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George Gershwin

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

George Gershwin was born in New York in 1898 and died in 1937 in Los Angeles of a brain tumour. He was 38. Gershwin wrote songs for Broadway and Hollywood, but also music for the concert hall and an opera. He is important because he linked the world of Tin Pan Alley, jazz and classical music.

Music and breakthrough

At fifteen he left school and became a song plugger at the music publisher Jerome H. Remick: he played new songs to customers. His first big hit was Swanee (1919), sung by Al Jolson. Most of the lyrics were written by his older brother Ira. The bandleader Paul Whiteman asked him for a piece for a concert with his jazz orchestra. This is how Rhapsody in Blue came about, first performed in New York in 1924, which combines classical forms with sounds from jazz. The famous opening clarinet glissando was thought up by Whiteman's clarinettist Ross Gorman during a rehearsal. Later came An American in Paris (1928), the musical Girl Crazy (1930) with I Got Rhythm, and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935), with the song Summertime.

Influence

The chords of I Got Rhythm were used so often in jazz that they got a name of their own: rhythm changes. Bebop musicians wrote new melodies over them, such as Anthropology (1946) by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Summertime became one of the most recorded jazz standards; Billie Holiday already had a hit with it in America in 1936. Porgy and Bess was at first not a commercial success, but is now regarded as one of the most important American operas of the twentieth century.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Anthropology by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and sing I Got Rhythm along in your head: the melody is new, but the chords under the solos are Gershwin's.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (en): George Gershwin
  2. Wikipedia (en): Rhapsody in Blue
  3. Wikipedia (en): Rhythm changes
  4. Wikipedia (en): Summertime (George Gershwin song
Categories: ArtistsTin Pan AlleyVocal jazz