What is interesting is Gil and Davis’s choice of instrumentation that includes unlikely contributors such as the French Horn and Bass Clarinet. It has a very laid back swing-feel to it throughout. As you might anticipate, this version is placed firmly in the Jazz genre. This adaption of Summertime comes at a time in Miles Davis’s career when he was collaborating with the legendary jazz musician Gil Evans. It has become one of the most iconic interpretations of Summertime. The highly expressive Joplin vocals contrast pleasingly to the simple supporting parts that remain understated throughout.

The tempo has a hesitant lilt to it and the lullaby is not lost in this performance. There is also something to be said of the arrangement played here which for me does at least explore some of the harmonic as well as melodic possibilities in the Gershwin song. The combination of Joplin’s desperate, heartfelt vocals accompanied by an earnest blues outfit (Big Brother and Holding Company) does do justice to the original sentiments of the song. This is perhaps one of the most unlikely versions of the Gershwin classic, but it somehow musically works.

This article will take a cross-section of these Summertime cover versions from where you may be better placed to decide the ones you approve of and those you may not. Gershwin wrote the song as part of his groundbreaking Opera titled Porgy and Bess.Įven though the opera contains many other famous songs it has been Summertime that has attracted a huge amount of attention by artists from all genres. Summertime, composed by the American pianist and composer, George Gershwin, is perhaps the most recognised and celebrated song he ever composed.

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