bolden on drums. Bolden had been playing some gigs with the quintet during that period, while Duvivier, though not a regular member, was a much-in-demand New York bassist. Tragically, just over a year after this album's release, Eddie Costa’s life was cut short in a car accident in 1962 at the age of 31.
Chiasson also helped clear up some conflicting credits that have circulated over the years. Vernel Fournier joined Shearing later, and Ralph Peña, a West Coast bassist, was not involved in the recording. Dick Garcia appears to have handled guitar. An EP of Shearing's “Lullaby of Birdland,” documenting recordings made June 29–July 6, 1960, lists Costa, Bolden, and Duvivier, lending further support to those identifications. Armando Peraza is credited with percussion, although that attribution is also tentative.
Ultimately, the album was split between vocal performances by Wilson and instrumental arrangements by Shearing’s quintet. “There was no specific strategy to having me record only six songs and for George to record six with just the quintet,” Wilson told JazzWax in 2011. “We used the same six-and-six format on Nancy Wilson with Cannonball Adderley, which we recorded a year later in 1961.
“I suppose it was set up that way so the album could sell in both of our record bins. Buyers who wanted the instrumentals would have them, and the different audiences would be exposed to each of us.”
The six-and-six format works well, offering something for everyone. It’s interesting to consider that, even though the rock-and-roll era had arrived, Capitol wasn’t quite on board yet. Judy Garland’s At Carnegie Hall was among the label’s major successes in 1961, and Capitol would famously pass on “Love Me Do” the following year. The Swingin's Mutual! sold well for Capitol, was generally well received by critics, and helped introduce Wilson to a broader audience.
The jazz snobs over at DownBeat tried hard to pan the album but couldn’t help offering a few compliments. “Her voice is crisp and clear as a bell,” they noted in their two-and-a-half-star review. “It can stand out over the instrumentation or it can melt into the group. Her diction and enunciation are perfect without sounding pedantic.”
Like many of Wilson's recordings, the album’s reputation has grown over time. In 1999, Wilson and Shearing reunited at Carnegie Hall to celebrate Shearing’s 80th birthday. They performed “The Things We Did Last Summer,” “Green Dolphin Street,” “The Nearness of You,” and “All Night Long.” “When we actually got together to do the show (Wilson) was magical, although it was well over thirty years since we’d originally recorded these songs,” Shearing noted in his 2004 autobiography, Lullaby of Birdland. Shearing made sure the quintet had the music well in advance, and Wilson was impressed.
“To sit down and play exactly what you had played on an album from so many years ago. Well, it blew my mind. But that was George,” Wilson said in the JazzWax interview. “The Swingin's Mutual was a breakthrough for me, commercially. It raised my profile and showed off my versatility.”
The album was reissued on CD with five bonus tracks in 1992. Grey-market reissues pairing all the vocal tracks from this album and the Cannonball Adderley album appeared in Europe in 2012 and 2022.
As for me, my appreciation for Wilson keeps growing the more I dig into her catalog. There is something so soothing about hearing her voice in these troubled times. I’ve truly become a fan. Listen with open ears, and maybe you will too.
Tracklist
A6 Blue Lou
B3 Inspiration
Additional vocal tracks
Credits
Vocals – Nancy Wilson (tracks: A1, A3, A5, B2, B4, B6)
Piano – George Shearing
Vibraphone – Eddie Costa
Guitar – Dick Garcia
Bass [Probably] – George Duvivier
Drums [Probably] – Walter Bolden
Percussion [Maybe] – Armando Peraza
Producer – Dave Cavanaugh, Tom Morgan
Armchair on cover designed by – Charles Eames, Herman Miller Inc.
Cover photo of George Shearing by – Maynard Frank Wolfe, Black Star
Recorded at Capitol Studios, New York City on June 29, 1960 (tracks A5,B2, B4, Gentleman Friend), July 5, 1960 (tracks A1,B6, Ghost Of Yesterday), July 6, 1960 (tracks A3,B3, B5) and January 7, 1961 (tracks A2,A4,A6,B1)
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