“Summertime” by Janis Joplin – Throwback Thursday

   Here’s a recipe for a musical disaster:
1. Start with musicians with average skills (or less);

2. Add a vocalist with a raspy voice that sounds strained when the music goes outside a central range;

3. Then, ask them to perform a song written before their births by arguably the greatest composer of the century.

     That was the recipe when Janis Joplin joined Big Brother and the Holding Company, and they included “Summertime” on their setlist. The result was not a disaster, it can be more accurately described as a wonder.

     “Summertime” is the work of George Gershwin. Other artists who are recognized for performances of the song are Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, with Louis Armstrong.