Perhaps the most breath-taking aspect of this reading of the song is Armstrong’s bold trumpet solo that precedes Ella Fitzgerald’s vocal entry.Īs the song progresses the orchestration becomes increasingly imaginative, especially underneath Louis’ vocal solo.
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The setting here is very much more closely modelled on the Gershwin operatic scoring and makes full use of a rich string section with French horns and percussion to accompany. It would be a major oversight in an article such as this one not to include the Fitzgerald and Armstrong version of this song. Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald (1957) The arrangement remains true to Gershwin’s intentions sounding through the Jazz and Symphonic worlds to create a modest and enduringly respectable account of this standard.ģ. Davis plays characteristically on his melancholy, muted trumpet broadly following the original Gershwin melody. What is interesting is Gil and Davis’s choice of instrumentation that includes unlikely contributors such as the French Horn and Bass Clarinet. It has a very laid back swing-feel to it throughout.
As you might anticipate, this version is placed firmly in the Jazz genre. This adaption of Summertime comes at a time in Miles Davis’s career when he was collaborating with the legendary jazz musician Gil Evans. It has become one of the most iconic interpretations of Summertime. The highly expressive Joplin vocals contrast pleasingly to the simple supporting parts that remain understated throughout. The tempo has a hesitant lilt to it and the lullaby is not lost in this performance. There is also something to be said of the arrangement played here which for me does at least explore some of the harmonic as well as melodic possibilities in the Gershwin song. The combination of Joplin’s desperate, heartfelt vocals accompanied by an earnest blues outfit (Big Brother and Holding Company) does do justice to the original sentiments of the song. The history of ska and jazz combined travels across national borders and integrates with other musical styles, making it one of the most hybrid, transnational forms of postwar popular music.This is perhaps one of the most unlikely versions of the Gershwin classic, but it somehow musically works. The rhythm section places accents on the off beats, thus giving the music a different feel than straight jazz.Įver since its birth in the late 1950s, ska has been a genre marked by physical and cultural diasporas and an openness to borrowing from outside its origins. The brass instruments usually carry the melody, and there are many improvised solos. Occasionally there may be one or more vocalists, but the genre is primarily focused on instrumental tunes. Ska Jazz bands usually contain one or two electric guitars, a bass guitar, keyboards, a drum kit and a horn section (composed of any combination of the following: trumpet, trombone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, and baritone saxophone). Jazz improvisation is commonly used in Ska jazz. Before Rock Steady Freddie, Ska-Jazz was just another flare of jazz without its own name.
Ska jazz is sometimes considered a subgenre of third wave ska, but early artists such as Tommy McCook considered themselves jazz musicians foremost. The term Ska-Jazz was coined by Rock Steady Freddie (Fred Reiter) of the New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble in 1994. They were combining traditions with modern tendencies, using the reggae beat along with high improvisation and jazz harmonies, primarily by horns and percussion. The ska-jazz movement began during the 1990s in New York and London, where pioneering avant-garde jazz and reggae musicians pushed the boundaries of reggae music. Ska jazz is a music genre derived by fusing the melodic content of jazz with the rhythmic and harmonic content of early Jamaican Music introduced by the "Fathers of Ska" in the late 1950s. JSTOR ( September 2012) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.
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