Quote:
Originally Posted by oingo86
the type of 'jazz' Gershwin embodied was indeed NOT the Miles Davis and Coltrane jazz, but the musical theater, Jerome Kern, Americana jazz of the time.
|
Remember that while musical theatre at the time was moving closer to forms of rag, it was still heavily based on operetta at this point in time. Musical theatre of Gershwin's time was not relying on the jazz of the time, but something closer to a combination of [what would become] swing/big band and forms of popular music from vaudeville. What we know as "standards" (many of which have been translated into jazz) come from the Musical Theatre of the time. So to say that Gershwin embodied a Musical Theatre sound is incorrect.
Listen to "Rhapsody in Blue" or "Piano Concerto in F." Do those sound like Musical Theatre?
If the jazz of the time reminds you of musical theatre it's because of George Gershwin. The trend toward that kind of musical theatre/jazz sound on Broadway came about later in his career. He influenced musical theatre, not the other way around.