George Gershwin and Duke Ellington: Two Shades of Blue

Gershwin and Ellington were turn of the century contemporaries. Both were virtuoso pianists who composed successful popular and concert works. Gershwin was the first Jewish Broadway composer and Ellington followed suit as the first Black composer to do so.  

Gershwin’s concert works, including “Rhapsody in Blue,” were wildly successful in the 1920s, early in his career, while Ellington’s magnum opus, “Black, Brown, and Beige,” occurred later in his career in 1943. Gershwin and Ellington’s first collaboration was for Florenz Ziegfeld’s Broadway show Show Girl in July 1929. Gershwin’s compositions combined with Ellington’s orchestra. 

Ultimately, it was Gershwin who inspired Ellington to create the first long-form concert works in jazz.  Through this influential and fruitful collaboration, Ellington is now recognized as one of the 20th Century’s most important concert composers. 

Loren Means has lectured on jazz at the Richmond and Golden Gate Valley branches of the San Francisco Public Library. His articles on jazz and avant-garde music have appeared in Down Beat, Contemporary Keyboard, Berkeley Barb, Ear Magazine, and YLEM Journal. As a jazz singer, he has sung the music of the Great American Songbook at Artist’s Television Access, Common Space SF, Mayflower Pub, the Jazz School, the Sleeping Lady, Osteria Divino, Bliss Bar, Bird/Beckett, Max’s Burlingame, and Mr. Tipple’s Recording Studio. Videos of Loren’s jazz singing are available on YouTube. You can see Loren’s painted film images, movies, and music online. The JCCSF was privileged to have Loren present Fiddler on the Roof: Jewish Broadway for us in the Winter 2024.