Different Versions of ’Summertime’ by Gershwin and Abbie Mitchell

George Gershwin’s ’summertime’ - Original vs. Abbie Mitchell’s Version

George Gershwin’s ’summertime’ is one of the songs that have cover versions. Apart from the original version of the song, many artists have done their versions. One of the conspicuous versions is that by Abbie Mitchell. When you listen to the original version and that of Abbie, you will notice some differences which affect the tradition of Jazz music.

Abbie Mitchell’s Version

Abbie appears to have merged the song into two stanzas unlike the original that had six stanzas. Considerably, this is an ideal way of making a song entertaining. Evidently, Gershwin separates the song into several stanzas that address different issues in the song. When a song has various stanzas, listeners have an extra work of connecting the information from one stanza to the other. In this case, instead of the music being an entertainment tool, it appears to be exhaustive since the listeners have the duty of merging the many stanzas into a single message intended by the singer.

However, by merging the stanzas, Abbie interfered with the melody that is associated with Jazz music. Evidently, this genre of music is usually slow with various instrumental interludes. Considerably, the interludes give the listeners the opportunity to reflect on the message in the previous stanza. Although Gershwin song had a lot of stanzas, the use of the interludes is essential in reducing boredom.

Influence on Jazz Tradition

In the two versions (the original and the cover), I find that Abbie violated the rules of Jazz by merging the stanzas of the original composition. The distinctiveness of Jazz music exists in the message and the instrumental. However, Abbie’s version violates this principle and deviates from the tradition of Jazz music.