NINA SIMONE / “Summertime”

Aaaah, summertime. Out here in San Diego, the land of perpetual summer, this time of year is just like the rest of the year, only more so. Meaning, the beaches and malls (which are always crowded) get a little more crowded, the girls (who always dress pretty skimpy) dress a little skimpier, and the chances of all-day sunshine (which is usually 90 to 95% anyway) goes to 100%. They say it never rains in Southern California, and this time of the year at least, they’re right. As I write this, it's early August and I can’t recall the last time I saw so much as a drop of rain. The other good thing about summertime, particularly for divorced dad’s like me, is it’s the time of year we get to see our kids. For nine weeks each summer, Jahi comes to live with me and I get to feel like a real dad instead of just the guy who sends the check every week. It’s only been two years, but that day in mid-June when I pick up Jahi at the airport is already starting to feel like a ritual. There are always four or five other ‘unaccompanied minors’ on the flight, and for each kid flying in, there is always a slightly anxious looking thirty-something guy standing around waiting. I haven’t decided yet if the high number of kids flying by themselves is good (because at least these dads are involved in their kids lives) or bad (because they’re only involved part-time); I guess I’d have to call it bittersweet. Speaking of bittersweet (and with apologies for the terrible segue) it’s been a couple of years since Kalamu posted six versions of that all-time classic of simultaneous happy and sad feelings, Gershwin’s “Summertime.” After all this time, that post is still my favorite batch of songs Kalamu’s ever put up. Given that, I won’t claim that my six versions will live up to Kalamu’s. Hopefully though, there will be one or two you know and like; one or two you know and love; and one or two you’ve never heard before. nina 36.jpg Nina Simone – At Town Hall (Colpix - 1959) Recorded way back in September of 1959 with Tootie Heath on drums and Jimmy Bond on bass, this was Nina Simone’s debut live recording and, according to the good folks over at The Nina Simone Web, her fourth LP ever. We’ve raved about Nina’s singing many times before and we’ll do it many times again, but what I want you to listen to on Nina’s version of “Summertime” isn’t her singing, but rather her piano playing. All of the beautiful blues and deep, deep soul of Nina’s voice is present too in her piano playing. She plays with the left hand of an old-school juke-joint cat and the right hand of a classically-trained jazz pianist. Given how much I love Nina’s voice, it seems crazy to say this, but I actually prefer the first half of the tune (the instrumental half) to the second half (where Nina performs the vocal). Also, someone who has the original LP might be able to write in and verify this for me, but the long version of “Summertime” may actually be separate instrumental and vocal performances that were later pieced together. rahsaan 01.jpg Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Boogie Woogie String-Along For Real (Warner Bros - 1977) This is the saddest version of “Summertime” that I know, and not just because of the way it sounds. It’s the legendary avant-gardist Rahsaan Roland Kirk playing the manzello, an archaic type of miniature saxophone. The strange pauses between the notes and the intermittent grunting are there because Rahsaan was still recovering from a stroke he’d suffered less than two years earlier. Post-stroke, everything Rahsaan recorded (and he kept recording right up to his death) had to be done with one hand. If you’ve ever seen a jazz musician play a reed instrument, you’ll realize that doing so with only one good arm is damn near impossible. And, oh yeah, did I mention Rahsaan also happened to be blind? One of the best things about Rahsaan’s cover is the way it sounds both childlike and wizened. The chimes sound like ice cream bells and the thin sound of the manzello sounds like a kid blowing a kazoo. But Rahsaan is in total command of the melody, treating each individual note as if it were precious. I love this version; if it wasn’t so short, I’d have made it the feature. billie holiday 30.jpg Billie Holiday – Originally released as a single in 1936. Available on Lady Day: The Best Of Billie Holiday. When I was a kid, I thought famous people only sang their own songs. As such, I grew up believing that “Summertime” was a Billie Holiday song. I don’t know where or how I first made that association, but it holds today. I’ve probably heard over 100 versions of the tune by now, but if someone asks me, “Who sings that song ‘Summertime?’” and I answer before I get a chance to think about it, I’d probably say, “Billie Holiday.” Accompanied by her orchestra, Billie recorded this version in July of 1936 and it was issued as a 78rpm single in October of the same year. Seventy-some years later and it still sounds fantastic. erroll garner 01.JPG Errol Garner – Originally recorded in 1951. Available on Body And Soul (Columbia, 1991). As Kalamu details in this post, Errol Garner is one of jazz music’s all-time great instrumentalists, this despite his being a self-taught pianist who never learned to read music. Garner was perhaps best known for his ability to swing and that ability is in ample evidence on his version of “Summertime.” For me, swinging on piano is defined by the New Orleans style of old school cats like Professor Longhair (on the blues side) and Ellis Marsalis (on the jazz side). Whenever I hear a pianist and feel a little of that New Orleans vibe, I know they’re really swinging. sam cooke 08.jpg Sam Cooke – Originally released as a single in 1957. Available on Portrait Of A Legend – 1951-1964 (Abkco/Polydor - 2003). Sam is one of the smoothest cats to ever touch a microphone. I sometimes think of him as Marvin Gaye before there was a Marvin Gaye. Listen to the way he phrases parts of the second verse—“Then you spread YOOO-UUOOR wings…,” and “But unTIIIIIIIL that morning”—and tell me you don’t hear some Marvin in there. Then again, given that Sam dropped this tune in 1957 as a b-side to his million-seller “You Send Me” and given that Marvin’s debut album didn’t come out until 1961, I should probably say we’re hearing some Sam in Marvin’s phrasing, rather than the other way around. morcheeba 01.jpg Morcheeba & Ronnie Laws – Red Hot + Rhapsody: The Gershwin Groove (Polygram - 1998). I only have room for one more version, so you know I have to throw a curve ball at you. This last one is a collaboration between jazz flautist Hubert Laws and trip-hop mainstays Morcheeba. Your reaction to this one probably depends on your reaction to trip-hop in general. I’m a big trip-hop fan, so I’m feeling it. The vocals are slowed-down and depressing (as are all trip-hop vocals), but Hubert does do his best to keep the tune from descending into all-out morbidity. This is, after all, summer time.

* * *
That’s it, y’all. I’m heading to the beach. Later! —Mtume ya Salaam           Change-ups, sliders and knuckleballs          Ok, son, you want “Summertime” with a twist? Well, I got some versions for you. (I’m going to go in the order that’s in the jukebox to make it easy to follow.) We open with classic Billie Holiday and then classic Erroll Garner, classic swing jazz. mjq 05.jpg Then here comes the Modern Jazz Quartet (Percy Heath, Milt Jackson, John Lewis, Connie Kay) treating the song as though it were a classical suite with different movements for each of the two principal soloists: first Milt on vibes and then John on piano. That’s Connie tinkling and jiggling bells and cymbals and swishing brush work. Percy supplies the supple, albeit oak-tree-strong, bass notes. jeanne lee 06.jpg An unheralded monster vocalist, Jeanne Lee follows with her beautiful alto that is, somehow, simultaneously super-strong and achingly airy, as though at a moment’s notice her voice might just float off into the ether. Pianist Ran Blake accompanies Jeanne and uses just enough dissonance to let us know that this "Summertime" is no day at the beach. duke ellington 10.jpg Duke Ellington almost literally takes us far out in left field on an almost-atonal safari. This version sounds avant garde, especially in comparison to most of the others. Duke is fascinating in the breadth of his abilities as a musician. That’s Jimmy Woode on bass and Sam Woodyard on drums on this 1961 recording, Piano In The Foreground. (For jazz heads, this album predates the Duke-Mingus-Max Roach collaboration, Money Jungle, by more than a year. People thought Money Jungle was a wonderful anomaly but this recording makes clear that Duke was already ready.) Morcheeba and Hubert Laws follow Duke. Just as Mtume suspected, Nina Simone’s version was initially presented as two separate cuts from a concert recording. The jukebox has the original instrumental/vocal segue as presented in concert. It’s available on a number of compilation albums and is originally from Nina Simone at Town Hall. Also, Mtume as you guessed, Nina was a concert class, classically-trained pianist who grew up in the church and played lounges, hotels and nightclubs to support herself when she first went to school in New York City. There had been a long line of female jazz pianists preceeding Nina including the incomparable Sarah Vaughn but also people such as Mary Lou Williams, Hazel Scott, Dorothy Donegan, and Shirley Horn just to name a quick handful. Mr. Sam Cooke is next. whirimako black 06.jpg New Zealand’s Whirimako Black offers up a twin-guitar accompanied, Moari-inspired reading that is utterly sumptuous. I’ve been promising to feature Ms. Black and it’s coming. What’s truly phenomenal is that Whirimako Black is deep, deep into promoting Moari culture, which why she sings in her mother tongue and uses traditional melodies in combination with non-Maori music. In a global sense, Whirimako’s mixing of cultures is sort of akin to the way Sam Cooke combined gospel and R&B, two musical cultures which did not easily co-exist when Mr. Cooke was recording. Rahsaan follows Whirimako. FYI, Mtume, Rahsaan is playing harmonica on this track, not manzello (which sounds sort of like a soprano saxophone). You are right, however, it is a truly moving version despite its brevity. Also, this version is from Rahsaan’s last studio recording. He died shortly thereafter. We close with a Billie Holiday remix from the Remixed & Reimagined project. I would have included it a couple a weeks back, but Mtume had told me he wanted to do a "Summertime" write-up so I held it back. What we have in these diverse versions is a global warming interpretation of “Summertime.” No easy romance, no larks in the parks, no sun bathing on the beach. Naw, this is Summertime post-9/11, post-Katrina and all up in the results of Bush’s blindness and denial of scientific facts. I remind you Mtume, when I did those “Summertime” tracks in 2005, it was a couple of weeks before Katrina. The world has changed a whole lot since then, a whole lot. —Kalamu ya Salaam Modern Jazz Quartet - The Complete Last Concert Jeanne Lee & Ran Blake - The Newest Sound Around Duke Ellington - Piano In The Foreground Whirimako Black - Soul Sessions Billie Holiday - Remixed & Reimagined

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 5th, 2007 at 1:57 am and is filed under Cover. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


One Response to “NINA SIMONE / “Summertime””

Qawi Robinson Says:
August 6th, 2007 at 11:16 am

All great covers. Although listening to that many in succession could drive one insane… I’ve got two more for you that are slightly outside of the traditional Holliday-one. If you have time, check out Miles Davis’ version and Al Jarreau’s version on Live At Montreux CD and Tenderness albums respectively.

I mention these two because, we all agree that Summertime has some SOUL about it (especially for a Gil Evans piece). However, in my small context of Porgy and Bess, the song is supposed to be more upbeat instead of the Bluesy treatments this song has gotten over the years.

Of all the instrumentals, Duke Ellington’s seemed off a bit. Don’t know why. He is still a genius…I just expected something more extravagant and orchestrated.

Still a good group. Kudos for the MJQ version as well.


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