Customer Reviews

Complete Porgy & Bess

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Buyer beware. This is not "The Complete Porgy and Bess" as billed. In fact, it bears only the slightest resemblance to the opera written by George Gershwin. Poor George must have turned over in his grave when this recording was released. This great American composer even today is unjustly maligned for his alleged lack of compositional skills--and largely because of poor performances (Bernstein's performance of Rhapsody in Blue, for instance), the tamperings of sheet music publishers and editors, and endeavors like this one.

Never mind this Ellington / Torme embarrassment; "Porgy and Bess" is a great world opera. If you want to hear what Gershwin intended, listen to Simon Rattle's Glynebourne performance on EMI or Lorin Maazel's on Decca. Both are excellent. See my review of the Maazel at Amazon.

On the other hand, if you want a jazz spin on Gershwin's opera, get the Miles Davis / Gil Evans "Porgy and Bess Suite." It is wonderful in every way and, unlike the present "jazz rendition", fully respectful of Gershwin's genius.



Gershwin: Porgy and Bess

There are so many recorded versions of "Porgy and Bess" that it's hard to think of Gershwin's score as anything but a handful of classic tunes -- Miles Davis put his stamp on "Summertime," and Billie Holiday's "I Loves You Porgy" comes instantly to mind among an endless variety of interpretations. Here is DuBose Heyward's libretto and the full Gershwin score, performed by an array of singers and musicians from some kind of hothouse jazz producer's dream. If you can wrap your mind around Mel Torme as Porgy, then you will no doubt find the narration by Al "Jazzbo" Collins -- hipster raconteur and the voice of radio's "The Purple Grotto" -- absolutely right for this tale of sex, drugs, and murder in Charleston's (fictional) Catfish Row.

The rest of the cast -- Frances Faye, Betty Roche, Johnny Hartman, George Kirby as that dope-peddling Sportin' Life -- are good, but it is Frank Rosolino as Jake who livens up the show: "A Woman is a Sometime Thing" is his beautiful, longing ballad, and "Agoin' Out to the Blackfish Banks" showcases Rosolino's own personality as a wisecracking wit. His rare appearance here as both performer and musician (he's also in the band on trombone) underscores the talent that was cut short by a freewheeling drug habit not many years later.

Also here are Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra with Maynard Ferguson, Clark Terry, Herbie Mann, and Ray Nance, along with several other orchestras, a number of vocal groups, and just about every available musician in New York and Los Angeles. The whole project is at times overwhelming in its scope, but it does make for a fullscale presentation of the whole Heyward/Gershwin jazz opera that's seldom attempted. Whether the story of "Porgy and Bess" has dated, the score shows a remarkable adaptabity.

The liner notes admit frankly that this version was part of a mid-fifties jazz-and-standards fusion (meant, primarily, to boost the new LP format) that had seen great success. Miles and Gil Evans' orchestrated "Porgy and Bess" would be released less than two years later, and even that west-coast-cool jazz master Dave Brubeck released an all-Gershwin LP ("Anything Goes") soon after.

In addition this two-disc set includes a rarely-heard original performance of "California Suite" written by Mel Torme and featuring Peggy Lee. The inclusion of this "lyric and musical narrative dedicated to the Golden State" is awkward in the context of "Porgy and Bess" and certainly awkward in the whole, consisting of some civic-boosterish phrases and groan-inducing rhymes that would probably have been better left to some other disc. The "Porgy and Bess" portion of this program is available by itself elsewhere, although more expensive. Only Mel Torme completists will find the "California Suite" essential listening, and all hipsters outside the door of The Purple Grotto are fairly warned, but this import set is currently cheaper to buy.

This is a splendid re-mastered version of the
classic jazz opera originally issued on Bethlehem
in 1956. I only wish the original cover had been
included with the CD.