KBEM Jazz88 Radio Interview | Chart House Live - S'Wonderful
“S’Wonderful. S’ Marvelous. S’Awfully Nice. S’What I love to see”
Interview Transcript
Courtney Burton
We had to name the show “’S Wonderful.” It has so many meanings. First of all, their music is wonderful. But in this particular song, that simple technique of taking an apostrophe “s” and putting that in front of the lyrics just makes the song quintessential Gershwin – “‘S’Wonderful. S’Marvelous. S’Awfully Nice. S’What I love to see.”
Phil Nusbaum
Does the band like playing this number?
Courtney Burton
We really do. It can be sped up, it can slow down, and it can swing hard. It just has this ability to morph into whatever the emotion is and still absolutely communicates how wonderful being in love is.
Phil Nusbaum
Many songs that are written for theater begin with something called a verse. It's part of the song, yet it is set apart for the song, and these are routinely discarded in performance in clubs, but you included some, and they really help set the meaning of the song.
Courtney Burton
Because most of this music was written for theaters or movies, we forget that the purpose of the song is to propel the story. And when you use the verse, the verse sets up why this song was put into the performance in the first place. For example, we do “They Can't Take That Away From Me” frequently in Court’s In Session, but for this particular show, we have added the verse. When I first read the verse, I realized it puts the song into a very different perspective. The verse, “Our romance won’t end on a sorrowful note, though by tomorrow, you're gone. The song has ended, but as the songwriter wrote, the melody lingers on.” Understanding that this is about someone who acknowledges that the love of her life will not be in her life after tomorrow, what she's remembering when she says, “The way you wear your hat,” takes on a very different meaning. This is trying to embed the memories of her lover basically into her heart.
Phil Nusbaum
The song, “Summertime”, could be the best remembered Gershwin song, but it's been done a million times. What do you do to keep it fresh?
Courtney Burton
This is one of the most recorded songs in history. When we were putting the show together, there was quite a bit of conversation amongst the band - do we perform this song in the more traditional lullaby that was written for Porgy and Bess? Or do we keep it as we do in Court’s In Session? We've opted to keep it our way just because it is so well known. So in this song, it's slow at the beginning, but we go through the song a second time, and it's more upbeat. That's how we do it as Court’s In Session.
Phil Nusbaum
What do people tell you? It’s just got to be kind of a surprise to audiences. Then there's a great song, but it's been changed.
Courtney Burton
People are surprised. For the most part, people are delighted by the up-tempo and the change of pace, and they hear the lyrics in a very different way because of how we do it.
Phil Nusbaum
Courtney Burton with Court’s In Session presents George and Ira Gershwin's love songs Sunday, September 25, from 7 pm till 8:30 pm at the Chart House in Lakeville. Tickets often sell out for the Mick Sterling Presents Charthouse Live series. For ticket and show details, click here. For more information about Courtney Burton, her website is CourtneyBurtonMusic.com. This program is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Phil Nusbaum KBEM Jazz 88
I met up with Phil Nusbaum to give a sneak preview of our show, Mick Sterling Presents Chart House Live: S’Wonderful with Court’s in Session on Sunday, September 25, 2022.