Porgy and Bess Live

Riverwalk Jazz presents the first in a two-part broadcast series devoted to The Jim Cullum Jazz Band's acclaimed jazz transcription of George Gershwin's American folk opera Porgy and Bess. The award-winning bass baritone William Warfield, famous for his memorable stage role as Porgy, appears as narrator in this performance recorded live at The Landing in San Antonio. The Jim Cullum Jazz Band began to create an original jazz transcription of Porgy and Bess in late 1984 with arrangements by the band's pianist, John Sheridan. The work premiered with highly favorable reviews at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio in October, 1985, and was released on compact disc by CBS Masterworks in 1987. Until his death in 2002, Mr. Warfield joined The Jim Cullum Jazz Band in numerous live performances of their jazz transcription of Porgy and Bess in venues across the United States.