Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald recorded “Summertime” for their third and final collaborative album, Porgy and Bess. Their recording coincided with the era surrounding Otto Preminger’s film adaptation of the opera. Abbie Mitchell, the soprano who originated the role of Clara in Gershwin’s first 1935 Broadway production, made the very first recording of “Summertime” as an operatic lullaby. Armstrong and Fitzgerald transformed “Summertime” into a lush blues ballad, framed by an expansive orchestral arrangement courtesy of Russell Garcia.
Fitzgerald’s heavenly intonation smoothed out operatic strictures, serving as a buoyant complement to Armstrong’s gliding, gravelly tone. Together, they realized Gershwin’s vision of a true American folk opera, swinging naturally while honoring his harmonic complexity. Armstrong’s trumpet delivered a warm, high-pitched moan that captured the deep sorrow of Porgy and Bess’s plight. The duet remains one of the definitive interpretations that solidified the piece as an essential jazz standard. Concluding a foundational partnership between two masters of the genre, the album stands as the most lauded jazz interpretation of the opera and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.
