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List Price: $18.98 | | Label: Polygram Records
Salesrank: 17348
Released: October 20, 1998 |
| Our Price: $7.20 |
| Used Price: $1.45 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Gershwin's World Track Listing:
1. Overture (Fascinatin' Rhythm)
2. It Ain't Necessarily So
3. The Man I Love
4. Here Come De Honey Man
5. St. Louis Blues
6. Lullaby
7. Blueberry Rhyme
8. It Ain't Necessarily So (Interlude)
9. Cotton Tail
10. Summertime
11. My Man's Gone Now
12. Prelude in C Sharp Minor
13. Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G, 2nd Movement
14. Embraceable You
Editorial Review:
Perhaps the most ambitious of album tributes to George Gershwin on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth, Gershwin's World earns its title by encompassing not only jazz versions of key pop songs from his catalog and a version (with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra) of his Prelude in C-Sharp Minor but also reminding us of the composer's sources in everything from Ellington, W.C. Handy, and stride pianist James P. Johnson to Ravel. Those four are represented by versions of key pieces that affected Gershwin, in a bid to place his achievement in a context that is often discussed but perhaps too little listened to. This is an album that could have been a massive, pretentious failure; instead, with the likes of Wayne Shorter and a nearly unrecognizably torchy Joni Mitchell on hand, it's as close to a triumph as this type of thing reaches. --Rickey Wright
Gershwin's World Reviews:
Very brave album, but not for everyone 
2009-03-01 - No doubt about it, Herbie Hancock is one of the greatest geniuses of jazz and this album a typically brave attempt to push at the borders of jazz creativity, just as Charles Mingus did before him. Like any brave attempt at pushing limits, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. One surprise is Joni Mitchell--while I've always respected her talent I've never been particularly a fan of her music, but here she does credit to jazz singing. However, the combination of classical artists with jazz artists feels artificial to me, as if each is chained to the other while trying to go their own way. I must therefore respectfully disagree with the customer reviewer who said that if you rarely listen to jazz, be sure to listen to this one. On the contrary--if you want to introduce jazz to someone, send them to mainstream, straight ahead jazz albums first. This is a specialty album for a special occasion, put together by a man who has enough power in the industry to get a wide array of talent together. It is not for everyone, and not for everyday.
You will be enthralled 
2008-02-16 - Herbie just won another Grammy last week with River: the Joni Letters, so I thought I'd come back to this, his last project on Verve.
You won't find so much of standard tribute fare on Gershwin's World. It's more of a theme for some real creativity. There are two rhythmic fragments (including the Overture) that fade in and out and leave you wanting more. There's someone singing Summertime and another song, but don't look at who it is until you've heard them. There's also a great scat singer and harmonica player guesting on W.C. Handy's St. Louis Blues, but again don't look at the notes, just listen.
What else? Just a few odda and enda like Gershwin's Lullabye, with a string orchestra backing up Herbie, and something called Piano Concerto in D by a guy named Ravel, a piece in 3/4 that Hancock has turned into something ethereally else. Also a few very cool jazz numbers that turn all of this into a subtle smooth treat for jazz and music lovers.
You will be enthralled, mesmerized and amazed by this work.
Open your ears shut your mouths
2006-08-05 - This record is smoking , every cut is really CREATIVE(the St louis blues GROOVES). So all you guys looking for a museum experience look elsewhere, of course it is not what Gerswin wrote initially but if you want just a copy of past music then listen to the original and stop complaining that it doesn't sound like Gershin, the aim was to sound like Hancock. If you're not happy with that buy a Marsalis record to hear people compying artists of the past with nothing new to say.
Be ready to groove
2006-07-12 - I highly recommend it.
You'll want to play this album from start to finish. I bought this CD ten years ago, and it's still in my rotation.
A very felt homage in Gershwin' s memory!
2006-05-30 - With motive of George Gershwin's centenary in 1998, it was evident Herbie Hancock should be another one of the privileged jazz musicians of extensive trajectory who simply could not be absent of this prestigious homage in Gershwin' s memory - without forget to Dave Gruisin, who made his personal tribute in 1993 with an anthological album -.
There are emblematic tracks along the album; The man I love and Summertime are played with enraptured inspiration. Embraceable you and Saint Louis Blues with the harmonic and voice of Steve Wonder is another outstanding piece.
The only minor default may found in the lovable Ravel' s Piano Concerto in G Major' s Second Movement. Hancok should have named Symphonic Variations on this section.
But this is an minor observation, taking into account the rest of this seductive and expressive rendition.
