It is impossible to categorize Don Shirley´s music. It is possible to say that as an arranger-composer he treats each piece of music as a new composition, not just an arrangement, Don plays Standards in a non-standard way. He is a virtuoso, playing everything from Show tunes to ballads to his personal arrangements of Negro spirituals to jazz, and always with the overtone of a classically trained musician who has utmost respect for the music he is playing.

His rendition of Cole Porter´s "Love For Sale" is the most sensitive production of that poignant song, as well as the most exciting that I have ever heard. The key to the reason why Don is such as exciting player is that he plays to a sense of truth about each song he does; he goes right to the heart of the song and the listener immediately reads, saying to himself, "Yes, that is the way that song should be played!" His sense of shading, phrasing, and balance with his piano is equal to the sense that Billie Holiday is renowned for with her voice. Igor Stravinsky has said of him, "His virtuosity is worthy of Gods."

Don´s piano style is basically attributed to his using the piano as a stringed instrument rather than a percussion instrument which enables him to have a flexible, subtle voice. He has said, "There are three ways to enjoy or to interpret music, from a listening point of view: emotionally, intellectually, and a combination of the two." I think the latter of the three would make for the most satisfying listening pleasure, and Don´s work has consistently made me appreciate the music in an emotional and intellectual way.

Don is a native of Kingston, Jamaica. He has referred to the key of "B Major" as being the lovely blue of Turquoise Bay. He began playing piano at the age of 21/2 and made his first public performance at the age of 3. By the time he was 9 he had been invited to study at the Leningrad Conservatory, where he spent a great part of his youth. However, he abandoned the piano when he was still quite young even though he had a great deal of success both in Europe and the United States.

It was by serendipity that Don got back into music.
He was given a grant while teaching phsychology at the University of Chicago in the early 50´s to study the relationship, if any, between music and the juvenile crime wave that had recently erupted in New York. He proved that certain tonal combinations affected the audience´s reactions. No one in the audience, except some of his students who were planted to help with the project, knew of the experiment, but the small club became known for employing an excellent pianist. The "pianist" started making appearances in New York, most notably at the Basin Street, where he played with Duke Ellington. They cultivated a warm friendship, the pinnacle of which was Don´s performance of Duke´s Piano Concerto at Carnegie Hall with the NBC Symphomy of the Air.

This Renaissance Man has composed three symphonies, two piano concert, a cello concerto, three string quartets, a one-act opera, and works for organ, piano, and violin. A piece of work that most people can´t even read captured Don´s imagination and inspired him to write a tone poem; the work, James Joyce´s "Finnegan´s Wake." Don has also written a set of "Variations" on the legend of Orpheus in the Underworld. You´ll remember that Orpheus was the god of music, though he was half mortal, and he journeyed to the Underworld to rescue his love.

Don Shirley, the man and the musician, has reached the heights of immortality through his music, while, like Orpheus, he is most decidedly "human." The work enclosed in this sleeve will certainly attest to that fusion and lift the listener up to ecstatic heights.

Pat. & © 1980, Herbert Ekstrom
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Don Shirley Photograph by Frank Gauna
Album Design and Photography by Jeffery Weisel