Over the years I have made meticulous note for note transcriptions of all of Gershwin’s piano improvisations (on his own songs) from early electrical recordings, film clips and radio broadcasts from the 1920s and 1930s. 

I am presently editing these for a volume of the Gershwin Critical Edition so that the long overdue publication of these amazing creations can finally be made available. It has been my life-long mission to make the most accurate versions possible – which has not been an easy task.

Gershwin improvised endless variations on his own songs at parties and public events. It was said that he never played the same tune the same way twice! Gershwin played in a stride based piano style inspired by jazz pianists like James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. It was dense, orchestral and virtuosic. It was relentless in rhythm drive and filled with tricks and effects reminiscent of piano rolls and the novelty piano style pioneered by Zez Confrey.

Gershwin did not use this style in his concert works or compositions and only published brief simplifications of some of his favourite ‘party improvisations’ in The Gershwin Song Book. These are the arrangements you have heard most concert pianists play for many years. But Gershwin’s recordings, especially from the 1920s, are more substantial and show a denser more virtuosic style. These are the true representations of Gershwin’s remarkable and heavenly piano playing.

My obsession with this goes back to 1993 when I discovered some of Gershwin’s improvisations published by Artis Wodehouse and was inspired by Jack Gibbons’ outstanding recreations and arrangements of concert works and film scores – recorded in 4 volumes on the ASV label The Authentic Gershwin. I later found with newly remastered digital releases of this material that I was able to hear what Gershwin was playing far more clearly. Over the years I perfected my versions, listening to different versions and studying film footage of Gershwin’s playing. You cannot take any note for granted!

To transcribe accurately you have to literally hear every note from bass to top and eliminate possible overtones. You cannot guess at it, you need to actually hear it and tune your brain into the right frequencies. It is not easy – different versions have more clarity in some areas and less in others.

Gershwin’s piano rolls

Artis Wodehouse and George Litterest published some of the piano rolls for piano solo and duet in the early 1990s.  These were transcribed by playing the rolls though a Yamaha disc playing piano and turning the Midi tracks into sheet music.

Until all the piano rolls are published in piano solo versions I have made my own solo versions by ear. I did not find any versions of other rolls made by enthusiasts (on YouTube etc.) to be accurate but I found some Midi files made from optical scans of piano rolls. I checked some which I believe to be accurate.

They were difficult to transcribe. Some notes didn’t come out evenly and there were slight differences from one audio recording to another.