Summertime, and the listenin' is easy. No, I don't mean "easy listening"; I mean jazz.

More specifically, "Porgy and Bess," a great folk opera from that often-misunderstood genre, one that resonates with the melodic genius of American composer George Gershwin and his interpretation of the American black experience in 1920s Charleston, S.C. From its roots in the 1925 novel "Porgy," by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, the poetic melancholy and resilience of the story and its characters have been in tune with the musical tension and release associated with jazz.

Just as the jazz opera reveals the immutable elements of life in love, struggle and hope, jazz has cradled those melodies and rhythms from "Porgy and Bess" to their maturity as jazz standards, such as "Summertime," "It Ain't Necessarily So" and "I Loves You, Porgy."

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong worked together with arranger Russell Garcia and his orchestra to create a virtual duet of "Porgy and Bess" that is a testament to their unmistakable artistry when paired and their respective talents in jazz and interpretation.

Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" found new idiomatic expression in 1958 through the collaboration of orchestrator Gil Evans and jazz trumpet innovator Miles Davis, a name synonymous with jazz internationally. Running with Gershwin's blues-jazz inspirations, together they transformed the vocal score of that jazz operetta into a soliloquy that communicated personal and cultural experience in a jazz-orchestral context.

Evans and Davis had recorded together previously for albums such as "Miles Ahead" during the years of the Miles Davis Quintet. (Also, two members of that quintet, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones, were commissioned for Gil's arrange-ment.) Evans' orchestration for "Porgy and Bess" provided a catalyst by which Davis' timbre and tonal quality manifested his musicianship in solos ranging from the fast-tempo playfulness of "Gone," to the sonorous lamentations of "My Man's Gone Now."

Despite Davis' image as "the saint and the sinner," simultaneously lauded and criticized for his performances, attitude and skill, no one can deny his profound influence on the manner in which jazz is played, understood and heard. Jazz musicians of all instruments aspire to the height of his expressive precision. Considering this, it is no mystery that jazz trumpeter Mike Price chose to pay homage to what he considers "the definitive recording of Miles" through a performance of the "Porgy and Bess" suite.

During his 11 years in Tokyo, Price has contributed to the jazz scene his talents on trumpet and as a composer, arranger and educator. The Chicago-born player originally came to Tokyo with bandleader Toshiko Akiyoshi and her Los Angeles group. Following many successful performances, Price decided to remain in Tokyo, attracted by the people's receptivity to modern jazz music and their concurrent preservation of traditional Japanese culture.

Price's projects have focused on those musicians most inspirational to him. In order to bolster the audience's appreciation of music other than swing and many often-played jazz standards, Price has recently been featuring important but lesser-known works, such as his performance of Duke Ellington's "Such Sweet Thunder" last October and his current series emphasizing selections by bassist/composer Charles Mingus.

Price first heard the Evans and Davis version of "Porgy and Bess" as a college student at Northwestern University, and the aesthetic impact of Davis' delivery continues to inspire Price to this day in his development as a jazz trumpet player.

Last November, Price found the motivation to complete his vision in a chance encounter with a classic Martin Committee trumpet on consignment at a local Japanese music store -- the same model Davis used in his 1950s classic quintet of the "Workin' " and "Cookin' " variety on the Prestige label with John Coltrane, Red Garland, Chambers and Jones. Price is currently using the horn for his rehearsals of the suite with a 20-piece jazz orchestra, using the same composition as the 1958 original, and conducted by pianist/bandleader Tom Pearson who is a regular member of Price's quintet gigs.

In conjunction with Jazz Court TUC, an intimate underground venue in Iwamoto-cho, Price has organized Tokyo's premiere performance of the Evans and Davis "Porgy and Bess" suite in hopes of capturing the nuances of Davis' playing and musical sensitivity. Working from the original score, Price and the orchestra will perform a wave of melodies that have established the legacy of "Porgy and Bess."

The piece will attempt to "communicate the emotion" of the original work with extensive use of improvisation, particularly in "The Buzzard Song" and Davis' solo, without which Price feels the integrity of the piece would not be maintained. In addition, Price hopes to augment his performance of the suite by dividing some of the solos among the talented improvisers in the orchestra, whereas Davis took all of those opportunities for himself in the Evans arrangement.

Price hopes that the performance, as Davis' definitive work, may generate a curiosity to see the opera in its full vocal score, or may serve as an introduction to any aspect of the American cultural experience. It appears that Price is acting upon the inspiration of Davis not only as a musician but also as an educator, as Davis was an innovator, in his attempts to tune Tokyo jazz listeners into the musicians and masterpieces of American jazz.