Going up to Harlem to Learn from James P. Johnson

Garrison Keillor reviewed Wilfred Sheed's new book on George Gershwin, The House That George Built, With a Little Help From Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty, for the July 22 New York Times Book Review. Keillor has praise for Sheed's prose, among other aspects of the book, but I was struck by Keillor's writing about music in his review. As you may have heard, Mr. Keillor has a way with words himself:

"George Gershwin is the main man, though Sheed traces the jazz song back to 1914 and Kern’s “They Didn’t Believe Me” (“And when I told them how beautiful you are, they didn’t believe me”), not some jiggly novelty tune but elegant, swingy, “a perfect loosey-goosey, syncopate-me-if-you-care, a relaxed and smiling American asterisk-jazz song.” Gershwin is the president of the fraternity, the all-American golden boy, hyperactive, booming with self-confidence, who went up to Harlem to learn from James P. Johnson and Willie (the Lion) Smith and whose ascent was swift (“no songwriter ever wasted less time reaching his prime”) and who, when he reached the top, was openhearted and went out of his way to praise and encourage his brethren."

Read Garrison Keillor's complete review.