Video of the Day: Guy Mintus Trio share ‘Summertime’ from A Gershwin Playground

Young NYC-based pianist Guy Mintus returns with this third album – A Gershwin Playground (Enja Records) – a playful celebration of the music of George and Ira Gershwin with a distinctive Israeli jazz twist. Here he shares his unique take on the much-covered ‘Summertime’, with his own vocal-led rhythmically adventurous version featuring his trio of bassist Omri Hadani and drummer Yonatan Rosen.

Speaking about the project Mintus says: “After two albums of mainly original music, it felt right to take on the challenge of making a personal artistic statement through a canonic body of work.  George Gershwin’s catalogue was a very natural choice as I have known some of the songs on this album since I was 10 years old.  I am continuously astounded by how relevant, multi-layered and full of possibilities Gershwin’s music remains. For me, the definitive guideline in creating the interpretations on this album has been the lyrics.  

"Bringing these songs into my trio's singular “playground” while telling the stories conveyed through each song in our own musical language has been a real joy. At times, we took a more poppy “singer songwritery“ approach, at other times throwing in some groovy middle-eastern elements or a meditative ”prayer like“ moments. Yet above all, of swing, playfulness and joie de vivre.”

See the video below and for more info visit www.guymintus.com