[ Claudine Jones wrote in 021127 MMDigest:

> Robbie and I lightly butted heads on this a few months ago, but
> I'll say it again:  Gershwin was not an orchestral arranger, he was
> a gifted pianist who wrote stuff that other people puffed up into
> sometimes bloated versions of what were essentially tuneful and
> distinctive improvisations.

The "Rhapsody in Blue" was orchestrated for him (at least in the
original band version) by Ferde Grofe, but as far as I know Gershwin
composed the piano concerto, the Cuban overture, "American in Paris"
and "Porgy and Bess" entirely on his own.

By the time he died, he was a fully competent composer, and had he
lived to a normal age there would surely have been more concertos,
operas, etc., as well as plenty more songs.

And surely the songs are not improvisations.  They are composed, in the
same way as Schubert's or Wolf's songs are composed.  Of course, the
composition is worked out at the piano.

Regards

Don Cox