Creativity Quote by George Shearing

Shearing’s candor lands because it cuts against the myth of the tireless jazz genius who can’t help but create. He’s not talking about inspiration as lightning; he’s talking about labor management. “On the road” isn’t romantic here, it’s logistical and bodily: travel, late nights, constant performance. When he finally gets “a couple of weeks off,” the last thing he wants is to recreate the tour’s demands in miniature by “sitting at the piano, and taping.” That word choice matters. “Taping” is the studio’s unglamorous clerical side, proof that composing and documenting aren’t just art, they’re administration.

The intent feels lightly apologetic but also quietly protective. Shearing isn’t confessing a dry spell; he’s asserting a boundary. The subtext is that creative output is shaped less by talent than by the conditions surrounding it. Rest isn’t an indulgence, it’s a prerequisite, and he refuses to pretend otherwise. There’s also a subtle critique of the always-on expectation placed on working musicians: even downtime gets treated as an opportunity to generate more product.

Contextually, this is a musician who built a career on relentless movement between clubs, festivals, radio, recordings - the 20th-century circuit that monetized stamina as much as artistry. The line “giving yourself more work to do” is almost comic in its deflation: writing becomes another gig, another obligation. Yet the optimism remains. “I probably will start again very shortly” signals that he hasn’t lost the impulse; he’s simply negotiating with exhaustion, choosing timing over martyrdom.