Back in 1930, George Gershwin wrote a tune, “I Got Rhythm”, whose underlying chord structure proved a god-send to jazz musicians for decades to come. “Rhythm Changes” served as the basis for dozens of jazz tunes, which served, in turn, for some of the greatest performances in jazz. We’ll start off with the original, served up by the woman who introduced it, Ethel Merman, in a blurry 1956 television broadcast that does have decent sound.
That’s all the video we’re going to get, unfortunately, until the last cut. The focus here is the music. Next up is George himself, who certainly has the right to play his own piece, although this elegant, “concert” version has a lot more show than go, for my ears.
Let’s get into serious jazz territory with Lester Young’s classic Rhythm riff, Lester Leaps In, performed in 1939 with Count Basie and the Kansas City Seven:
Now for one of the greatest tour de forces in jazz, Charlie Parker’s take on Lester Leaps In, taken from a live recording with Mundell Lowe, guitar, Walter Bishop, Jr., piano, Teddy Kotick, bass, and Max Roach, drums. Parker supposedly said “After four choruses you’re just practicing.” Well, he probably plays eight here—I lost count—so that he dips into a number of the “Rhythm” variations that he wrote, but the first four or five choruses here are beyond stunning:
Parker himself composed six tunes based on I Got Rhythm—Red Cross, Shaw ’Nuff, (co-composed with Dizzy Gillespie), Moose the Mooche, Thrivin’ from a Riff, Dexterity, and Passport, discussed in full scholarly detail by Henry Martin via Oxford Scholarship Online.. I’ll feature just one of them, Dexterity.
I’ll conclude with Thelonious Monk playing “his” “Rhythm”, Rhythm-a-ning, from a live performance in 1965, which gave me the whole idea for this thing:
Lots more Rhythm-a-ning here.
