I got rhythm

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Lester Young , Charlie Parker, and Coleman Hawkins, et al. a. on the Mercury 78er "I Got Rhythm" from the JATP concert in April 1946

I Got Rhythm is the title of the most famous libretto from the musical Girl Crazy , written by George Gershwin (music) and brother Ira Gershwin (text) , which premiered in 1930. Many successful cover versions made the title the jazz standard .

History of origin

The melody for I Got Rhythm began as a slow instrumental piece for Gershwin's unsuccessful musical Treasure Girl of November 1928, but in which it was not used. The musical ended on Broadway after just 68 performances.

Composer George Gershwin used the melody with an accelerated rhythm and lyrics by his brother Ira Gershwin as part of the next musical, Girl Crazy . The chord progression - later known as "rhythm changes" - opened up opportunities for improvisation and was therefore the basis for many other jazz titles that followed in the future. The English term rhythm changes is misleading because the rhythm is not changing: the later compositions use the changes (chord changes) of the piece I Got Rhythm . The chord changes of the bridge (transition) are used in two variants. The rarer one brings four bars with the subdominant as the tonality center and then four bars with the dominant as the tonality center and each preceding cadences . The frequent brings dominant in the fifth apart every two bars.

The main motif of the song now avoided slowing downbeats almost entirely . The melody uses four notes on the pentatonic scale. Ira Gershwin found the melody difficult to compose a suitable text. “Filling in the 73 syllables of the chorus wasn't as easy as it sounds. For two weeks I experimented with different rhyming titles. "

Functional harmonic analysis

The structure of the I Got Rhythm chord scheme has found its way into jazz in many places. An A section has eight measures, the functions of each measure are:

T (tonic) | T | T | T | S (subdominant) | S | T | T.

In the bridge , the eight-measure B section, per measure:

| [D (dominant) | D] | [D | D] | [D | D] | [D | D] |

where each dominant is reached every two bars in the fifth case (i.e. like a double dominant ) from the previous one. The first dominant is on the 3rd level of tonality and is the dominant of the tonic parallel, the parallel minor key.

The subdominant variant is:

| S | S | S | S | D | D | D | D.

Specifically for the following example:

| ZwD | ZwD | S | S | D D | D D | D | D.

An explicit example for the A part:

|| Bb6 / Gm7 / | Cm7 / F7 / | Bb6 / Bb ° 7b / | Cm7 / F7 / |
| Bb6 / Bb7 / | Eb6 / Ebm6 / | Bb6 / F7 / | 1. Bb6 / F7 /: ||
| 2. Bb6 /// ||

"1." designates the measure for the first run, "2." the one for the second and third at the end. Further altered variations with replaced chords are common.

The B part:

in the dominant variant ( simple audio sample ? / i ) Audio file / audio sample

|| D7 /// | D7 /// | G7 /// | G7 /// | C7 /// | C7 /// | F7 /// | F7 /// ||

in the subdominant variant

|| Bb7 /// | Bb7 /// | Eb6 /// | Eb6 /// | C7 /// | C7 /// | F7 /// | F7 /// ||

Broadway musical

Girl Crazy was Gershwin's last successful musical. The still unknown Ethel Merman was introduced to Gershwin by his longtime music producer Vinton Freedley, she was able to hold the high C in I Got Rhythm for 16 bars during rehearsals and was a win for the musical with her overwhelming voice. Debutante Ethel Merman sang the title on the Broadway show Girl Crazy , which premiered on October 14, 1930 at the Alvin Theater on Broadway, where it had a total of 272 performances and sales of $ 1 million. Merman emphasizes in the idealistic song that she has rhythm and music (in her blood) and a partner; she doesn't want to own more, because who would want to ask for more? At the premiere, a jazz supergroup accompanied the singer Ethel Merman in the orchestra pit because the economic crisis brought famous jazz musicians together. Benny Goodman , Gene Krupa , Jimmy Dorsey , Glenn Miller and the Teagarden brothers played under the direction of Red Nichols .

First recordings

Fred Rich & Orchestra - I Got Rhythm

The first commercial record, and thus the original of I Got Rhythm , was made by Fred Rich & Orchestra for Columbia (# 2328) and was recorded on October 20, 1930, but it failed to make it onto the charts . Only three days later, Red Nichols, who was present at the theater premiere, immortalized a first cover version with singer Dick Robertson on October 23, 1930, which was placed at number 5 in the charts. Here, too, he gathered a star cast behind the microphone with Charlie Teagarden (trumpet), Jack Teagarden and Glenn Miller (trombone), Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa. Pianist Luis Russell followed on October 24, 1930, Ethel Waters on November 18, 1930 (rank 17). Louis Armstrong speaks into the brilliant recording on November 6, 1931 (rank 17). George Gershwin himself played the song on the piano in August 1931 at the opening of the Manhattan Theater in New York. In 1934, Gershwin confirmed: "I will never forget the opening night of Girl Crazy , when I felt the thrill of the audience reaction when Ethel Merman sang I Got Rhythm ." Fats Waller followed on December 4, 1935 with his piano version.

Ethel Smith - I Got Rhythm

Benny Goodman presented I Got Rhythm at the legendary Carnegie Hall concert on January 16, 1938, when Gershwin was already dead. Judy Garland stood in front of the microphone with the title on November 2, 1943. Organist Ethel Smith recorded the title with the Victor Young Orchestra on October 24, 1944. Broadway interpreter Ethel Merman herself only released her stage version for Decca (# 24453) on December 12, 1947, I Got Rhythm was her signature tune and has long since become an evergreen . Gene Kelly sang the song while dancing with children in the romance film An American in Paris ( "An American in Paris" based on Gershwin's tone poem " An American in Paris "), which premiered on October 4, 1951 and was awarded 6 Oscars.

Other versions of I Got Rhythm exist by Count Basie , Cannonball Adderley , Jimmy Dorsey , Ella Fitzgerald , Django Reinhardt , Erroll Garner , Dizzy Gillespie , Coleman Hawkins , Stan Kenton , Glenn Miller , Red Norvo , Mike Oldfield , Bud Powell , Zoot Sims , Art Tatum , Ben Webster , Lester Young , Earl Wild, and Brian Wilson .

The 32-bar composition in AABA form became the favorite subject of many jazz musicians, such as Chu Berry and Lester Young , who used it as a starting point for their improvisations in a joint competition . Charlie Parker used I Got Rhythm as a template for many of his bebop head compositions, such as "Chasin 'The Bird", "Anthropology" or "Cheers".

Million seller

Happenings - I Got Rhythm

The pop group The Happenings made the title, published on April 8, 1967, a million seller with its falsetto harmonies on the small label BT Puppy , which was founded in 1966 . The version produced by the tokens reached 3rd place in the charts, the best placement of all versions of I Got Rhythm . The version of the happenings once again proved that a million-dollar hit does not necessarily have to top the charts in the USA. When their version reached third place on June 3, 1967, the top ranks were occupied by more million sellers: in second place was the Young Rascals with Groovin ' , the first place was blocked with Aretha Franklin's Respect . In contrast to the USA, the single could not prevail in Great Britain and only reached number 28 on the charts in May 1967.

statistics

Gershwin biographer Rosenberg classifies I Got Rhythm as the most played jazz standard of all time, perhaps rivaling Gershwin's Summertime . Almost all the greats of jazz have taken up the title; ASCAP lists a total of 100 versions in August 2017.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Howard Pollack: George Gershwin: His Life And Work. 2006, p. 449
  2. ^ Howard Pollack: George Gershwin: His Life And Work. 2006, p. 235
  3. ^ Deena Rosenberg: Fascinating Rhythm: The Collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin. 1998, p. 188 f.
  4. ↑ Attila Zoller : Instructions for improvisation for guitar. jazz studio, Edition Schott 5048, Mainz 1971
  5. ↑ Dietrich Schulz-Köhn: I Got Rhythm: 40 jazz evergreens and their history. 1994, p. 190
  6. ^ Deena Rosenberg: Fascinating Rhythm: The Collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin. 1998, p. 191
  7. ^ Howard Pollack: George Gershwin: His Life And Work. 2006, p. 471
  8. ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records. 1985, p. 242
  9. ↑ BT stands for "Bright Tunes Productions" with the music publisher Bright Tunes Music , which belonged to the tokens
  10. ^ Deena Rosenberg: Fascinating Rhythm: The Collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin. 1998, p. 190
  11. ^ ASCAP entry for I Got Rhythm , Work ID 390020627 , accessed August 19, 2017

literature

Web links