In 2018, Stewy was commissioned by a private concert promoter to arrange George Gershwin's jazz opera PORGY & BESS for a smaller formation/sextet and to perform it at an exclusive concert for 400 invited guests.

 

The aim was to simplify the work, which was originally arranged orchestrally, and to dress it in a contemporary style without losing the essence of the wonderful music.

 

To do this, Stewy rewrote parts of the selected songs or wrote them completely anew to make room for individual or collective improvisations, underpinned them with modern rhythms (reggae, funk, Latin, rock, odd meters) and used a melodica or an Indian shruti box in addition to instruments commonly used in jazz.

 

The work was worth it. Stewy's arrangements take the listeners on a gripping, commented walk through Gershwin's opus. After a lyrical overture , the piece leads through a variety of landscapes and weather conditions:

Soulful and warm plains like It Ain't Necessarily So , dark and threatening mountain ranges like Buzzard Song , soulful and sun-drenched corners like Here Come The Honeyman , valleys glowing in modern colors like There's A Boat Dat's Leaving Soon For New York , or mystically enchanted caves like Doctor Jesus .

 

The music is wonderfully performed by the band with which Stewy and Nicole won the Swiss Jazz Award in 2014:

 

Nicole Herzog voc (CH-Congo/Copenhagen)

Daniel Woodtli tp, flh, mel, shruti

Daniel Bohnenblust as

Christoph Utzinger b

Stewy von Wattenwyl p