Word: gershwin
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Master" is Marsalis' respectfully affectionate nickname for pianist Marcus Roberts. Anyone who listens to Roberts' two new albums, due out this week, Portraits in Blue (featuring a re-examination of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, as well as some other, shorter pieces) and Time and Circumstance (a theme album of Roberts' original songs), will hear that mastery made manifest. By taking on what is arguably Gershwin's best composition and at the same time releasing what is his most satisfying and sophisticated record of his own compositions, Roberts demonstrates his technical virtuosity and passionate intelligence in impressive fashion...
John's specialty is fostering community in quiet ways. A few weeks ago he performed in the Cabot House musical, Gershwin's "Crazy for You." He had agreed to play in the orchestra--as he has for the past three years--but he had been badgered into taking a speaking role. Dressed and drawling like a cowboy, he walked on stage in his characteristically shy way, and delivered his lines blushing on center stage. A double-bass was put into his hands, and as the orchestra started up and John played the number "Slap That Bass," his shyness fell away...
...POST-CAROLINA ANTHEM?] Who Cares? George and Ira Gershwin, from the 1931 musical Of Thee I Sing...
Examples abound in the Pearl series. The easy virtuosity of Pauline Alpert's Rain on the Roof, with its cascading arpeggios and delicate filigree work, matches the best that classical contemporaries like Josef Hofmann or Josef Lhevinne had to offer. Her performance of Gershwin's Fascinatin' Rhythm out-Gershwins the great man himself. Confrey's rhythmically tricky 1921 showpiece, Kitten on the Keys, is novelty's signature tune, but his Humorestless, a clever musical pun on both Dvorak's Humoresque and Stephen Foster's Old Folks at Home, is equally typical of his exuberant style. Most ambitious...
Overseeing the Pearl series is music historian Artis Wodehouse, whose Gershwin Plays Gershwin album won raves when it came out in 1994. For that CD, Wodehouse rerecorded Gershwin's piano-roll performances by playing them on a Yamaha Disklavier, a kind of computer-driven player piano. The Pearl set is based on actual historic recordings--78s, Edison 80s, radio-broadcast acetates. Wodehouse painstakingly tracked them down around the country and cleaned them up for modern ears. "It's a shame that they got lost in the shuffle," says Wodehouse. "But great pop music comes back, and that is what...