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CHAPTERfi58 Modern Experiments: Gersh win
and “Cultivated Jazz”
4. 1920s orchestral- jazz works
a. Rhapsody in Blue, piano and orchestra; inter-
national acclaim
b. An American in Paris
5. hit musicals: collaborated with brother, Ira
6. union of popu lar and classical styles: rhythmic
vitality, syncopation, blue notes, jazz- style
accompaniment, sudden shifts in tonality,
declamatory to highly lyrical melodies
7. output: orchestral works, piano music, stage
works, folk opera (Porgy and Bess), songs for
films, other songs
B. Collaborative endeavor
1. tailored for Whiteman orchestra
a. unique Whiteman sound: nine– member big-
band “orchestra”
2. Gersh win’s sketches adapted by Ferde Grofé
(1892–1972)
C. Rhapsody in Blue, “cultivated jazz”
1. one– movement “jazz concerto”
a. draws on ragtime, blues, and jazz conventions
2. conventions of concerto
a. dialogue between soloist and large ensemble
b. recurring recognizable themes
c. fanciful, unpredictable virtuosity
3. marketable sheet music, arranged for theater
orchestra
4. eventually arranged for full orchestra
D. LG 51: Gersh win: Rhapsody in Blue (1924)
1. recurring themes and motives, similarities to
Baroque ritornello form
2. ritornello theme: bluesy, syncopated melody
3. stride theme: chromatic, repeated notes
4. train theme: broad, features trumpet flutter-
tonguing
OUTLINE
I. Jazz as Expressive Art Form
A. Distinctive and cultivated
1. African American and Euro– American composers
2. booming commercial enterprise
3. musicians accused of “whitewashing” and
“selling out”
II. From “Song Plugging” to the Concert Hall
A. Gersh win worked as “song plugger”
1. demonstrated, sold sheet music on Tin Pan Alley
2. Tin Pan Alley: writers and publishers of popu lar
music
a. songwriters capitalized on ragtime and jazz
styles
b. songs follow structural conventions of parlor
songs
B. Gersh win’s Broadway/Tin Pan Alley songs
1. incorporated syncopations, harmonic variations
2. resembled improvised jazz
3. commercially, artistically successful
4. opportunities as a white musician
C. “An Experiment in Modern Music”
1. 1924 concert in NYC or ga nized by Paul White-
man (1890–1967)
2. advocated jazz as uniquely American art music
3. Gersh win’s Rhapsody in Blue, finale of the
concert
III. Rhapsody in Blue: Tunes Collaboratively Developed
A. George Gersh win (1898–1937)
1. one of the most gifted twentieth- century Amer–
ican composers
2. composer, pianist, grew up in Manhattan
3. Tin Pan Alley “song plugger,” 1920s wrote first
big hit, Swanee
highlighted, and the relationship between the piano solo–
ist and the orchestra.
2. Compare the two recordings of Rhapsody in Blue pro–
vided in Listening Guide 51. How does the jazz- band
version compare to the orchestral version? What simi-
larities and differences do you hear? Which version do
you prefer, and why?
3. The previous three chapters have all addressed the idea
of authenticity and race or ethnicity in American music,
specifically in the music of African Americans. Is there
a consensus on what constitutes “au then tic” African
American music? Is it jazz? Blues? Ragtime? Is it jazz
and blues as played by blacks? Does the musical context
define authenticity (popu lar vs. art music)? What about
per for mance sites (jazz club, airwaves, concert hall)?
What about commercial success? What are the yard–
sticks by which authenticity is mea sured in African
American music?
TEACHING CHALLENGES
This chapter discusses serious and popu lar traditions within
the contexts of genre, economics, authenticity, and race. For
example: Jazz (African American, au then tic) = serious; Tin
Pan Alley (white, inauthentic) = popu lar; Gersh win = serious.
A teaching challenge here is addressing the competing worlds
of serious and popu lar music with a conciliatory yet critical
tone. If this discussion takes place in your class, encourage a
dialogue that treats the serious and popu lar with balance and
critical strength.
SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
5. shufe theme: played marcato
6. love theme: expansive
OVERVIEW
This chapter discusses the pervasive influence of jazz on
American popu lar and serious musical traditions of the
1920s. This influence is noted in the Tin Pan Alley tradition
of songwriting and the serious portrayal of jazz in the music
of George Gersh win, especially in his “jazz concerto,” Rhap–
sody in Blue.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the emergence of Tin Pan Alley songwrit–
ers in the 1920s and how their musical contributions
helped define the jazz age
2. To understand the compositions of George Gersh win as
efforts to bring jazz into the world of serious art music
3. To recognize Gersh win’s Rhapsody in Blue as a collab-
orative creative effort resulting in several impor tant
arrangements and editions
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Play for your students a recording of Irving Berlin’s
Alexander’s Ragtime Band, and ask them to identify the
ragtime ele ments of the song. Ask students to comment
on how the song stylizes ele ments of the ragtime tradi-
tion, which they explored earlier in Scott Joplin’s Maple
Leaf Rag. Have students consider the lyr ics of the song,
indicate the jazz and blues ele ments of Gersh win’s art-
music treatment of these vernacular traditions. Does
“ANOTHER HEARING” SAMPLE
MINI-ESSAY & RUBRIC
1924 jazz band version to a symphonic performance. Differ–
ences in texture are most obvious in the thematic sections,
although also present in some of the piano solos. The band
instrumentation versus the orchestra is particularly obvi-
ous in regard to the percussion. Lastly, the freedom of
rhythm in the jazz band version gives the piece a more elec-
tric feeling in contrast to the rhapsodic romance of the sym-
phonic version.
The concerto–like texture of contrasting groups is obvi-
ous in both versions, but there are moments of subtle differ–
ence, even in the piano solo sections. In the first piano solo,
for example, note that the 1924 version brings the band in on
the second phrase (1:11), whereas the symphonic version
features a true piano solo (1:09). This is one of the most
noticeable areas of contrast. Some areas seem thicker in tex–
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
Find a recording of a Tin Pan Alley song by George Gersh-
win (I Got Rhythm, ’S Wonderful, But Not for Me, The Man
MODEL RESPONSE
The Man I Love, performed by Billie Holiday (https:// open
. spotify . com / track / 4dkA0jTOWmQ4EVNAwMpS9w)
The rhythm is not as overtly syncopated in the instruments
here as it is in Billie’s Blues, although the melody of The Man
I Love has a syncopated pattern throughout the song (“Some–
day he’ll come a- LONG”). As in Billie’s Blues, this song
contains many blue notes; in fact, the melody itself begins
with a blue– note passage. The Man I Love also features an
instrumental solo, here played beautifully by the famous
tenor saxophonist Lester Young. Common to both songs is
the rhythm section, with each instrument (drums, bass, and
piano) performing the same function. The main differences
between Billie’s Blues and The Man I Love are as follows:
238 | Chapterfi58
as a “jazz concerto” (according to Paul Whiteman), giving it
purpose in both the dance hall and concert hall.
RUBRIC
— The student has answered, in an organized way, the main
directions of the prompt:
• Note differences in texture, instrumentation and overall
interpretation.
• Which version do you prefer, and why?
As noted earlier, the difference in brass forces has both an
effect on the perception of texture in both versions as well as
the expression. When the brass join the piano in the love
theme in the symphonic version (14:21), the low brass sound
predominates and the piano has a sparkly ornamental
effect. In the jazz band version, on the other hand, the piano
is more pervasive, and the low brass seems to accompany it
in the background.
Finally, it is the rhythmic freedom in the jazz band per-
formance that most clearly differentiates the two perfor-
mances. While both performances use rubato, accelerando,
and ritardando, the band performance has much greater