Teasing the Korean

I don't think that anyone who has taken a deep dive into the songs of Gershwin in particular or the Great American Songbook in general would take RiB over Gershwin's best songs. I certainly wouldn't. That fact that Gershwin managed to write at least one piece that gets regularly programmed on the concert stage - probably more frequently as part of pops series than masterworks - has given him over the decades a sense of notoriety that I don't think Rodgers, Arlen, Kern, Porter, et. al. quite attained. Blue-haired orchestra patrons will utter the name "Gershwin" with an air of hushed reverence reserved for those who have achieved a particular level of notoriety within "serious" music circles. I often wonder how Rodgers, Arlen, Kern, Porter, would be perceived by this crowd had they done something similar. (Slaughter on 10h Avenue?) I would personally rate all four of them above Gershwin, but in fairness, Gershwin died young, and we don't know what else he had in him. At any rate, I appreciate RiB for what it is: A pleasant piece of orchestral pop music that captured a certain mood and time. I spin it maybe once a year, sometimes twice. But I don't see the point in trashing it 100 years later. Even if it disappears from the concert stage, LPs are readily available at a thrift store near you.

Too bad Ivan Evans or whatever his name is didn't criticize An American in Paris. It has some really beautiful themes, but is way too bombastic for my taste, and seems to go on forever. Every time I play it, I think I'm in the mood for it, and then I can't wait for it to end.

Everything you wrote makes complete sense to me, except perhaps for the George Shearing reference.

So tonight, after my usual 3-mile evening walk, I got in the shower and asked Alexa to play something. I chose Henry Mancini's version of Bobby Timmons's "Moanin'," with that badass harpsichord solo by John Williams. As you know, after you ask Alexa to play a song, she goes off in her own direction, sometimes reading your tastes correctly, sometimes not. Anyway, after "Moanin'" ended, this introspective solo piano piece that I've never heard comes on. It was an unknown (to me, at least) Gershwin piece called "Under the Cinnamon Tree," as interpreted by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

iMONO!

Live and learn! 👍

Did you mean "nice" or "noise?" 😹

A bunch of Black Jazz CDs I got for $4.99 each from Real Gone Music.

Barry Gray - Stingray OST (Silva Screen)

Always loved the Bud Shank/Laurnindo Almeida take on Prelude #2. Incidentally, regardless of what anyone thinks of Levant or Rhapsody, this LP is well worth it for the cover art, if nothing else.

And as long as musicians struggle to make money or find an audience, some will write provocative essays as a side hustle.

👍 If the guy who did the Polynesian Percussion album on Dot thinks Rhapsody in Blue is worthwhile, then say no more!

So is your beef with Grofe/Gershwin/Whiteman, or is it with white audiences/the white classical establishment that elevated RIB to a stature beyond what you feel it deserves?

I consider a lot of what Paul Whiteman, Ferde Grofe, and George Gershwin did to be in its own category, almost like proto-space-age bachelor pad music, even though it wasn't the space age yet.

This. 👍

David Axelrod - Mass in F Minor and Release of an Oath. Both released under the name The Electric Prunes.

But Duke Ellington probably never commissioned a Raymond Scott arrangement.

Yes, Whiteman's name is the seal of approval for me. Whiteman also commissioned arrangements of a number of Raymond Scott tunes, and premiered Ferdi Grofe's "Trylon and Perisphere." So there you go! 👍

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/26/arts/music/george-gershwin-rhapsody-in-blue.html By Ethan Iverson

👍

Sophisticated Boom Boom. A sentiment we can all relate to.

Thanks, I'll see if I have any of these!

I have the album Soulero on Atlantic. I don't think I know anything else by this guy, unless he is sideman on something and I either forgot or didn't know to begin with.

The Beach Boys in "Fall Breaks and Back to Winter."