CLASSICAL + JAZZ = CLASSIC POP _ BEHIND THE BEATS

Sam , everybody in the house tonight .

Come on now , nondiscrete .

My style is chic .

We all family , meet and greet , stand up .

Don't recline your seats because I'm about to take you behind the beats .

Summertime is just my thing .

Lana's putting some respect on Gershwin's legacy , classical composer , George Gershwin .

Gershwin Gershwin .

Yeah .

Listen , Lana loves vintage , like classic pop and the founding father of classic pop is Gershwin Gershwin .

So New York City , the twenties around there .

Let's go .

These two guys are George and Ira Gershwin .

They're on their way to meet an absolute hero of theirs .

They started out as typical New York street kids .

George loved to skate around the blocks but he also liked to get in fights .

George was a thug on roller skates .

It was a different era .

But yeah , to his mother's despair , George liked to mix it up .

I guess those hands had to start somewhere .

One day .

Mama Gershwin decides to buy the brainier , bro .

Ira , a piano , but surprise .

It's tough guy .

George who takes to it like right away .

George is a quick study by 15 , he's playing professionally and by 20 he's a successful composer with Ira's lyricist George wrote the music and Ira wrote the rhymes .

Exactly .

Keeping it in the family .

The sound of the time is a combination of operetta and traditional European folk songs .

But the brothers start writing their own stuff and soon they're the hottest artists on Broadway .

The Kings of New York .

Wait .

But what story over ?

Not even close .

George Gershwin wants something more .

The Ss France is carrying precious cargo .

Maurice Ravel , the greatest French classical composer alive .

Ravel is a legend , huge brain , a genius .

Exactly what makes him cool is his absolutely insatiable curiosity .

He blows folks' minds by incorporating musical styles from across the globe .

French Russian , Middle Eastern Spanish .

So why America Ravell is in the States on his only American tour , he's an explorer looking to discover skyscrapers the Grand Canyon and of course , music , it's George and Ira Gershwin .

Mr Ravell , welcome to New York City .

George has loved on Broadway , but it's not enough .

Even the great Gershwin doubted himself .

He wants his music to be important and serious and immortal like Mozart's or Bach or Ravel's so who better to ask for lessons .

But Ravell admires Gershwin's originality and instincts and doesn't want to mess them up .

He says , no , why become a second rate Ravel when you are already a first rate Gwin , you got rhythm , you got music , you got your man who could ask for anything more .

It's a simple thing that'll stick with Gershwin forever but this is America .

There's always more he asks Ravell if there's anything he'd like to do ?

Jazz .

I would love to hear jazz located in Harlem .

The Cotton Club is one of the city's most popular nightclubs .

It's home to Josephine Baker Cab Calloway , Louis Armstrong .

A truly wild list of Alzheimer's there is a hotter join in the city .

Unfortunately , the Cotton Club refused to let black customers in to watch so they let them play music but not come watch it awful .

It's so wrong .

But the nightclubs do offer black musicians a spotlight and a steady gig .

It pays the bills and lets them develop their new sound jazz .

It's about to become the soundtrack of the era .

The roaring twenties .

Thanks in large part to tonight's host , big band legend Duke Ellington .

Duke Ellington's nightly performances at the Cotton Club are broadcast across the country and they turn him into a national star .

He takes jazz from popular , not serious dance music to one of the most ambitious and respected musical styles of the century .

Take this sound seriously .

Jazz is the future .

When Ravell told Gershwin to trust his instincts , Gershwin listened like all of us , he was capable of more than he thought Gershwin didn't become a classical composer like Ravell or Bach instead he became himself Gershwin .

Gershwin , he does the unthinkable .

He takes jazz and pulls it into so called serious opera .

It's completely new .

The first mash up of American popular music and European classical music come and the mhm It's called Porgy and Bess and it's about the plight of Black Americans .

Talk about the risk for that time .

It debuts on Broadway with a cast of 100% black performers .

It played at the Washington National Theater where thanks to protests by Anne Brown who played best black audiences were allowed in for the first time .

Porgy and iconic song is summertime .

It helps establish the sound of modern pop .

Short , simple and catchy with an emotional hook .

Classic pop is born .

Summertime is covered by artists as diverse as Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong , Janis Joplin Miles Davis and Lana Del Ray .

Because if you look behind the beats , Allmusic is related .

Yeah , Sam , everybody in the house tonight .

Come on now .

Nondiscrete .

My style is chic .

We all family , meet and greet .

Stand up .

Don't recline your seats because I'm about to take you behind the beat .