Summertime

Input Tune of the Fatman
1

here is a chronological list of many notable recordings of the george gershwin-composed aria from the 1935 american opera ‘porgy & bess’


^ '36 billie holiday

^ '36 helen jepson

^ '38 paul robeson

^ '45 artie shaw & his orchestra

^ '46 gene krupa & his orchestra

^ '47 frank sinatra

^ '48 bing crosby & peggy lee

^ '49 charlie parker

^ '53 sarah vaughan

^ '55 chet baker quartet

^ '55 tommy dorsey & his orchestra

^ '56 ella fitzgerald (live)

^ '57 louis armstrong & ella fitzgerald

^ '57 sarah vaughan

^ '57 sam cooke

^ '57 charles mingus

^ '58 coleman hawkins

^ '58 miles davis quintet

^ '59 nina simone

^ '59 nina simone (live)

^ '59 al martino

^ '59 santo & jhonny

^ '59-60 tony crombie

^ '60 leontyne price

^ '60 count basie & his orchestra

^ '61 herbie mann

^ '61 the marcels

^ '61 the platters

^ '61 wes montgomery

^ '61 john coltrane quartet

^ '61 duke ellington

^ '62 bill evans trio

^ '62 rick nelson

^ '63 coleman hawkins & sonny rollins

^ '63 pete seeger

^ '65 the zombies

^ '66 sonny & cher

^ '66 booker t & the mg’s

^ '66 billy stewart

^ '66 willie “the lion” smith

^ '66 chambers brothers (live)

^ '67 elvin jones, richard davis

^ '67 the doors

^ '68 ella fitzgerald (live)

^ '68 janis joplin / big brother and the holding company

^ '69 ohio players

^ '69 al green

^ '69 janis joplin (live)

^ '70 george harmonica smith

^ '73 sarah vaughan (live)

^ '71 nick drake

^ '76 ray charles, cleo laine

^ '76 george benson

^ '79 willie nelson, leon russell

^ '82 kenny drew trio

^ '86 harolyn blackwell

^ '87 barry manilow w/ diane schuur & stan getz

^ '87 celine dion (live)

^ '88 ray brown trio (live)

^ '90 prince (live)

^ '90 r.e.m.

^ '90 kiri te kanawa

^ '90 sting (live)

^ '92 chet atkins & jerry reed (live)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jrMrRd0ZQU
^ '93 miles davis (live)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtYxLjvTAW8
^ '93 joe sample

^ '93 jerry garcia, david grisman, tony rice

^ '94 peter gabriel, larry adler

^ '95 richard glazier

^ '96 eddie jefferson

^ '97 whitney houston (live)


^ '98 herbie hancock (feat. joni mitchell, stevie wonder, wayne shorter)

^ '99 charlotte church

^ '02 morcheeba

^ '03 john fahey

^ '03 norah jones (live)

^ '04 stefon harris & blackout

^ '04 fantasia

^ '07 rosenberg trio (live)

^ '09 kat edmondson

^ '10 brian wilson

^ '14 annie lennox

^ '16 willie nelson
4 Likes
2

Charlotte Church what the hell

3

My humble contribution:

'91 DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr0tTbTbmVA

2 Likes
4

ok, i was this close from taking that one off but
a) listen to that high sustained note near the end
b) it is an aria after all

5

there sure are a lot of songs named summertime that have nothing to do with gershwin, yea

6

with all due respect, i think we should at least mention the contribution by the Beatles of Long Beach

3 Likes
7

hahahaha, i was coming here to post that just now!

2 Likes
8

My fault, those were varied enough from the ones I listened to that I didn’t realize they were all derivative off one song!

1 Like
9

it’s actually mind-boggling how many songs named summertime are not derivative of the gershwin tune. first of all, summertime is one of, if not the, most recorded (commercially) piece of music of all time. and yet people love to name their songs “summertime” anyway.

also, that fresh prince track is dope, so you have nothing to apologize for!

10

got a lot more work to do on this thread, but it’s close enough that i’m going to remove the work in progress tag from the top. hopefully by the time i’m done i’ll have descriptions like the trouble in mind thread as well to facilitate listening and more finely curate

11

seriously though did you go back and listen to that note? it’s inhuman

12

this song is out of control

13

Man I thought about posting this yesterday, but then I didn’t want to be the person bringing up Sublime, haha.

2 Likes
14

Oh I said “Charlotte Church what the hell” not in the sense that I think Charlotte Church sucks or that you should be ashamed for putting her version in your post. Just purely, like, Charlotte Church sang Summertime and recorded it? What the hell?

1 Like
15

Okay so I actually listened to it. The note at the end is incredible. The version is bad. But! It totally belongs in this list. There are limits to what a classically trained musician can do. It reminds me of this album I have of Wynton Marsalis doing baroque and classical trumpet pieces, but in reverse.

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16

god, listen to how much better whitney houston’s version is than her protege’s (fantasia)

whitney honestly has one of the very best versions. those extended modulating turnarounds from the band are so fucking sick

17

Whitney Houston is a generationally incredible voice, like on the level of Ella Fitzgerald or somebody, trapped in the utter mediocrity of the 90s R&B ballad. I grew up in the 90s and I like it well enough but some of its crimes are unforgivable.

1 Like
18

added a ‘66 version by sonny n’ cher that’s quite good actually

19

the herbie hancock is officially the fucking best version.

'98

added a mingus version and a tony crombie version too

20

added a lot of new jazz versions and other shit