Summertime is presented perhaps as it should be, as part of a larger album entitled Porgy and Bess, and released in 1958 on the Verve label. Here various selections from the opera are sung by the First Lady of Song and accompanied by the most important figure in American music, Louis Armstrong. Pops’ opening trumpet lines have the ebullience one comes to expect from Armstrong, but also have a deep-blues phrasing, as if he couldn’t wait one more second before delivering each chilling note. By the time Ella enters the song you know you are in for a deeply moving experience. Her child like delivery contrasts sharply with the familiar gravely throated voice of Armstrong. Even if you have heard this version only once, it is something you will never forget. This is the only duet on our list and edges out Ray Charles and Cleo Laine’s take on this classic, but only by a whisker. 

Big Joe Turner’s Summertime comes from his 1977 album entitled In the Evening. The album illustrates the greatness that lies in the vocal delivery of Big Joe Turner. He takes some unexpected tunes such as I Got the World on String, Pennies from Heaven and of course Summertime and turns them into deep blues. His understanding of how blues should be sung could be used as a template for aspiring vocalists who are interested in learning the form. The album also features some very tasty guitar work by Pee Wee Crayton. That alone is worth the price of admission. 

Sam Cooke was one of the most celebrated singers of his time. The great one makes Summertime his own. Cooke’s take on this standard was recorded in 1957 and was the first time the song made the charts since Lady Day’s version some two decades earlier. The song can be found on several Cooke compilations starting with the 1962 release by RCA simply entitled The Hits. However, there are better ways to go with some recent reissues which feature superior sound quality. One of these is a two-disc 59 song offering by Jasmine Records entitled Wonderful World The Very Best of Sam Cooke 1957-1960. I also encourage our readers to check out one of my all-time favorites Night Beat by the great Sam Cooke. 

John Coltrane’s version comes from his 1961 Atlantic Release My Favorite Things. He is joined by the band that would come to be known simply as “The Quartet.” They are bassist Steve Jones, pianist McCoy Tyner and  the polyrhythmic genius of the drums, Elvin Jones. Coltrane uses the Gershwin standard to push the boundaries of his instrument and propel jazz to some previously unexplored areas of expression. The shear effusiveness of Coltrane’s playing was referred to at the time by some jazz critics as 'sheets of sound'. He applies this sound with an up-tempo version of Summertime which stands in sharp contrast to his former band leader Miles Davis' take on the tune recorded just a few years earlier. 

Billie Holiday makes the list because well...she’s Billie Holiday. I admit her unique voice and phrasing is an acquired taste. Once you have acquired that taste though, Holiday singing virtually anything becomes a wonderful cathartic experience in which you get to hear another human being sharing their soul with you. She sings Summertime like she sings everything else and that is with a pathos which she brings to every piece of material she embraces. There are various places to go to find Billy Holiday’s version of Summertime, but for my money there really is only one place to go. That is the ten-disc box set entitled Lady Day: The Complete Columbia Recordings (1933-1944).

Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s Summertime represents a departure from what many folks expect from a guy whose 'middle' name is “Guitar”. Watson is not only an accomplished vocalist and songwriter as well as a guitar innovator, he is also a terrific pianist. This late 60’s version of the song represents some of the pop sensibility of that era. The best place to find this version is on the album The Best of the Okeh Years. The album serves as a transitional document of Watson’s career shift from rhythm and blues to his 70’s funk period. This material is often overlooked, yet demonstrates much of what makes Watson a musical genius. 

Billy Stewart’s 1965 version of Summertime was a crossover pop hit for Chess Records. It is the most popular version of the song for my generation and the most commercially successful version of Summertime. It was the first time I ever heard the tune. It is as catchy and upbeat as any recorded version. Stewart’s incredible one of a kind vocal gymnastics help distinguish this version of the song from all others. It is irresistibly fun. The four minute and fifty-one second song was cut down to two minutes and thirty-six seconds to fit the restrictions placed on it by AM radio stations back in the day. The entire unedited version can be found on a recent two-disc reissue on Rockbeat Records entitled The Essential Billy Stewart. 

Miles Davis' muted trumpet is one of the most distinctive, personal and evocative sounds in the history of music. Miles puts his very personal stamp on Summertime. The 1958 album Porgy and Bess was the second of three great collaborations he released with arranger Gil Evans for Columbia Records. Miles is joined by a large ensemble of musicians for this recording including alto saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmie Cobb. Adderley, Chambers and Cobb would go back into the Columbia studios with Miles the following year along with John Coltrane and Bill Evans to make a record which would become the most popular jazz recording of all time, Kind of Blue. If you are looking for this selection on the Bluebeat Music website it can be found on an album released under the Columbia/Legacy imprint entitled The Essential Miles Davis. 

Born Esther Mae Jones in Galveston, Texas, by the time she was discovered by Johnny Otis at the age of 14 the “Little” moniker was a given. The last name of Phillips however wasn’t. That was until she saw of sign for a filling station. Little Esther gives Summertime the gas and is helped out here by Johnny Otis, Big Jay McNeeley and others. The best place to find this is on a marvelous 52 song, two-disc box put out by JSP Records entitled Little Esther The Early Hits 1949-1954. This package features full liner notes, is annotated and includes a complete discography. Spotify that!  Post-war rhythm & blues at its finest… 

Booker T. & The M.G.s' take on Summertime is slow, deliberate and ethereal. This mesmerizing arrangement is absolutely breathtaking. The song first appeared on the band's third album entitled And Now which was released in 1966. It was the first album by the band on which Stax house bass player Donald “Duck” Dunn plays on every track. The song appeared as the “B” side to the single Hip Hug Her the following year. If you go looking for this one, I highly recommend the two-disc, thirty song M.G.s compilation The Definitive Soul Collection on Rhino. 

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