George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue (Llewellyn Williams, Organ Stop Pizza)

George Gershwin's famous "Rhapsody in Blue", transcribed, arranged and performed by Llewellyn ("Lew") Williams in 1996 on the then 4/67 Wurlitzer organ in the Organ Stop Pizza restaurant in Mesa, Arizona. The instrument, which was originally a 1927-vintage 3/15 from the Denver Theatre and was rebuilt in the original Mesa OSP in 1975 as a 3/23, then had a "Modernistic" or 'waterfall' type four-manual console, built by Ken Crome in Reno, Nevada in 1984, but the instrument's increasing size (already four manuals and over forty ranks, it grew to 67 ranks when OSP moved to a new site in Mesa) led to its replacement in 1997 with a new French-style console modelled on that of the Brooklyn Paramount. It now has 78 ranks. The Waterfall style console now controls the 4/32 Wurlitzer at East Sussex National Golf Course, here in England - the first theatre organ the uploader ever got to see and hear live.

Huge thanks, as ever, to Lew for so kindly sending me these fantastic recordings and consenting to their being uploaded to YouTube.