Maps of Music

Porgy and Bess (1959)

Where the lyrics of Porgy and Bess take you, and where it was really made.

Credited to Sammy Davis Jr., this album also features Carmen McRae on three of its ten songs, including the only duet.

Place unknown

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The opera's music is by George Gershwin, with lyrics by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin
Davis is accompanied by orchestras conducted by Buddy Bregman and Morty Stevens
The Bill Thompson Singers sometimes supported the orchestras
McRae is featured on Summertime, My Man's Gone Now and I Loves You, Porgy
I Loves You, Porgy is the only duet on the album
The three McRae tracks are backed by an orchestra directed by Jack Pleis
Davis sings on all tracks except tracks 1 and 3

1	Summertime
2	A Woman Is a Sometime Thing
3	My Man’s Gone Now
4	I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’
5	Bess, You Is My Woman
6	It Ain’t Necessarily So
7	I Loves You Porgy
8	There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon for New York
9	Oh Bess, Oh Where’s My Bess
10	Oh Lawd, I’m on My Way

Began performing at age two in vaudeville with his father and Will Mastin in the Will Mastin Trio.
Started film career at seven with the musical shorts Rufus Jones for President and Seasoned Greetings.
Career breakthrough in 1951 after opening for Janis Paige at Ciro's in Hollywood.
Became the first black entertainer to headline a show in Las Vegas in 1953.
Joined the Rat Pack with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in 1960.
Debut album Starring Sammy Davis Jr. topped the Billboard pop albums chart.
Only Billboard Hot 100 number one hit: "The Candy Man" (1972). "Mr. Bojangles" became a signature song.

Known as "Mr. Entertainment"; helped break racial barriers in nightclubs, music, film and television.
Received the Spingarn Medal, a Kennedy Center Honors award in 1987, and a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.

Porgy and Bess is a 1959 album by Sammy Davis Jr. (release date 23 March 1959)
The record presents selections from George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess
Carmen McRae co-stars on the album, featured on three of the ten songs
The three McRae tracks are Summertime, My Man's Gone Now and I Loves You, Porgy, the only duet
Those three songs are backed by an orchestra directed by Jack Pleis
Davis is accompanied by orchestras conducted by Buddy Bregman and Morty Stevens
AllMusic reviewer Tim Sendra wrote that the record is piled to the sky with strings, harps, choruses, and pillowy orchestration
Sendra credited Sammy and Carmen for holding up their end of the deal
The album has ten tracks, and all music is by George Gershwin with lyrics by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin

Ten songs in total, with all music by George Gershwin
Davis does not sing on tracks 1 and 3
Jack Pleis conducted the three tracks featuring McRae
Buddy Bregman conducted tracks 2, 5, 6 and 9, while Morty Stevens conducted tracks 4, 8 and 10
The Bill Thompson Singers provided choir on tracks 2, 6 and 10