Classical Music Meets Jazz, in America

Today the American composer George Gershwin was born in 1898. Gershwin's music is where classical meets jazz. He started early in life as a pianist, and together with his older brother, Ira, eventually wrote many popular songs, such as "I Got Rhythm".

His first major classical work is Rhapsody in Blue, perhaps the most well-known American work of our time. Fantasia 2000 made a cartoon to go along with it, as seen/heard here (parts 1 and 2). Apparently Gerswhin told one of his biographer's the following: "It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ty bang, that is so often so stimulating to a composer – I frequently hear music in the very heart of the noise... And there I suddenly heard, and even saw on paper – the complete construction of the Rhapsody, from beginning to end. No new themes came to me, but I worked on the thematic material already in my mind and tried to conceive the composition as a whole. I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America, of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our blues, our metropolitan madness. By the time I reached Boston I had a definite plot of the piece, as distinguished from its actual substance."

Another one of his popular pieces, "An American in Paris" was written by him after a brief stay in Paris, where he tried to study with Nadia Boulanger, Maurice Ravel, and a few others. None of these teachers worked out. Ravel refused to teach him - he was too impressed with Gershwin's jazz style and instead suggested that Gershwin teach him. I got the following quote from wikipedia, apparently from the program notes at the premiere:

"My purpose here is to portray the impression of an American visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city and listens to various street noises and absorbs the French atmosphere." When the tone poem moves into the blues, "our American friend ... has succumbed to a spasm of homesickness." But, "nostalgia is not a fatal disease." The American visitor "once again is an alert spectator of Parisian life" and "the street noises and French atmosphere are triumphant."

Here are the first, second (The Blues), and third movements. This is classy-jazz at it's best!

Another one of my favorites, although not as well-known or loved, is his Concerto in F, a full-length, three-movement piano concerto, orchestrated completely by the composer himself (Ferde Grofe had orchestrated his Rhapsody in Blue). Here is the end of the 2nd movement and entire third movement. It gives a great taste of the bluesy 2nd movement (very moving piece), and the energetic, driving, machine-gun of a 3rd movement, which absolutely holds me spell-bound whenever I listen to it.

Let's finish with one of his most famous piano pieces - Prelude No. 2 from his 3 preludes for piano. Hope you've enjoyed this classical jazz!

The Greatest Jazz Pianist

I know I've focused on the lives of classical composers up to this point, but I can't pass up the opportunity to highlight someone with just as much talent and musicianship as those I've previously blogged about.

The great American jazz pianist Bill Evans was born on this date in 1929 in New Jersey. Even though I'm such a die-hard classical music fan, I've gotten into jazz as a result of Bill Evans, and I've learned parts of his pieces by ear because the sounds and rhythms he produced so intrigue me.

From the wikipedia article: "In addition to introducing a new freedom of interplay within the piano trio, Evans began (in performances such as "My Foolish Heart" from the Vanguard sessions) to explore extremely slow ballad tempos and quiet volume levels which had previously been virtually unknown in jazz. His chordal voicings became more impressionistic, reminiscent of classical composers such as Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin, and Satie..."

Perhaps that's why I like his music so much - I love the music of these composers! Here's a lovely performance of the above-mentioned "My Foolish Heart" from 1965. He sure plays and looks like a serious musician - no flamboyance here, just pure music.

The first music I heard of Bill Evans was his solo album "Alone". It is amazing stuff. Here's the opening number on that album, "Here's That Rainy Day", and here is another number, "On A Clear Day".

Here are some other highlights, from the Bill Evans Trio:
Waltz for Debby, George Gershwin's Summertime, and Nardis.

Bill Evans was also an educator, and he had some interesting ideas about composing, improvising, and performing, as viewed here, an excerpt from the film, "The Universal Mind of Bill Evans". Evans makes the case that improvisational jazz is really a compositional form - a looking back to the days of Bach, Mozart, Chopin, etc., in which composers and performers were one and the same, and composing 1 minute of music often took place in 1 minute, not in days or months (Bach was the ultimate improviser, and many of his compositions sound like improvisatory material). Interesting thoughts.

Tragically, Evans struggled with an addiction to heroin probably since the 1950's, which he seemed to overcome, only later to get hooked on cocaine. Drugs undoubtedly contributed to his early death in 1980. Here is an amazing performance of In Your Own Sweet Way one year prior to his death, with his last trio. He sure looks different here!

I hope you've enjoyed this detour into the world of jazz, highlighting one of it's most talented composers/performers.