Whatever the cause, Gershwin made the most of his genius in his short but prolific life before dying suddenly at age 38 of a brain tumor. As much as Sheed provides a overview of Gershwin s life and work, he devotes as much to his legacy and impact upon his contemporaries, and the influence for all that is here to stay.

With the Berlin-to-Gershwin Pop n Art pendulum from which the American standard would swing in its best-of-both-worlds sweeps of accessibility and craftsmanship, a loose structure of sorts frames Sheed s explorations of the great jazz songwriters, and stage and screen songsmiths.

For example, Harold Arlen was depressive enough that it is unclear he had the ability to Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive (that probably included latching onto the affirmative writing experience with lyricist Johnny Mercer, in this case), but Sheed makes the case that Arlen is the songwriter you have to hear if you want to know exactly what the vague but necessary phrase jazz song meant, and where the Gershwin wing of it went next, and where it wound up.

On the other hand, one of the most commercial personalities was Hoagy Carmichael, who still managed to do things on his own terms.