Rhapsody In Blue: Gershwin -

Gershwin was initially reluctant to take on the challenge, reportedly only starting work after reading a news report that Whiteman was already planning the performance.

'Rhapsody in Blue,' Gershwin's musical melting pot, at 100 : NPR

: The iconic opening clarinet wail was not originally in the score. During rehearsals, clarinetist Ross Gorman played the opening scale with a humorous, sliding glissando. Gershwin loved it so much he asked Gorman to keep it as a permanent "ice-breaker" for the piece.

: Gershwin claimed the piece's full construction came to him during a train journey from Boston to New York, where the "steely rhythms" and "rattlety-bang" of the train inspired the work's momentum.

: Representing the mechanical, rhythmic pulse of 1920s urban life. Stride : A nod to the Harlem stride piano style. Shuffle : A jazz-inflected rhythmic section.