The album is not called, as one might expect, ”The Gershwin
Collection,” but ”The Gershwin Connection.” And for Dave Grusin, Grammy-winning keyboardist, composer and co-founder of GRP Records, this new recording of Gershwin gems is a deliberate linking of classic American songs and GRP`s jazz for the `90s.
The response? ”The Gershwin Connection” has been in the Top 10 on Billboard`s Top Jazz Albums chart since its release two months ago.
”I`m really gratified,” Grusin says. ”You don`t know how people are going to react.”
Particularly after Grusin took on the challenge of reinterpreting the Gershwin repertoire in the context of small, improvisational jazz combos, collaborating with an all-star cast of players: Chick Corea in a piano duet with Grusin on ”`S Wonderful”; Gary Burton on vibraphone, bringing a new tone to ”Fascinating Rhythm”; Eddie Daniels on clarinet; Lee Ritenour on guitar; Sal Marquez on trumpet; Eric Marienthal on soprano sax; brother Don Grusin on clarinet; John Patitucci on bass; and Dave Weckl on drums.
Dave Grusin has been a lifelong fan of George and Ira Gershwin. ”There`s not a tune on this album I didn`t know 20 or 30 years ago,” he says. ”I have kind of an emotional remembrance of other people`s versions.”
Grusin gives tribute, for example, to Andre Previn`s piano trio version of ”There`s a Boat Dat`s Leavin` Soon for New York” from ”Porgy and Bess” and the brilliant Gil Evans/Miles Davis version of that musical.
Why then was this the right time for ”The Gershwin Connection” to be made? ”I think we owe a lot to the Marsalis family for the consciousness of a kind of music. … People are willing to entertain the concept that things that are old are still good,” Grusin says.
”Or when you look at other things that have come out in the classic song genre like that wonderful Cole Porter record `Red Hot + Blue.` I don`t know why the time is right from a marketing standpoint, but I`m glad the time came around.”
Gershwin archivist and performer Michael Feinstein writes in liner notes for this album that Grusin ”has done what I always desire to do-keep the music fresh, make it sound as if it were written today, yet always with respect for the source.”
Says Grusin, ”The connection between past and present is the real reason for doing this record. It`s great to keep this music alive.”
