THE COMPLETE CLASSIC VERSION OF GERSHWIN S PORGY & BESS BY ELLA AND LOUIS, ONE OF THE TRUE GEMS OF JAZZ HISTORY. AS A BONUS, TWO RARELY HEARD DUETS RECORDED LIVE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL IN 1956. INCLUDES 16-PAGE BOOKLET. George Gershwin composed Porgy & Bess ten years after his success with Rhapsody in Blue. By this time he was already a major figure in American music. Originally conceived by Gershwin as an "American folk opera," Porgy & Bess premiered in New York in the fall of 1935 and featured an entire cast of classically trained African-American singers. It also received ample play by jazz artists, who made countless versions (both vocal and instrumental) of numerous selections from the opera (including those by the Modern Jazz Quartet, Miles Davis with the Gil Evans Orchestra, and the Oscar Peterson trio; I Loves You Porgy became one of Billie Holiday s greatest hits). The most celebrated jazz version of Porgy & Bess, however, is the 1957 recordings by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald reissued here, which contain the most famous version ever recorded of the perennial Summertime . Although both Ella and Louis continued their respective careers with great success after 1957, Porgy & Bess would be their last recorded collaboration ever.