Porgy and Bess (Miles Davis album)
Encyclopedia
Porgy and Bess is a studio album
by jazz
musician Miles Davis
, released in 1958 on Columbia Records
. The album features arrangements by Davis and collaborator Gil Evans
from George Gershwin
's opera Porgy and Bess
. The album was recorded in four sessions on July 22, July 29, August 4, and August 18, 1958 at Columbia's 30th Street Studio
in New York City
. It is the second collaboration between Davis and Evans and has garnered much critical acclaim since its release, being acknowledged by music critics as the best of their collaborations. Jazz critics have regarded the album as historic.
, seeing its increasingly complex chord
changes as hindering creativity. Five years earlier, in 1953, pianist George Russell published his Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization
, which offered an alternative to the practice of improvisation based on chords. Abandoning the traditional major and minor key
relationships of classical music
, Russell developed a new formulation using scales
or a series of scales for improvisations. His approach to improvisation came to be known as modal
in jazz. Davis saw Russell's methods of composition as a means of getting away from the dense chord-laden compositions of his time, which Davis had labeled "thick". Modal composition, with its reliance on scales and modes, represented, as Davis put it, "a return to melody". In a 1958 interview with Nat Hentoff
of The Jazz Review
, Davis remarked on the modal approach:
In early 1958, Miles Davis began using with this approach and his sextet. Influenced by Russell's ideas, Davis implemented his first modal composition with the title track of his 1958 album Milestones, which was based on two modes, recorded in April of that year. Instead of soloing in the straight, conventional, melodic way, Davis’s new style of improvisation featured rapid mode and scale changes played against sparse chord changes. Davis' second collaboration with Gil Evans
on Porgy and Bess gave him more room for experimentation with Russell's concept and with third stream
playing, as Evans' compositions for Davis featured this modal approach.
helped make future Miles Davis and Gil Evans ventures possible, as it impressed Columbia Records
enough for them to bestow further artistic control upon Davis and Evans. At that period, the Samuel Goldwyn
film adaptation of the George Gershwin
/DuBose Heyward
/Ira Gershwin
opera Porgy and Bess
was in production, set for release in June 1959. The advance publicity for the film was considerable, and with the late-'50s vogue for recorded "jazz versions of...", a number of Porgy and Bess jazz interpretations were released. These ranged from an all-star big band version arranged and conducted by Bill Potts
to one by Bob Crosby and the Bobcats. Most were not as memorable as the Miles Davis/Gil Evans version. Following the first collaboration with Evans, Davis followed up on these efforts with much interest in symphonic readings, which, at the time, jazzmen were not known for, and neither were some classically trained musicians known for interpreting jazz scores. However, Miles enlisted members of his sextet, anyway, including Cannonball Adderley and Paul Chambers
.
and Los Angeles Times
. Music writer Bill Kirchner wrote "In this century's American music, three partnerships have been most influential: Duke Ellington
/Billy Strayhorn
, Frank Sinatra
/Nelson Riddle
, and Miles Davis/Gil Evans." As one of Miles Davis' best-selling albums, Porgy and Bess has earned recognition as a landmark album in orchestral jazz. Davis biographer Jack Chambers
described the album as "a new score, with its own integrity, order and action." The album's appeal was more widespread among critics following its reissue in 1997. Robert Gilbert of All About Jazz
praised Porgy and Bess, stating "one of many great albums that Miles Davis recorded over his lifetime. It reaches a higher plateau than most, though, in its way that it can reach the listener on both a musical and emotional level. That the album is still able to do this after almost forty-five years is a testament to the rare magic that occurred in a New York studio over four days in the summer of 1958." In an August 1997 issue, JazzTimes
magazine called Porgy and Bess "possibly the best of the collaborations between Miles and Gil Evans... Evans is justly regarded as the master of modern orchestration and Porgy and Bess shows him at his best." The album was included in Elvis Costello
’s "500 Albums You Need" (Vanity Fair
, Issue No. 483 11/00) and was also ranked #785 on the Virgin "All-Time Top 1000 Album" list.
, except otherwise noted; Ira Gershwin
and DuBose Heyward
wrote lyrics to the opera Porgy and Bess
, but these recordings are instrumental.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, released in 1958 on Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. The album features arrangements by Davis and collaborator Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
from George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
's opera Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward...
. The album was recorded in four sessions on July 22, July 29, August 4, and August 18, 1958 at Columbia's 30th Street Studio
CBS 30th Street Studio
CBS 30th Street Studio, also known as Columbia 30th Street Studio, and nicknamed "The Church", was an American recording studio operated by Columbia Records from 1949 to 1981 located at 207 East 30th Street, between Second and Third Avenues in Manhattan, New York City...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. It is the second collaboration between Davis and Evans and has garnered much critical acclaim since its release, being acknowledged by music critics as the best of their collaborations. Jazz critics have regarded the album as historic.
Conception
In 1958, Miles Davis was one of many jazz musicians growing dissatisfied with bebopBebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
, seeing its increasingly complex chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
changes as hindering creativity. Five years earlier, in 1953, pianist George Russell published his Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization
Lydian chromatic concept of tonal organization
The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization was written by George Russell and is the founding text of the Lydian Chromatic Concept , or Lydian Chromatic Theory . The work postulates that all music is based on the tonal gravity of the Lydian mode.-Deriving Lydian:Russell believed that...
, which offered an alternative to the practice of improvisation based on chords. Abandoning the traditional major and minor key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
relationships of classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, Russell developed a new formulation using scales
Musical scale
In music, a scale is a sequence of musical notes in ascending and descending order. Most commonly, especially in the context of the common practice period, the notes of a scale will belong to a single key, thus providing material for or being used to conveniently represent part or all of a musical...
or a series of scales for improvisations. His approach to improvisation came to be known as modal
Modal jazz
Modal jazz is jazz that uses musical modes rather than chord progressions as a harmonic framework. Originating in the late 1950s and 1960s, modal jazz is characterized by Miles Davis's "Milestones" Kind of Blue and John Coltrane's classic quartet from 1960–64. Other important performers include...
in jazz. Davis saw Russell's methods of composition as a means of getting away from the dense chord-laden compositions of his time, which Davis had labeled "thick". Modal composition, with its reliance on scales and modes, represented, as Davis put it, "a return to melody". In a 1958 interview with Nat Hentoff
Nat Hentoff
Nathan Irving "Nat" Hentoff is an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media and writes regularly on jazz and country music for The Wall Street Journal....
of The Jazz Review
The Jazz Review
The Jazz Review was a magazine which was founded by Nat Hentoff, Martin Williams, and Hsio Wen Shih, in New York City in 1958. It was published until 1961...
, Davis remarked on the modal approach:
In early 1958, Miles Davis began using with this approach and his sextet. Influenced by Russell's ideas, Davis implemented his first modal composition with the title track of his 1958 album Milestones, which was based on two modes, recorded in April of that year. Instead of soloing in the straight, conventional, melodic way, Davis’s new style of improvisation featured rapid mode and scale changes played against sparse chord changes. Davis' second collaboration with Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
on Porgy and Bess gave him more room for experimentation with Russell's concept and with third stream
Third stream
Third Stream is a term coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller, within a lecture at Brandeis University, to describe a musical genre which is a synthesis of classical music and jazz...
playing, as Evans' compositions for Davis featured this modal approach.
Adaptation
The musical, commercial and critical success of 1957's Miles AheadMiles Ahead
Miles Ahead is a jazz album by Miles Davis that was released in 1957 on Columbia CL 1041. This was the first album following Birth of the Cool that Davis recorded with Gil Evans, with whom he would go on to release albums such as Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain...
helped make future Miles Davis and Gil Evans ventures possible, as it impressed Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
enough for them to bestow further artistic control upon Davis and Evans. At that period, the Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
film adaptation of the George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
/DuBose Heyward
DuBose Heyward
Edwin DuBose Heyward was a white American author best known for his 1925 novel Porgy. This novel was the basis for the play by the same name and, in turn, the opera Porgy and Bess with music by George Gershwin.-Life and career:Heyward was born in 1885 in Charleston, South Carolina and was a...
/Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
opera Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward...
was in production, set for release in June 1959. The advance publicity for the film was considerable, and with the late-'50s vogue for recorded "jazz versions of...", a number of Porgy and Bess jazz interpretations were released. These ranged from an all-star big band version arranged and conducted by Bill Potts
Bill Potts
Bill Potts was an American jazz pianist and arranger.Potts played Hawaiian guitar as a child and accordion in his teens. He picked up piano in high school after hearing Count Basie...
to one by Bob Crosby and the Bobcats. Most were not as memorable as the Miles Davis/Gil Evans version. Following the first collaboration with Evans, Davis followed up on these efforts with much interest in symphonic readings, which, at the time, jazzmen were not known for, and neither were some classically trained musicians known for interpreting jazz scores. However, Miles enlisted members of his sextet, anyway, including Cannonball Adderley and Paul Chambers
Paul Chambers
Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was a jazz bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not only by the length and breadth of his work in this short period but also his impeccable time, intonation, and virtuosic...
.
Reception and influence
The second in a series of Davis/Evans collaborations, Porgy and Bess was well-received upon its release by music critics and publications, including The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
. Music writer Bill Kirchner wrote "In this century's American music, three partnerships have been most influential: Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
/Billy Strayhorn
Billy Strayhorn
William Thomas "Billy" Strayhorn was an American composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting nearly three decades. His compositions include "Chelsea Bridge", "Take the "A" Train" and "Lush Life".-Early...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
/Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...
, and Miles Davis/Gil Evans." As one of Miles Davis' best-selling albums, Porgy and Bess has earned recognition as a landmark album in orchestral jazz. Davis biographer Jack Chambers
Jack Chambers (linguist)
J. K. "Jack" Chambers is a Canadian linguist, and a well-known expert on language variation and change, who pioneered research on Canadian English and coined the term "Canadian raising." He has been a professor of linguistics at the University of Toronto since receiving his a Ph.D. from the...
described the album as "a new score, with its own integrity, order and action." The album's appeal was more widespread among critics following its reissue in 1997. Robert Gilbert of All About Jazz
All About Jazz
All About Jazz is a leading jazz music website for enthusiasts and industry professionals based in Philadelphia in the United States.Founded by Michael Ricci in 1995, the Web-Site is maintained by a volunteer staff of writers, editors, and musicians, and provides coverage of all genres of jazz from...
praised Porgy and Bess, stating "one of many great albums that Miles Davis recorded over his lifetime. It reaches a higher plateau than most, though, in its way that it can reach the listener on both a musical and emotional level. That the album is still able to do this after almost forty-five years is a testament to the rare magic that occurred in a New York studio over four days in the summer of 1958." In an August 1997 issue, JazzTimes
JazzTimes
JazzTimes is a magazine that dates back to Radio Free Jazz, a publication founded in 1970 by Ira Sabin when he was operating a record store in Washington, DC. It was originally a newsletter designed to update shoppers on the latest jazz releases and provide jazz radio programmers with a means of...
magazine called Porgy and Bess "possibly the best of the collaborations between Miles and Gil Evans... Evans is justly regarded as the master of modern orchestration and Porgy and Bess shows him at his best." The album was included in Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
’s "500 Albums You Need" (Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
, Issue No. 483 11/00) and was also ranked #785 on the Virgin "All-Time Top 1000 Album" list.
Track listing
All compositions written by George GershwinGeorge Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
, except otherwise noted; Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
and DuBose Heyward
DuBose Heyward
Edwin DuBose Heyward was a white American author best known for his 1925 novel Porgy. This novel was the basis for the play by the same name and, in turn, the opera Porgy and Bess with music by George Gershwin.-Life and career:Heyward was born in 1885 in Charleston, South Carolina and was a...
wrote lyrics to the opera Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward...
, but these recordings are instrumental.
Side one
| Track | Recorded | Song Title | Writer(s) | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 8/4/58 | The Buzzard Song | G. Gershwin | 4:07 |
| 2. | 7/29/58 | Bess, You Is My Woman Now | G. Gershwin | 5:10 |
| 3. | 7/22/58 | Gone | Gil Evans Gil Evans Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States... |
3:37 |
| 4. | 7/22/58 | Gone, Gone, Gone | G. Gershwin | 2:03 |
| 5. | 8/4/58 | Summertime Summertime (song) "Summertime" is an aria composed by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward, the author of the novel Porgy on which the opera was based, although the song is also co-credited to Ira Gershwin by ASCAP.... |
G. Gershwin | 3:17 |
| 6. | 8/4/58 | Oh Bess, Oh Where's My Bess? | G. Gershwin | 4:18 |
Side two
| Track | Recorded | Song Title | Writer | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 8/4/58 | Prayer (Oh Doctor Jesus) | G. Gershwin | 4:39 |
| 2. | 7/29/58 | Fisherman, Strawberry and Devil Crab | G. Gershwin | 4:06 |
| 3. | 7/22/58 | My Man's Gone Now | G. Gershwin | 6:14 |
| 4. | 7/29/58 | It Ain't Necessarily So It Ain't Necessarily So "It Ain't Necessarily So" is a popular song with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The song comes from the Gershwins' opera Porgy and Bess where it is sung by the character Sportin' Life, a drug dealer, who expresses his doubt about several statements in the Bible.The role of... |
G. Gershwin | 4:23 |
| 5. | 7/29/58 | Here Come De Honey Man | G. Gershwin | 1:18 |
| 6. | 8/18/58 | I Wants to Stay Here (a.k.a. I Loves You, Porgy) I Loves You Porgy "I Loves You, Porgy" is a duet from the opera Porgy and Bess with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was published in 1935.... |
G. Gershwin | 3:39 |
| 7. | 8/4/58 | There's a Boat That's Leaving Soon for New York | G. Gershwin | 3:23 |
Bonus tracks
Bonus cuts featured on the 1997 compact disc reissue.| Track | Recorded | Song Title | Writer | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 8/18/58 | I Loves You, Porgy (take 1, second version) | G. Gershwin | 4:14 |
| 2. | 7/22/58 | Gone (take 4) | Gil Evans Gil Evans Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States... |
3:40 |
Musicians
- Miles DavisMiles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
– trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, flugelhornFlugelhornThe flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus... - Ernie RoyalErnie RoyalErnest Andrew Royal was a jazz trumpeter.His older brother was clarinetist and alto saxophonist Marshal Royal, with whom he appears on the classic Ray Charles big band recording The Genius of Ray Charles .He began in Los Angeles as a member of Les Hite's Orchestra in 1937...
, Bernie GlowBernie GlowBernie Glow was a trumpet player who specialized in jazz and commercial lead trumpet from the 1940s to 1970s....
, Johnny ColesJohnny ColesJohnny Coles was an American jazz trumpeter.Coles spent his early career playing with R&B groups, including those of Eddie Vinson , Bull Moose Jackson , and Earl Bostic...
and Louis Mucci – trumpet - Dick Hixon, Frank Rehak, Jimmy ClevelandJimmy ClevelandJimmy Cleveland was an American jazz trombone born in Wartrace, Tennessee.Cleveland worked with many well-known jazz musicians, including Lionel Hampton, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Quincy Jones, Lucky Thompson, Gigi Gryce, Oscar Peterson, Oscar Pettiford and James Brown...
and Joe Bennett – tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate... - Willie Ruff, Julius Watkins and Gunther SchullerGunther SchullerGunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
– hornHorn (instrument)The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player .... - Bill BarberBill Barber (musician)John William Barber, known as Bill Barber or Billy Barber is considered by many to be the first person to play tuba in modern jazz. He is best known for his work with Miles Davis on albums such as Birth of the Cool, Sketches of Spain and Miles Ahead...
– tubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the... - Phil Bodner, Jerome Richardson and Romeo Penque – fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, alto flute & clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed... - Cannonball Adderley – alto saxophoneAlto saxophoneThe alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
- Danny Bank – alto flute & bass clarinetBass clarinetThe bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
- Paul ChambersPaul ChambersPaul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was a jazz bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not only by the length and breadth of his work in this short period but also his impeccable time, intonation, and virtuosic...
– bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2... - Jimmy CobbJimmy Cobb-External links:* - includes full discography* * * * * * *...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(except tracks 3,4, 9, & 15) - Philly Joe JonesPhilly Joe JonesJoseph Rudolph Jones was a Philadelphia-born United States jazz drummer, known as the drummer for the Miles Davis Quintet.Philly Joe Jones was often confused with another influential jazz drummer, Jo Jones...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(tracks 3, 4, 9, & 15) - Gil EvansGil EvansGil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
– arrangerArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
& conductorConductingConducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
Production
- Cal LampleyCal LampleyCal Lampley was an American composer and producer. He composed and produced jazz compositions for artists including Miles Davis, Mahalia Jackson, Dave Brubeck, Art Blakey, Leonard Bernstein, Freddie McCoy and Louis Armstrong. He was the second child of Hettie Marina and William Lorenzo Lampley,...
– producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Frank Laico – recording engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
- Roy DeCaravaRoy DeCaravaRoy Rudolph DeCarava was an American photographer. DeCarava and poet Langston Hughes collaborated on a notable 1955 book on life in Harlem, The Sweet Flypaper of Life...
– cover photoAlbum coverAn album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
External links
- Porgy and Bess at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Accolades: Porgy and Bess at Acclaimed Music