George Gershwin
composer
American songwriter and composer; Barry believes he wrote The Man I Love but doubts he knew enough about jazz, Rhapsody in Blue notwithstanding.
- mentions
- 3
- recordings
- 3
- Barry speaking
- 3
What Barry says
Barry warns that we cannot always know who wrote a standard, since Broadway writers sold songs for $25 so they could eat, and he has heard that Fats Waller sold many. Still, he thinks Gershwin wrote The Man I Love, because it sounds like him.
Jazz theory, part 2: drop voicings2:463:18Jazz theory, part 2, with score2:413:14
In his own words
I think George Gershwin wrote [The] Man I Love. You know, it sounds like him.
I don’t think George Gershwin knew enough about jazz, even though he wrote the Rhapsody in Blue... I’ve never heard somebody who really knew about jazz write a composition for the Philharmonic Orchestra.
You might like somebody’s symphony... or Rhapsody in Blue. I mean, that’s all right, but... that can’t be the best... The best has not been written.
Every mention
3 moments in the recordings, 3 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Jazz theory, part 2: drop voicings
- 3:18
Gershwin probably wrote The Man I Love, but did not know enough about jazz despite the Rhapsody.
Jazz theory, part 2, with score
- 3:14
Re-upload of the same lesson (its transcript hears ‘George Gertrude’): The Man I Love, and Rhapsody in Blue.
Music is like math
- 2:23
You may like Gershwin’s (‘George Gman’) Rhapsody in Blue, but the best jazz is not yet written.
In the interviews and notes
The workbook for Barry’s second workshop video includes the Gershwins’ Embraceable You, with a transcription of Barry’s solo on it.
The vocal workshop workbook uses an excerpt of the Gershwins’ ‘S Wonderful to show how singers can apply the diminished chord.
A forum member pastes Wikipedia’s description of Barry’s approach: built on the sixth chord and an eight-note scale rather than the seven-note jazz scale, material it says Bud Powell, Joseph Schillinger, George Gershwin, Glenn Miller and Chopin used.
Tom Cleary explains that rhythm changes are the chords of George and Ira Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm. He teaches a bop outline of them by ear, without notation, following Barry’s practice.
Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), Simple Paris Dancers: a bop-style rhythm changes ¶3Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), Simple Paris Dancers: a bop-style rhythm changes ¶4
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.