“Summertime”, Louise Howlett (vocals), Albert Combrink (Piano), Charles Lazar (Double Bass) – from the Opera “Porgy & Bess” by George & Ira Gershwin, after the novel by DuBose Heyward.

Recorded Live at Alexander Bar, Cape Town. This recording was catalogued in “The Summertime Connection”, a website dedicated to this extraordinary song.

Read more about Louise Howlett HERE:
http://www.louisehowlett.com

Read more about Albert Combrink HERE:
https://www.albertcombrink.com

Buy their CD “Night Sessions” HERE:
https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/combrinkhowlett

Follow Albert on Twitter:
@albertcombrink

Read more about the original show HERE:
https://www.albertcombrink.com/2013/05/08/lady-sings-the-blues-at-the-alexander-bar-famous-women-of-jazz-blues/

Visit Alexander Bar’s Website:
http://alexanderbar.co.za/shows-upstairs/

Find Alexander Bar on Twitter:
@AlexanderBarCT

Poster Design: Bryn van Wyk (bryn@brynvanwyk.com)

Find “The Summertime Connection”on FACEBOOK.

More about Gershwin’s song “Summertime”:

An Opera Aria that became a Jazz Standard, Gershwin’s “Summertime” has gained international fame as one of the most recorded songs of all time, with almost 35 ooo known recordings. Gershwin began composing the song/opera aria, for inclusion in his opera Porgy and Bess (America’s first serious “Jazz-Opera” after Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha” ) in December 1933. He attempted to create his own spiritual in the style of the African American folk music of the period. 

Two main sources of inspiration are usually quoted about this song:
1) The Book by DuBose Heyward had been presented as a play, and the spiritual “Sometimes I feel, like a motherless child”) was sung at the end. [Rosenberg, Deena (1991). Fascinating Rhythm: The Collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin. Penguin Books USA. ISBN 0-525-93356-5., p. 281]  The opening intervals of  “Summertime” do contain a melodic cell that reminds one of the spiritual.

2) The Ukrainian-Canadian composer and singer Alexis Kochan has suggested that some part of Gershwin’s inspiration may have come from having heard the Ukrainian lullaby, Oi Khodyt Son Kolo Vikon (A Dream Passes By The Windows) at a New York City performance by Oleksander Koshetz‘s Ukrainian National Chorus in 1929 (or 1926). [Helen Smindak DATELINE NEW YORK: Kochan and Kytasty delve deeply into musical past, The Ukrainian Weekly, 24 May 1998]

Gershwin had completed setting DuBose Heyward’s poem to music by February 1934, and spent the next 20 months completing and orchestrating the score of the opera. [Howard Pollack, George Gershwin: his life and work, University of California Press, 2006, p.589]

The song is sung multiple times throughout Porgy and Bess, first by Clara in Act I as a lullaby and soon after as counterpoint to the craps game scene, in Act II in a reprise by Clara, and in Act III by Bess, singing to Clara’s baby. It was recorded for the first time by Abbie Mitchell on 19 July 1935, with George Gershwin playing the piano and conducting the orchestra (on: George Gershwin Conducts Excerpts from Porgy & Bess, Mark 56 667).

“Summertime” (George & Ira Gershwin, after the book by DuBose Heyward) LYRICS:

Summertime,
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high

Your daddy’s rich
And your mamma’s good lookin’
So hush little baby
Don’t you cry

One of these mornings
You’re going to rise up singing
Then you’ll spread your wings
And you’ll take to the sky

But till that morning
There’s a’nothing can harm you
With daddy and mamma standing by

Summertime,
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high

Your daddy’s rich
And your mamma’s good lookin’
So hush little baby
Don’t you cry

 

Sheet Music for “Summertime” (George & Ira Gershwin, after the book by DuBose Heyward) in A Minor: Vocal Line and Chords (Jazz Fake Book)

Sheet Music for “Summertime” (George & Ira Gershwin, after the book by DuBose Heyward) in D Minor: Instrumental Line and Chords (Colorado Jazz Fake Book)

Possible inspirations for the song “Summertime” (George & Ira Gershwin, after the book by DuBose Heyward):

~”Oy Khodyt Son Kolo Vikon” is a Ukrainian lullaby. The title is usually translated into English as “The Dream Passes by the Windows”. (Text,Transliteration and Translation uncredited)

Ukrainian	Translated into English	Transliterated into English
Ой ходить сон, коло вікон. А дрімота коло плота. Питається сон дрімоти: “Де ж ми будем ночувати?”Де хатонька теплесенька, Де дитина малесенька, Туди підем ночувати, І дитинку колисати.Там ми будем спочивати, І дитинку присипляти: Спати, спати, соколятко, Спати, спати, голуб’ятко.	The Dream passes by the window, And Sleep by the fence. The Dream asks Sleep: “Where should we rest tonight?”Where the house is warm, Where the child is small, There we will go, And rock the child to sleep.There we will sleep, and will rock the child: Sleep, sleep, my little falcon, Sleep, sleep, my little dove.	Oy khodyt’ son, kolo vikon. A drimota kolo plota. Pytayetsya son drimoty: De zh my budem nochuvaty?De khaton’ka teplesen’ka, De dytynka malesen’ka, Tudy pidem nochuvaty I dytynku kolysaty.Tam budem spochyvaty, I dytynku prysypl’yaty: Spaty, spaty, sokol’yatko, Spaty, spaty, holubyatko.

~A most haunting, soulful and moving version of the spiritual “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child”, sung by  Odetta. Mournful, haunting vocals, the ethereal choir and Bill Lee’s [Spike’s daddy] bass make this unforgettable.

~ And here is “Summertime” is as heard in the original opera, “Porgy and Bess”. Clara is acted by Paula Ingram and sung by Harolyn Blackwell.
The London Philharmonic and The Glyndebourne Chorus are conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.

~ And here is “Summertime” given the full Jazz treatment like only Miles Davis could.