Rhapsody in Blue. George Gershwin's masterpiece. Everyone knows it. Many of us probably have multiple versions/recordings of it in our collections. But how many know it was written as a jazz concerto for solo piano and jazz orchestra, and commissioned by band leader Paul Whitman? Written in only a couple of weeks, with a rhythm that came to Gershwin while listening to the sounds of the rails on a train trip from NYC to Boston, it was first performed in February 1924, with George Gershwin at the piano. He had not even written the complete piano part on paper, with one section having a only a notation "Wait for nod" identifying that Whiteman would cue him when the orchestra would come in. As a result, some of that first performance was improvised by Gershwin, and the piano part was only completed after the performance. Nobody who wasn't there knows exactly what the original sounded like. Oh yes, that instantly recognizable clarinet glissando that opens the piece - it started as a joke on Gershwin by Whiteman's clarinettist Ross Gorman. Gershwin liked it and asked him to play it that way at the concert and add as much wail as possible. You can't make this stuff up. There is a lot more to this story. Look it up if you're interested, and have bothered to read this far.
This version is performed by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra with Eugene Weed at the piano, and recorded as part of the Paul Whiteman 50th Anniversary reunion, conducted by Mr. Whiteman. Eugene spent hours listening to recordings of the Rhapsody with George Gershwin at the piano to get as much of the original sound as possible. It sounds like no other version I've ever heard, and I like it. The other songs on the album aren't bad either. Check out the list of Whitman Band alums who play on it.
BTW, if you don't know who Paul Whiteman is, you should. Duke Ellington said of Whiteman "Paul Whiteman was known as the King of Jazz, and no one as yet has come near carrying that title with more certainty and dignity." Considering the source can there be any higher praise.
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