Gerswhin Plays Gershwin

A long listen, but well worth it. We’ve all probably heard “cleaner” and more “sophisticated” performances of “Rhapsody in Blue,” but of all of the performances/arrangements out there, this is my favorite: raw, quirky, rambunctious–just like Gershwin wrote it. This is the Colombia Records Jazz band with a cut of the piano roll made by Gershwin himself (orchestra parts played by the piano are cut) super-imposed around the orchestra. The first performance, after all, consisted of orchestration arranged from a scribbled second piano part, while Gershwin improvised on the piano. Enjoy!

Long Live the Player Piano!

One thought on “Gerswhin Plays Gershwin

  1. Cool. I owned this record in high school. It’s a pretty interesting piece of history.

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