He's Got Rhythm

August 25, 2007 9:11 PM

He's got Rhythm (single-link YouTube)
posted by St Urbain's Horseman (19 comments total)

He sure as hell does.
posted by blucevalo at 9:17 PM on August 25, 2007

Who could ask for anything more?
posted by longsleeves at 9:17 PM on August 25, 2007

Who could ask for anything more?

Just you wait...
posted by Poolio at 9:22 PM on August 25, 2007

I'm suffering from pianist envy.
posted by ColdChef at 9:22 PM on August 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

Incredible how the musicians sitting behind him just look bored and surly about the whole thing. You'd think even the most jaded person would be smiling a little and taping his feet.
posted by damn dirty ape at 9:47 PM on August 25, 2007

Maybe he was taping the performance.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:49 PM on August 25, 2007

I have a CD of some works he cut on piano rolls. They play them back on state of the art pianos with awesome sound quality, and it's George playing.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:59 PM on August 25, 2007

Freaky that it was filmed in 1943, since George died in 1937.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:04 PM on August 25, 2007

What's more astounding is that performance was filmed in 1943. Gershwin died July 11, 1937.
posted by squalor at 10:04 PM on August 25, 2007

And it's weapons-grade by a nose!
posted by squalor at 10:05 PM on August 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

It's the kind of jazz that raises the dead. I know this, because Ken Burns told me so.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:07 PM on August 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

I think Ginger Rogers had to tape her feet.
posted by pracowity at 10:08 PM on August 25, 2007

I have that album too w-gp. It's called Gershwin Plays Gershwin: The Piano Rolls. From the 2nd link:

To make the release, Gershwin's original piano rolls were played using a rare 1911 device called a Pianola. This machine, which has expression levers and felt-tipped "fingers," can be positioned in front of any piano to allow playback of piano rolls. For this recording, it was linked with a Yamaha Disklavier, an acoustic piano fitted with a computer and optic sensors. The Disklavier can record and play back a live performance on 3.5 inch floppy disc. A floppy disc recorded from the playback of the original piano rolls was then played back through the Disklavier in a recording studio to create the CD

A great disc, and one of my favorite recordings.
posted by carsonb at 10:09 PM on August 25, 2007

Dug up a youtuber of Rhapsody in Blue done by Paul Whiteman's orchestra from the 1929 (color!) film King of Jazz. Though Whiteman recorded Rhapsody with Gershwin, the film clip features Ray Bargy on piano.
posted by squalor at 10:17 PM on August 25, 2007

More great videos from Night Music (the show)
posted by milnak at 11:54 PM on August 25, 2007

He's a hell of a piano player. Apparently, he wrote some songs, too.
posted by wsg at 12:00 AM on August 26, 2007

There's somebody I've been longing to see!
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:03 AM on August 26, 2007

Incredible how the musicians sitting behind him just look bored and surly about the whole thing.

Expecting musicians to get excited while another musician is performing is like expecting comedians to laugh at another comedian's jokes (outside of a roast or something where everyone's expected to laugh—think Saturday Night Live brainstorming session). It can happen, but it takes more than a snappy half-minute "I Got Rhythm."
posted by languagehat at 6:02 AM on August 26, 2007

Incredible how the musicians sitting behind him just look bored and surly about the whole thing.

Thought balloon: "he's a regular Fats Waller".

I love the Gershwins' music, but the music industry was segregated back then, resulting in watered-down "jazz". Exhibit A: Paul Whiteman.
posted by AppleSeed at 7:38 AM on August 26, 2007