An American in Paris

An American in Paris is an arrangement written in 1994 by Jerry Brubaker (see below) of the original orchestra piece of the same name written in 1928 by George Gershwin (see also below).

An American in Paris is a jazz-influenced symphonic poem (or tone poem) for orchestra by American composer George Gershwin, first performed in 1928. It was inspired by the time that Gershwin had spent in Paris and evokes the sights and energy of the French capital during the Années folles (“crazy years” in French), the decade of the 1920s, which we remember as “The Roaring Twenties”.

Gershwin scored the piece for the standard instruments of the symphony orchestra plus celesta, saxophones, and automobile horns. He brought back four Parisian taxi horns for the New York premiere of the composition, which took place on December 13, 1928, in Carnegie Hall, with Walter Damrosch conducting the New York Philharmonic. It was Damrosch who had commissioned Gershwin to write his Concerto in F following the earlier success of Rhapsody in Blue (1924). He completed the orchestration An American in Paris on November 18, less than four weeks before the work's premiere.

The piece is structured into five sections, which culminate in a loose A–B–A format. Gershwin's first A episode introduces the two main "walking" themes in the “Allegretto grazioso” and develops a third theme in the “Subito con brio”. This A section features duple meter, singsong rhythms, and diatonic melodies with the sounds of oboe, English horn, and taxi horns. The B section’s “Andante ma con ritmo deciso” introduces the American Blues and spasms of homesickness. The “Allegro’ that follows continues to express homesickness in a faster twelve-bar blues. In the B section, Gershwin uses common time, syncopated rhythms, and bluesy melodies with the sounds of trumpet, saxophone, and snare drum. “Moderato con grazia” is the last A section that returns to the themes set in A. After recapitulating the “walking” themes, Gershwin overlays the slow blues theme from section B in the final “Grandioso”.

The band arrangement by Jerry Brubaker follows closely the original orchestral composition, which is unusual for band transcriptions of orchestral pieces. That is only possible because Gershwin’s original composition made such extensive use of wind and percussion instruments, including saxophone, which is not used in orchestral music very often.

George Gershwin (born Jacob Gershwine; 1898 -1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and An American in Paris (1928), the songs “Swanee” (1919) and “Fascinating Rhythm” (1924), the jazz standards “Embraceable You” (1928) and “I Got Rhythm” (1930), and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935), which included the hit “Summertime”.

It would take too long to even list the numerous shows, songs, film scores and orchestral works which were penned by Gershwin in his relatively short life (he died of a brain tumor when just 38 years old), often in collaboration with his lyricist brother, Ira. His career and compositions were immensely impactful on music in the 20th century. Using estimates of earnings accrued in a composer's lifetime, George Gershwin was the wealthiest composer of all time.

Arranger Jerry Brubaker was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1946 and was an active musician throughout his early years. He graduated from the Altoona Area School District in 1964 and received a “Distinguished Alumni Award” from the school district in 2006. In 1968, Brubaker received his undergraduate degree from the Eastman School of Music and later pursued a Master of Music degree from the Catholic University of America.

Brubaker served for 30 years in the United States Navy Band in Washington, DC as a French horn soloist and composer and arranger. In 1985, he became the Band's Chief Arranger, and held that position until his retirement from the Navy in 1998.

Since retiring from the military, Brubaker has performed and arranged for the Village Band of Estes Park (Colorado), City of Fairfax (Virginia) Band and the Virginia Grand Military Band and is a Past-President of The Association of Concert Bands. He is an exclusive composer and arranger for Alfred Publishing Co. Inc., and has written commissions for musical organizations across the United States, such as the East Winds Symphonic Band in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has been the composer and arranger of more than 200 published works of music for concert band, symphony, and chorus.

Brubaker currently lives in Estes Park, Colorado.

The music for An American in Paris was purchased for The Gateway Concert Band by Bob Spurrell.