Porgy and Bess is a 1959 album by Sammy Davis Jr. of selections from George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess co-starring Carmen McRae. Davis is accompanied by orchestras conducted by Buddy Bregman and Morty Stevens, sometimes supported by the Bill Thompson singers. McRae is featured on three of the ten songs, "Summertime", "My Man's Gone Now" and the only duet, "I Loves You, Porgy", all three backed by an orchestra directed by Jack Pleis.[1][2]
"The record is piled to the sky with strings, harps, choruses, and pillowy orchestration," writes Tim Sendra on AllMusic, but "credit[s] Sammy and Carmen for holding up their end of the deal."[3]
^The recording sessions with Carmen McRae took place in New York on October 29, 1958, and the duet was recorded in Los Angeles on December 8, 1958, according to the Carmen McRae 1950s sessionography on Jazzdiscography.com