'S Wonderful

'S Wonderful is a popular jazz standard by the great American composer George Gershwin (see Wikipedia entry here).

Originally written for the Broadway musical Funny Face in 1927, this song was also included in the 1951 movie An American in Paris.  Although the melody line is relatively straightforward, its layout opens up many possibilities for different chord permutations, resulting in many interesting reharmonizations.




Vocals
 
Here is a very early recording by  Adele Astaire and Bernard Clifton (1928). Adele Astaire was one of the original singers on Funny Face.

The song has been recorded by many different artistes over the years. Here's a version by Ella Fitzgerald (1959), accompanied by big band brass and lush strings with a relaxed swing beat.

'S Wonderful remains popular right up to recent times. Here's a very upbeat live performance by Rita Reyes (2009) accompanied by the Peter Beets Quintet, with Peter Beets a Dutch jazz pianist, showing off some fancy jazz riffs here.

Piano Solo

'S Wonderful has also been transcribed for the piano by Gershwin.  Here's the first version, which includes the introduction, and is played by Gershwin himself (1927) in a lively stride style with almost ragtime-like harmonies and Gershwin signature chord progressions. It segues into the song Funny Face halfway. Perhaps it might have been better as a stand-alone. The bonus of this video clip is that you can see various glimpses of Gershwin himself at work. It is not clear if the score for this version has been published.

George Gershwin's Songbook, a collection of popular Gershwin songs transcribed for solo piano by the composer himself, features a different version of 'S Wonderful. In contrast to the version above, the tempo indication here ("Liltingly") implies a much slower pace and it is sprinkled with little jazzy ornaments throughout. Here is Canadian virtuouso Marc-Andre Hamelin's (2012) performance of this arrangement (from 13:42) - he does an excellent job bringing out the hidden sub-melody lines. You can follow the score as the video progresses.

Two Pianos

'S Wonderful has been a popular candidate for two-piano arrangements and improvisations. It would have been interesting to see how Gershwin would have arranged it himself.

An early version here is played by well-known piano duo Ferrante and Teicher (1958), using some unusual space-age sound keyboards, from their album Space Age Pop, with a well-balanced harmonic structure.

The highlight of this post is the dazzling virtuoso version by jazz pianists Dave Grusin and Chick Corea (1991) in a rare joint performance on the album The Gershwin Connection. This must be one of the most outstanding jazz arrangement or improvisations of this piece and indeed of any piece. Exciting jazz reharmonizations and breathtaking riffs abound. If only someone could come up with a transcription, that would be wonderful!
NB - The picture in the clip shows Dave Grusin but the other guy is definitely not Chick Corea (he's holding a guitar and looks like Lee Ritenour).

Here is another invigorating and very jazzy two-piano (plus a double bass) improvisation by pianists Jon Weber and Pablo Alderighi with bassist Ingmar Heller (2008), also with interesting chordwork and riffs.

If you have come across any other interesting versions please do share them by posting a comment.

Happy listening!