Welcome to Week 13 of The Definitive Version, a new weekly feature of my website. You can read more about the project here.
Song: “Summertime”
Composer: George Gershwin
Lyricist: DuBose Heyward (co-credited to Ira Gershwin)
Form: ABAC (16-bar form, multiple lyrics)
Standard Key: A Minor
“Summertime” is the standout song from Gershwin’s 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. It was composed as an echo of African-American Spirituals, and is sung in full-operatic style in its original version. Nevertheless it is better known sung at least an octave lower as a jazz standard. Gershwin’s songs tend to be particularly malleable to interpretation, and this is certainly true for “Summertime.”
Stephen Sondheim has written of the lyrics, “That ‘and’ is worth a great deal of attention. I would write ‘Summertime when’ but that ‘and’ sets up a tone, a whole poetic tone, not to mention a whole kind of diction that is going to be used in the play; an informal, uneducated diction and a stream of consciousness, as in many of the songs like ‘My Man’s Gone Now’. It’s the exact right word, and that word is worth its weight in gold. ‘Summertime when the livin’ is easy’ is a boring line compared to ‘Summertime and’. The choices of ‘ands’ [and] ‘buts’ become almost traumatic as you are writing a lyric – or should, anyway – because each one weighs so much.”
Definitive Version: Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (1958, from Porgy and Bess)
Form: Louis Chorus (Trumpet) | Ella Chorus | Louis Chorus (Vocal) | Ella Chorus/Louis scat countermelody) | Tag
Feel: In-Tempo Ballad
Key: B Minor (Ella) / E Minor (Louis)
Instrumentation: Orchestra + rhythm section
An orchestral introduction to match the original operatic version gives way to Louis’ trumpet solo, followed by inspired phrasing from two of the most significant jazz musicians in history. This concept album found Ella & Louis covering much of the opera, in jazz-inflected reinterpretations. It’s a great idea, and this version of “Summertime” is both the peak of the album and the definitive version of the song. It’s not complicated – there is not extended improvisation or reimagining of the song. It echoes the lullaby that Gershwin envisioned the song to be.
Since this is the second time I’ve picked an Ella/Louis duet for this project, I want to reiterate: I’m not trying to pick obscure but stellar versions or expand horizons of experienced listeners. It’s my experience that new listeners/interpreters have trouble separating the great from the less-great, and I want to give a jumping off point. On your music streaming service of choice, the stellar versions may appear nestled among less interesting, compelling, or valuable versions, with no guidance over where to start. On Spotify, for example, this is the first version you find – but it’s mixed among dozens of other songs with the same or similar names (from Kenny Chesney, Will Smith, My Chemical Romance, and so on), and the second version you find is from the Zombies. None of the versions I list below are among the top 50 listed when you search for this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnXLVTi_m_M
Also Recommended:
- Ella Fitzgerald (1960, from Ella in Berlin) Ella’s classic live album gives you a good idea of how to interpret the song in her classic style.
- Audra McDonald (2013, from Live at Lincoln Center) – One of the most remarkable singers of our time.
- Sarah Vaughan (1973 from Live in Japan Vol. 2) – Sarah at the peak of her creative and adventurous powers.
- Billie Holiday (1936) – Billie’s was the first commercial hit, just a year after the opera premiered. She got it.
- Miles Davis (1958, from Porgy and Bess) As ever, Miles can teach you just as much about phrasing a song as any singer. This time, he’s accompanied by the great Gil Evans and full orchestra.