“Summertime” | Stories of Standards

Tune in to First Take with Lando and Chavis – weekdays from 6-9 am MT – for Stories of Standards to hear our favorite versions of this song all week long!

 

“Summertime” (1935) was sung by Abbie Mitchell in the first act of “Porgy and Bess”. Shortly after the initial publication of the novel “Porgy”, George Gershwin had approached the author, DuBose Heyward, with a proposal to create a musical based on the book, not possible at that time as the rights had already been assigned to the Theatre Guild for stage adaptation. When the rights became available in 1934 George and Ira Gershwin collaborated with Heyward to create “Porgy and Bess”, which opened in 1935. The choice of keys (A minor with a brief C major then a return to A minor) contributed to its folk music tonality and enormous popularity. Jazz Standards ranks “Summertime” as third most frequently recorded of the top 1000 jazz songs, with more than 33,000 covers.

 

DuBose Heyward (1885-1940) worked on the Charleston docks when young, achieved financial independence as co-owner of an insurance/real estate company and was a full-time writer by the time he was forty. In 1925 “Porgy”, his novel about life on the Charleston, SC, waterfront, was published. DuBose’s wife Dorothy saw dramatic potential in the book and collaborated on its dramatization as the first major Broadway play with an all African-American cast. Stephen Sondheim wrote “I admire his theater songs for their deeply felt poetic style and their insight into character. It’s a pity he didn’t write any others. His work is sung, but he is unsung.”

 

George Gershwin (1898-1937) began as a song-plugger on Tin Pan Alley but soon started writing his own music. George and his brother Ira collaborated from 1925 until George’s death in 1937, with a prodigious outpouring of musicals, songs and orchestral works. George returned to New York from California in 1937 with plans for a string quartet, a ballet and another opera, but was felled by a brain tumor before he could complete any of these. His honors include a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal of Honor (with Ira, 1985).