Level: 3
Tuning: Standard

"Summertime" is an aria composed in 1934 by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward, the author of the novel Porgy on which the opera was based, The song soon became a popular and much recorded jazz standard, described by Robert Cummings as "without doubt ... one of the finest songs the composer ever wrote ... Gershwin's highly evocative writing brilliantly mixes elements of jazz and the song styles of blacks in the southeast United States from the early twentieth century".Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim has characterized Heyward's lyrics for "Summertime" " as "the best lyrics in the musical theater". The song is recognized as one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded music, with more than 33,000 covers by groups and solo performers.

My playing of “Summertime” is heavily influenced by an arrangement by Duck Baker. Duck played the melody in the higher register while I keep it in the lower. It is played in Em.