Gershwin & black music

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2004-08-19 13:00:13 UTC

### - strangely enough we find gershwin took his inspiration from black music (in the
hollywood version he's seen hanging around in black bars and being suddenly inspired for
example)

mentioned here on this page...

http://www.classical.net/music/books/reviews/0195090209a.html - e.g.

Susan Richardson talks about the meshing of Gershwin's career with the early explosion of
the pop-music industry - sheet music, radio, piano rolls, films, and recordings. The most
problematic essay of the book for me, C. André Barbera's "George Gershwin and Jazz," ends
up stating the obvious (and Gershwin's own position): that the composer didn't write jazz.
However, there's a bit of strange hand-wringing over the white man's appropriation and
exploitation of the black man's music, as if Gershwin owed somebody royalties. It makes no
more sense to worry about this kind of appropriation than it does to accuse Charlie Parker
of ripping off the white European system of harmony and polyphony, in my opinion. Many in
the white-dominated pop-music industry have indeed ripped off black artists (and some
black music moguls have done the same, incidentally) and do owe them, but we should
distinguish between money and the materials of art. The latter is common property - there
for anyone with the talent to use them. Beyond this bump in the road, however, Barbera
goes on to analyze Gershwin's songs to find reasons why so many jazz musicians like to
play with them.

or this one
http://inkpot.com/classical/gershporgy.html - e.g.

Gershwin's lyrical inspiration for Porgy and Bess was drawn from the visits to Carolina
where he soaked up the music of churches, prayer meetings, homes and nightclubs. Of
course, Gershwin's own upbringing in Harlem exposed him at an early age to all that jazz
and the artistry of legendary musicians Art Tatum and "Fats" Waller. He had already
demonstrated his "chops" as a talented and more than competent Jazz pianist that raised
eyebrows amongst black musicians from the time he worked at Remick's Publishing House. The
natural, negro-American music that thus flowed from this white man's pen thus comes as no
surprise.

or this...
http://esperstamps.org/t7-print.htm

In preparation for the show, Gershwin spent time in the rural South, studying firsthand
the music and lifestyle of impoverished African Americans. Theatre critics received the
premiere production enthusiastically, but highbrow music critics were derisive, distressed
that "lowly" popular music should be incorporated into an opera structure. Black audiences
throughout the years have criticized the work for its condescending depiction of
stereotyped characters and for Gershwin's inauthentic appropriation of black musical
forms. Nevertheless, Gershwin's music-including such standards as "Summertime," "It Ain't
Necessarily So," "Bess, You Is My Woman Now," and "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'" -transcended
early criticism to attain a revered niche in the musical world, largely because it
successfully amalgamates various musical cultures to evoke something uniquely American and
wholly Gershwin.

and...
http://www.cyberessays.com/Arts/34.htm

Paul Whitman, one of the greatest jazz musicians of all times,
was the conductor for Gershwin's failed attempt at an opera. He had
been impressed with Gershwin's use of jazz in the melody, harmony and
rhythms so he suggested to him to write a piece that consisted solely
of jazz. George set out to write a concerto for two pianos but soon
got sidetracked and forgot about it. One morning he picked up a paper
and read that in two days, his newest piece would be premiered at a
concert in Aeolian Hall so he got to work and finished it in two hours

---

George had become interested in black culture through the study
of jazz. And after reading the novel Porgy, about a black crippled
beggar, he became very excited about the musical possibilities it
possessed. So in 1934 he retreated to a small shack in South Carolina
and after twenty-one months he had composed Porgy and Bess. (Adam
40:03). This was the first opera ever written encompassing black
heritage, jazz and blues.

c***@sbcglobal.net

2004-08-19 13:16:20 UTC