Wilson Gershwin

Last update: October 9, 2009 - 5:52 PM

In a surprise union of two quintessentially American composers from different eras -- one the 1960s mastermind of "Good Vibrations," the other the Jazz Age creator of "Rhapsody in Blue" -- former Beach Boy Brian Wilson has been authorized by the estate of George Gershwin to complete unfinished songs Gershwin left behind when he died in 1937.

He plans to finish and record at least two such pieces on an album of Gershwin music he hopes to release next year.

The Gershwin-Wilson project may strike some people as an odd coupling: one New York musician famous for sophisticated 1920s and '30s pop songs including "'S Wonderful" and "Someone to Watch Over Me" as well as such expansive, classically minded compositions as "Rhapsody"; the other the driving force behind Southern California beach culture hits such as "Surfin' U.S.A.," "I Get Around" and "California Girls."

Todd Gershwin, George's great nephew and a trustee of the George Gershwin family trusts, said: "George for his time was a visionary. He certainly crossed genres and musical lines, tried things that hadn't been done before, and Brian Wilson has done exactly the same thing."

For his part, Wilson, 67, described himself Tuesday as "thrilled to death."

"I'm proud to be able to do it," he said in an interview. "Hopefully I'll be able to do them justice."

Todd Gershwin said a collection of several dozen song fragments had been sitting virtually untouched for more than seven decades. He and other trustees began reaching out to find contemporary artists who might be interested in completing those musical bits and pieces. George Gerswhin collaborated on most of his hit songs with his lyricist brother, Ira.

Wilson said the pieces he's working with are very likely to remain as instrumentals, and that they easily could wind up as three-minute pop songs. But he's also holding open the possibility of expanding them to more substantive pieces. Wilson said many of them aren't easy to evaluate. "I can't decipher the verse from the chorus from the bridge," he said, "so I'm going to try to insert some new music into them. I might even write some music for an introduction."

For many of the people involved with the project, the prospect of one day seeing songs credited to "George Gershwin-Brian Wilson" borders on the enticingly surreal. "For me personally," said Brad Rosenberger of Warner/Chappell Music, the Gershwin publisher, "it's a weird dream come true." LOS ANGELES TIMES

Recent Style + People stories

Travolta: Threat made to blame him in son's death - October 9, 2009

Travolta: Threat made to blame him in son's death - John Travolta testified Wednesday that a Bahamas paramedic threatened to sell stories to the news media suggesting the movie star was at fault in the death of his 16-year-old son. More