Level: 2
Tuning: Standard

"Summertime" is the first song Gershwin composed for his ambitious and revolutionary jazz/opera, "Porgy and Bess." It's a lullaby sung by a black mammy to the white baby she's caring for. The opera, set in the south with an all-black cast, was not financially successful when first staged in 1935, but it has become the most performed and beloved American opera - and "Summertime" is its most recorded song - over 25,000 recorded versions by nearly every jazz instrumentalist and countless singers from Billie Holiday to Janis Joplin. Sidney Bechet's 1939 instrumental recording of the tune for Blue Note may be the first time a jazz performer was allowed to stretch out and improvise on a commercial recording (he played five choruses in a row). "Summertime"'s bluesy feel makes it easy for a singer or player to adlib and improvise melodic variations, which is part of the song's appeal. This key-of Am version is all done with easy, first position chords.