Product Description

This comprehensive biography of George Gershwin (1898-1937) unravels the myths surrounding one of America's most celebrated composers and establishes the enduring value of his music. Gershwin created some of the most beloved music of the twentieth century and, along with Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter, helped make the golden age of Broadway golden. Howard Pollack draws from a wealth of sketches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, books, articles, recordings, films, and other materials--including a large cache of Gershwin scores discovered in a Warner Brothers warehouse in 1982--to create an expansive chronicle of Gershwin's meteoric rise to fame. He also traces Gershwin's powerful presence that, even today, extends from Broadway, jazz clubs, and film scores to symphony halls and opera houses.
Pollack's lively narrative describes Gershwin's family, childhood, and education; his early career as a pianist; his friendships and romantic life; his relation to various musical trends; his writings on music; his working methods; and his tragic death at the age of 38. Unlike Kern, Berlin, and Porter, who mostly worked within the confines of Broadway and Hollywood, Gershwin actively sought to cross the boundaries between high and low, and wrote works that crossed over into a realm where art music, jazz, and Broadway met and merged. The author surveys Gershwin's entire oeuvre, from his first surviving compositions to the melodies that his brother and principal collaborator, Ira Gershwin, lyricized after his death. Pollack concludes with an exploration of the performances and critical reception of Gershwin's music over the years, from his time to ours.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59113 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 901 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. University of Houston music professor Pollack (Aaron Copland: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man) offers a look at Gershwin so exhaustive and comprehensive that it stands as a definitive statement. Bibliographic notes filling 100 pages indicate the extent of this in-depth re-examination. Scholarly yet entertaining, Pollack's survey is not chronological; it's divided into two book-length sections. In part one, a study of popular music trends serves as an overture to Gershwin's musical influences, his childhood and Tin Pan Alley years, followed by a look at Gershwin as a pianist and conductor through his death from a brain tumor at the age of 38. The book's second half, titled "Work,'' is an ambitious attempt to document Gershwin's entire output, from orchestral works to theater, radio and films, including the role of lyricist Ira Gershwin in reworking his brother's tunes, as he did for Billy Wilder's 1964 film Kiss Me, Stupid. The creation of Porgy and Bess and subsequent revivals, films, concerts, recordings and jazz interpretations (notably by Miles Davis) fill several chapters with fascinating details. Gershwin's innovative synthesis of classical, blues and jazz into a "glorious body of work" is illuminated by Pollack's insightful analysis. 51 b&w photos. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Pollack's preface indicates his book builds on the work of many chroniclers of composer George Gershwin's life and work, and he names 10 of them. However, their books largely predated not only the appearance of a number of important publications, dissertations, recordings, and performances but also the availability of a variety of archival materials, including a large cache of Gershwin manuscripts discovered in 1982 in a Warner Brothers warehouse in Secaucus, New Jersey. This biography is organized along partly thematic, partly chronological lines. Part 1, "Life," contains chapters depicting Gershwin's childhood and family and his musical education, early relation to popular music, achievement as a pianist, youthful activities on Broadway, friendships and love affairs, involvement with serious music, and lifestyle and character. Part 2, "Work," surveys Gershwin's output from his earliest compositions to those pieces that his brother, Ira, lyricized after Gershwin's death, in 1937. Pollack examines many of the composer's films, recordings, and critical writings; he provides, for each of Gershwin's shows, a synopsis of the story, details about the cast, and other aspects of its first production. With 51 black-and-white photographs, this engaging biography is also a tour de force of scholarship. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Inside Flap
"Filled with new and revelatory information, Howard Pollack's fascinating and meticulous book is the closest anyone has come to capturing the essence of Gershwin's life and work"--Michael Feinstein, Grammy Nominated Singer-Songwriter

"The scholarship and breadth of coverage are remarkable. This outstanding work should become the first port of call for any future study of Gershwin's life and works."--Andrew Lamb, author of 150 Years of Popular Musical Theatre and Leslie Stuart, Composer of Florodora

"Brilliantly researched. Howard Pollack has written the most comprehensive survey of Gershwin's music."--Robert Kimball, editor, The Complete Lyrics of Ira Gershwin

Customer Reviews

Exhaustive, but not exhausting biography
Pollack's book is clearly aimed at Gershwin fan(atics)--it's an inch-by-inch biography that focuses more on the artist (and the music) and less on the man per se. But that's not a criticism. There are plenty of books that delve into Gershwin's personal life; Pollack's is the definitive look at Gershwin the creator. Granted, there's an overwhelming amount of detail--about every single music teacher, about every single piece he wrote, and how all of it interrelates. At times, the minutia drives you nuts (especially when Pollack gives the reader lengthy plot summaries about every musical Gershwin wrote); but ultimately, it all adds up to the fullest, most complete picture of Gershwin we've ever seen. Pollack convincingly (and finally) dispels many misconceptions about Gershwin (especially his ability to orchestrate), and reveals new depths and insights about the man's work. Once you read a classic bio (such as Edward Jablonski's), turn to this book next.

The Definitive Biography
It is rare for an artist to compel one to read his/her biography just because he is a master at what he does. (Who wants to read the life story of Jack Nicholson?) Gershwin is an exception. His writings, compositions, the conditions in which he prepared to write his concerto in F - all these incite curiosity, not so much because they are artistically great as much as because they are great on a technical level as well. How could a young tin-pan alley composer have acquired such skill?

Of course it's a matter of artistic snobbery to think that one who hasn't had an early and expensive education in a world class conservatory could not become a great classical composer, just as much as it is unrealistic to think that Gershwin came from total obscurity. Pollack answers all my questions about Gershwin. Pollack follows the recent trend of music biographers in splitting Gershwin's life and music into separate groups. This is okay, but I think the book would have been more readable if the chapters on his music and the chapters on his life were chronologically interspersed among themselves. That's not a big complaint, however, and I don't think a better Gershwin biography can or will be written.

Genius writes about genius
We usually apply the term genius to the subject of a biography. With the writing of Howard Pollack, one can also apply that term to the biographer.

When I first heard that Pollack was at work on a biography of Gershwin, I was saddened to think that he would be devoting his time to someone who had been the subject of so many biographies. I thought, what else was there to be said about Gershwin, but when I recalled the balanced and thoroughly considered approach he brought to his biography of Copland, I was curious to read what he would write. Not only was I not disappointed, I was overwhelmed.

Pollack does not question the actions of his subjects, he reports and tells a story, leaving the reader to make his or her own judgements. There is no attempt to sensationalize anything as he lets the facts speak for themselves. Pollack treats his subjects with the greatest respect without losing sight of their humanity. He brings great dignity to his writing and to his subjects.

His use of the language is transparent. You are never slowed down by his words. When he writes about music, Pollack has a remarkable ability to engage both the musician and non-musician alike. As with his volume on Copland, you sense he knows the music so well that he can intuit what the composer intended with each new work. He seeks out so much of the related material one would think he has devoted his entire life to the study of his subjects. You are aware of the detail, but not overwhelmed or encumbered by it.

I found the quotes from Michael Feinstein to be very informative. Feinstein, is not only the great exponent of popular music of the tradition of Gershwin, Kern, Berlin, et al; he is also one of the most informed in the music of that period. The time Feinstein spent as Ira Gershwin's assistant lends credibility to his perspective and recollections, and adds great insight to both the humanity and the music of Gershwin.

This volume is as close to an encapsulation of Gershwin's life and works as one could hope to find in words.