In a concept not unlike Natalie Cole’s “Unforgettable “ duet with her father, our goal was to “jam” with George. This was made possible by Gershwin scholar Artis Wodehouse’s remarkable conversion of some of Gershwin's original paper piano roll to computer files. It was common for pianists of Gershwin’s day who made piano rolls to play along or “overdub” themselves and even correct any mistakes. Gershwin was no stranger to these techniques, and frankly, neither are we. Using our computer for the same purpose, once we had Gershwin “tickling” the hard drive, we were able to superimpose ourselves in and around his performance, playing introductions, taking solos, fashioning endings and mostly keeping out of his way.

All of this resulted in three separate piano tracks now on computer files which in turn were played back, recorded separately and ultimately combined into a single performance. This unique project was made possible by the use of a Yamaha Disklavier Concert Grand. This modern player piano utilizes floppy disks instead of paper piano rolls, has the ability to reproduce the nuances and sensitivity of the players touch. Our addition of a rhythm section (bass and drums) seemed to be a natural for Gershwin's strong rhythmic playing.

One cannot help but wonder how Gershwin would have reacted to all this technical razzmatazz. His well established interest in the avant-garde, modern music and art gives us our best clue....we think he would have loved it!

Norman Landsberg & Robert Blue Yount