[chajin]

Gershwin was not at all "unknown." He was already well known for his Broadway music, and was very good friends with Paul Whiteman--in fact, it was Whiteman who finagled Gershwin into writing the Rhapsody, by announcing, without Gershwin's knowledge or approval, that Gershwin was going to be writing "a jazz concerto" for the Feb. 24 competition.

Incidentally, among the judges at the competition was Efrem Zimbalist Sr., father of actor Efrem Jr. and grandfather of Stephanie, and in the audience was John Philip Sousa.

After Gershwin won the competition, he went to Paris to (try to) study under Ravel, but Ravel refused to teach him, saying that he would turn into a second-rate Ravel rather than a first-rate Gershwin. French-classical influence on jazz would have to wait another generation, when Darius Milhaud would teach one of Patton's soldiers who stayed behind in Paris in '44, Dave Brubeck. Dave named his first son after Milhaud, and Darius Brubeck went on to teach jazz at KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa after the end of apartheid--and Darius' student, Pamela Myburgh, is today the vocalist for The Arrows, a Christian jazz-pop-fusion duo http://www.thearrowsband.com/

[Publius]

Rachmaninov was also in the audience, and he became a fan of Gershwin.