Summertime
Modern Jazz Quartet
Tokyo, 1981
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The Modern Jazz Quartet perform a unique arrangement of George Gershwin’s “Summertime” at a concert in Tokyo, Japan.
Gershwin wrote the song in 1934 for his opera Porgy and Bess. The opera was groundbreaking at the time of its release for its embrace of jazz and its use of an all-black cast. Today, the work is considered Gershwin’s magnum opus and one of America’s most original artworks.
Personnel:
John Lewis – piano
Milt Jackson – vibraphone
Percy Heath – bass
Connie Kay – drums
Ella Fitzgerald