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Their parents migrated from Russia in the early 1890’s. They lived in the heart of the Jewish immigrant community on the lower east side of Manhattan. There were four children of which Ira and George were the oldest. After the brothers became successful they lived in adjoining penthouses in New York that served as their creative center. George loved being surrounded by people and did much of his composing in the middle of parties. To hear George play was an uplifting experience. He had a very playful way of playing and emanated a charisma at the piano that made the listener feel good just to be in the room with him. George was largely self taught. He only studied piano formally for a few years as a young teenager. Ira’s lyric writing was slow, careful and determined. He never rested until he had exactly the lyric he was looking for. Sometimes spending days on a single line of a song. He strove for perfection. A real wordsmith, he liked to play with the English language. He often incorporated bad English and slang into his songs deliberately for effect. Together they wrote some 754 songs over a twenty year period, all for Broadway musicals. Many became big hits and still remain popular today. Jazz musicians have always enjoyed playing and exploring Gershwin songs. Their structure is especially adaptive to Jazz. George himself loved to listen to jazz and enjoyed hearing musicians improvise on his tunes. George's use of “blue notes” in his pop songs and orchestra works was innovative in the 1920’s. Ira continued working with other composers after George’s death. Kurt Weill, Vernon Duke and Harold Arlen .His last hit song was with Arlen in 1954 , “The Man That Got Away” , for the movie “ A Star is Born”. | |||||||||||||||||||
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Swanee (1919) | |||||||||||||||||||
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Gershwin songs have come to be regarded as one of the glories of American culture. They take their place along side our greatest films, novels, architecture, and art. It’s been said that as long as anyone remembers anything about the 20th century the Gershwin songs will remain alive.