#SUMMERTIME SUBLIME FULL#

In the opening, scene a craps game leads to a murder in Act 3, a second murder is committed. Porgy was a crippled beggar who traveled about town in small cart pulled by a goat Bess was a woman of shaky morals-in some productions she is cast as a prostitute-controlled by two abusive men: one a thuggish boyfriend and the other a pusher that feeds her drug addiction. In addition, the plot followed the trials of the impoverished and poorly educated residents of a poor black neighborhood in Charleston, South Carolina. Like minstrel shows, two white men wrote Porgy and Bess-Gershwin wrote the music DuBose Heyward wrote the libretto and lyrics (though some credit GeorgeвЂ™s brother Ira as well)-, and the entire production crew for the first performance was white. Yet even though GershwinвЂ™s opera tried to put an end to the blackface tradition, it was still labeled racist. Porgy and Bess, meanwhile, premiered in a Boston theater in 1935 with an all-black cast. The Jazz Singer, the 1927 film famous for being the first full-length motion picture to feature dialogue, told the story of an actor who regularly performed in blackface. Although the trend was starting to fade, popular minstrel shows still featured white actors in blackface. While there were certainly racist aspects to the opera, the criticism was not entirely fair, especially for the time. The most troubling criticism of Porgy and Bess was that it was racist-just a 20th-century minstrel show that invited white audiences to stare at stereotyped representations of African American life. The composer had used dense orchestral arrangements, and his performers broke into operatic-like arias and delivered all of their lines in song (known as recitatives), but the music itself drew from American genres, like jazz, the blues, and gospel, and the showвЂ™s initial run was on Broadway. Others argued that GershwinвЂ™s attempt to blend the old and the new, the classic and the popular, was unsuccessful. Many thought that, at four hours, it was simply too long.

When first produced in 1935, Porgy and Bess drew a boatload of criticism. Yet for all the songвЂ™s later popularity, it was largely lost within the initial controversy that surrounded the opera.

As the opening song in the opera, вЂњSummertimeвЂќ is a lullaby sung by Clara to her baby (вЂњSo hush little baby, don't you cryвЂќ). As placed within Porgy and Bess, though, the song served an entirely different purpose. Janis JoplinвЂ™s throaty cover, backed by a blues-psychedelic arrangement, built toward a powerful climax that left fans screaming for more. Billie Holiday placed the emphasis on вЂњYour daddy's rich and your mama's good lookin'вЂќ in her sultry Dixieland rendition. Then you'll spread your wings, and you'll take to the skyвЂќ). Ella Fitzgerald turned the aria into a pensive, lilting reflection on lifeвЂ™s possibilities (вЂњOne of these mornings you're going to rise up singing. The song has proven amazingly adaptable to different musical genres and interpretations. Included among the literally thousands of recordings of the song are renditions by some of the biggest names in jazz (Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington), R&B/Soul (Sam Cooke), and rock (Janis Joplin, The Doors, Sublime). It likely explains why the tracks remained on the shelf for 40 years and didn't see the light of day until they appeared on a (just as obscure) CD a few years back.вЂњSummertimeвЂќ was first introduced to the world in 1935, and more than 75 years later it remains the most popular aria from George GershwinвЂ™s innovative folk opera, Porgy and Bess, and not just among opera buffs. They did two takes and in both doo-wop it to death. Of the versions I have, the only ones to have killed the song is an obscurer than obscure early 60's harmony group by the name of The Delco's.

#SUMMERTIME SUBLIME FULL#

The original 'Fat Boy', Billy Stewart, recording on Chicago's Chess label, surely did the definitive 60's uptempo soul/dance version, and offered an unsuspecting public a unique intepretation (although you have to hear the long version to get full benefit from it in my opinion).Д«ack to the 50's, and tenor sax legend Johnny Hodges did a sublime interpretation that's so laid back he must have been having a siesta when it was recorded. She does a marvellously laid back and bluesy version which features a slow, drawling harmonica and a heartbeat rhythm. Of the dozen or so versions I must have in my collection there are a few that stand out. I recall reading somewhere years ago that it's one of the most recorded songs of all time with Lord knows how many versions done over the years. Inspired by the hot weather we're having - and long may it continue - I've just been playing a few different versions of that old classic 'Summertime'.

Summertime sublime