Summertime: Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

It's seems to become a bright warm summer day today, the kind that promises endless opportunities for having fun and begs for not wasting a single minute of it.

A song that fits today is Summertime sung by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong. I like it because it's melancholic and has an epic feel to it. What do you feel when you hear this song? What kind of associations do you get as you listen?

Play it again: Summertime by Ray Brown Trio with Gene Harris on piano.

What do you think of Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong singing Summertime? Please comment.

Andreas Pettersson: Gershwin On Guitar

On Saturday I visited a concert at Katalin arranged by Uppsala Jazz Club that was called "Gershwin On Guitar" performed by the Andreas Pettersson Quartet.

Andreas Pettersson is an amazing guitarist that I've had the pleasure of listening and dancing to before. Two years ago he was playing together with his old friend Ulf Johansson Werre and some other musicians at Uppsala Winter Camp. What a treat.

This time he and his quartet interpret George Gershwin's songs. The other musicians in the band are: Daniel Tilling (piano), Martin Sjöstedt (bas) och Daniel Fredriksson (drums).



They started with songs from George Gershwin's early career: "Preludes I, II och III”.

Andreas Pettersson continued with songs like: "Embraceable You", "Strike Up The Band", "Lady Be Good" and "´S Wonderful".

They also played a bunch of melodies from George Gershwin's opera "Porgy and Bess": "It Ain´t Necessarily So", "Summertime" and "Bess, You Is My Woman Now".

If you want to hear what they sounded like, take a look at this page with the album "Gershwin On Guitar", which has sound samples.



In the break I had the good fortune of sitting beside a retired music teacher from Uppsala who told me some anecdotes.



The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license my jazz photos.

Did you visit the concert "Gershwin On Guitar" with the Andreas Pettersson Quartet? What did you think of it? Tell me.

Summertime: Ray Brown Trio

Today it's Midsummer nights eve, which is a big holiday here in Sweden. What could be better fitting for today than to feature a version of the song Summertime. Summertime was written by George Gershwin for the opera Porgy and Bess in 1935.

In this video clip Summertime is performed by Ray Brown Trio which consists of Jeff Hamilton (drums), Gene Harris (piano) and of course Ray Brown (bass).



Great stuff. Both sweet, dramatic, groovy and swinging. Make sure you catch the bass riff that starts at 3:40 from the end (since YouTube videos counts down). Man, if I were a bass player I would steal that directly.

What do you think of Ray Brown Trio performing Summertime? Tell me.