Plays Love Songs

HE TRULY ENRICHED MY CHILDHOOD MEMORIES!!!Don Shirley’s works, even in the late 1960s and early 1970s, were very hard to get your hands on in their original vinyl form.When Bose came out with a turn table and cassette recording stereo system, my father recorded his entire vinyl album library, as well as my grandfather’s original classical collection, onto cassette tapes. After he was done recording his and my grandfather’s vinyl treasures, he worked on copying a few of his professional friends’ treasures. One of his friends owned some of Don Shirley’s original solo and trio works. My father made cassette recordings for his friend and for himself.My father was a successful professional who lived in a small beach community, Moss Beach, a thirty-minute drive from San Francisco. He loved having people visiting him on the weekends. So, every weekend, our house was full of invited guests from San Francisco and neighbors who would just stop by to say, “Hello!” Often, the house would be full of guests ranging from the president of the Bank of California to the neighbor around the block, who was a garbage man in San Francisco!There were many times that a guest would leave the conversation and comment, “Who is this? I really like this music!” And, as usual, my father would inform them it was Don Shirley, an extremely talented, brilliant pianist. My father often claimed that Don Shirley would never achieve the successful highs he deserved and was truly entitled to because of the color of his skin. My father felt the white culture would never truly embrace him. And, due to the white influence in Don Shirley’s style and creativity, my father felt he would never be truly embraced by his own culture.When my father died, I searched the first five years after his death for Don Shirley’s works. I searched several music clubs and could not even find a carbon footprint of him in the music world. I even searched the internet in fear that I was not spelling his name correctly and still there was no trace of him!Recently, I suffered through the ninth year of my father’s passing and, again, I began thinking of Don Shirley!This time, while searching for his works, I found five CD albums of his works. I ordered this album along with others and added some others to my Amazon Wish list.I also searched the internet to learn more about Don Shirley. And … In a way, my father was correct! Don Shirley had some of the very best training for his time—and maybe even for today—and there really was quite a white influence along with his strong black influence.By the way, my father, who was a successful self-employed commercial artist, and all his siblings could play musical instruments. My father played the trumpet. One of my aunts was classically trained during the late 1950s at Stanford University. In other words, my father knew music. And … Don Shirley is truly a priceless treasure!!!

This is a beautiful classical piano music by a great artist, Donald Shirley. The trio is included in the 2 disc. Never heard of him until I seen the movie "Green Book". What an artist and to bad he had to live through Jim Crow era, no wonder we never heard of this great artist until after he is gone. Relax with a cup of tea and enjoy the music. Great artist with his existing unchanged music forever.

I learned of Dr. Don Shirley from watching the Oscar wining movie "The Green Mile". I wanted a nice sampling of his music/playing to listen to at home. The music is very good/nice but the audio quality is quite poor. The CD case and J-card printing quality are very low. It feels to me someone saw an opportunity to bank on the Doctor's music after the movie came out and didn't want to spend any money on remastering the old recordings or using industry standard quality packaging. Enjoy it for what it is.

I happen to be an older black male and had never heard of Don Shirley until I saw Green Book. The Ed Sullivan Show usually introduced artists of this caliber to America but I don't remember ever seeing him perform on that show or any TV show. I'm glad Green Book introduced me to him but I knew enough not to buy the movie soundtrack, which doesn't do him justice, and instead purchased Love Songs. It's a classic and the sound quality is good. I am surprised that other reviews have not mentioned his spellbinding 10 minute version of The Man I Love. That alone is worth the price of the CD and I don't know how his arms didn't fall off after the way he played it.

One disc is fairly standard cocktail jazz of the 1950's. The other is bolder, with classical and jazz elements woven into the melodies, but both are worth owning if you liked the movie "The Green Book" and you like jazz piano in general. He issued a Gospel LP back in his day that is not available on CD. I have heard samples and think that one might be the Shirley product I would like best. Until someone reissues that (doubtful in this era of streaming) this set will do nicely. The man was interesting.

I rediscovered the Don Shirley Trio by seeing the movie, Green Book. I first heard then when working at my college radio station in the early 1960s. The 2 disk Don Shirley Trio/Don Shirley Trio is great. While I like the Love Songs CD and other Don Shirely CDs I have purchased, I think the Don Shirley Trio Water Boy CD is his best. I listen to it over and over and especially like Water Boy, Freedom, Adieu Madraz and the 10 minute This Man is absolutely great. Can't get the melodies out of my head. If you only buy one Don Shirley, this is the one!

I discovered his music when I was in my twenties. Fell in love with it. All of his music, his own composition and arrangements, as well as other music that he plays, is wonderful. I've never grown tied of even one single piece and play his CDs (originally had 33&1/3 records) over and over.

We really enjoyed the music in The Green Book movie, so ordered this CD. It was not quite as good as we had expected, but is still very enjoyable.

Lots of people admire Don Shirley, but I found his playing very self-indulgent. I bought this CD because I wanted to learn. But the music was not for me

If it hadn't been for the film Green Book I would never of heard of Don Shirley and his majestic piano playing. This CD is pure magic.

Glad to have a CD version of this LP album which I purchased in the 1960s. No more 'clicks' when I play it!

I liked this double cd a great deal.

Very good, quick and efficient customer service, would recommend to anyone, as he is a great artist. Would buy again. Thankyou.