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It's "Summertime" Again
Manage episode 429834434 series 3540370
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Between the recent national heat wave and our recent Words of the Week here at Word & Song, I decided to revisit a brilliant song, an American standard since the day one, "Summertime," written by the great American composer, George Gershwin, for his opera, Porgy & Bess. When this song comes to my mind, I of course think of it as a vocal, and obviously Gershwin planned it as an aria. But in researching the music I ran across the most sublime instrumental jazz/swing version of the song by the big band of Artie Shaw. George Gershwin was a musical genius of the highest order, and listening to the instrumental alone allows you to focus on the composition, apart from the lyrics, excellent though they are and perfect for Porgy & Bess.
As you listen to Artie Shaw and his Orchestra's flawless performance of an amazing song, one which some consider the greatest written in the Twentieth Century in America, notice the "voices" of the four instruments which play the melody in turn. The first two, featuring Artie Shaw's remarkable clarinet and Roy "Little Jazz" Eldridge's positively plaintive trumpet, are as close to vocals as you can get with musical instruments. The other two solo segments feature the remarkable skills of Michael "Dodo" Marmarosa on the ivories and Herbie Steward on the tenor sax. This version of Gershwin’s song has the free-flowing feel of an improvisation about it, but the entire piece was brilliantly arranged by Eddie Sauter. Can musical instruments sing? For an answer to that question, lend an ear to this matchless recording from 1945.
For an extra treat, here’s “Summertime,” sung by the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, accompanied by Russell Garcia and His Orchestra, with Frank Beach on the trumpet (1957).
Word & Song by Anthony Esolen is an online magazine devoted to reclaiming the good, the beautiful, and the true. We publish six essays each week, on words, classic hymns, poems, films, and popular songs, as well a weekly podcast for paid subscribers, alternately Poetry Aloud or Anthony Esolen Speaks. Paid subscribers also receive audio-enhanced posts and on-demand access to our full archive, and may add their comments to our posts and discussions. To support this project, please join us as a free or paid subscriber. We value all of our subscribers, and we thank you for reading Word and Song!
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