Oscar Peterson made two trips through the Gershwin repertoire, one in 1952 and another in 1959 after the advent of stereo. As with Oscar Peterson Plays the Duke Ellington Songbook, this disc compiles both sessions, the earlier one with a trio of guitarist Barney Kessel and bassist Ray Brown, the later one with Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen. The later session is programmed first. The earlier grou...
The third and last song (or aria) from George Gershwin's 1935 opera "Porgy and Bess" is "It Ain't Necessarily So," first sung by John W. Bubbles on stage and on film by Sammy Davis, Jr. Although the song is anti-religious in words, the music is set squarely in a gospel atmosphere with plenty of call and responses. Russ Garcia understands this most perfectly in an arrangement which pits Oscar Pe...
