George Gershwin

George Gershwin (1898-1937) was born to Russian immigrant parents and grew up in Manhattan and Brooklyn. His first steps as a musician including a stint at age 15 as a "song plugger" for the famous New York music publisher Jerome Remick. In 1917 he began his Broadway career as a rehearsal pianist. During the next two years, he contributed songs to several musicals, and created his first full Broadway score, La La Lucille, in 1919 at age 20. Nashville Nightingale, a delightful but now-forgotten song from that early score, already shows its composer's gift for integrating blues harmony and melody into his carefully crafted songs.

Notes by Roy Wiseman