DESCRIPTION:
Recorded Jan. 29, 2009 in Davis, CA.

Edith Zdunich sings "Summertime" with Mark Chang on electric piano (Yamaha CP70B). Direct mixdown recording process.

LYRICS:
Summertime,
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Your daddy's rich
And your mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don't you cry

One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll fly to the sky

But till that morning
There's a'nothing can harm you
With daddy and mamma standing by

Summertime,
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Your daddy's rich
And your mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don't you cry

Edith and I used to experiment with music back in the mid-1990's, sometimes live on the air over a pirate FM radio station I used to operate several hours each night. Those were more innocent and hopeful times for both of us. Edith and I went our separate ways and lost touch with each other. Finally, after an 11 year respite from singing, Edith is back in town and here she is sounding rather charming performing this gentle, delicate version of "Summertime" with me.
-Mark W. Chang

"Summertime" is the name of an aria composed by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin. The song soon became a popular jazz standard.

Gershwin is said to have based this song on a Ukrainian lullaby, Oi Khodyt Son Kolo Vikon (A Dream Passes By The Windows), which he heard in a New York City performance by Oleksander Koshetzs Ukrainian National Chorus.

Gershwin began composing the song in December 1933, attempting to create his own spiritual in the style of the African American folk music of the period. It is sung multiple times throughout Porgy and Bess, first by Clara in Act I as a lullaby and soon after as counterpoint to the craps game scene, in Act II in a reprise by Clara, and in Act III by Bess, singing to Clara's baby.