#MichaelFeinstein talks must-hear

Michael Feinstein talks must-hear Gerswhin performances in this JT Artist's Choice. The composer-pianist was born... https://t.co/uSHmycULXl

— JazzTimes Magazine (@JazzTimes) September 26, 2016

Holiday Memories With Michael Feinstein

by Grant Jackson

This week, Piano Jazz celebrates the season with a set of holiday favorites, as well as some surprises never heard on the program before. Guest host Michael Feinstein performs and presents tunes from the Piano Jazz archive, as well as some treasures from his own extensive collection of recordings by the masters of American popular song.
Photo: Randee St. Nicholas/Concord Music Group

A singer and pianist, Feinstein is a consummate performer of the Great American Songbook. A gifted player, he's also a perfectionist when it comes to interpreting the original intent of songwriters. He once worked as Ira Gershwin's archivist, and is constantly searching for forgotten tunes and forgotten lyrics to well-known numbers. Feinstein also performs a popular holiday revue at his club, Feinstein's at Loews Regency in New York.

This special Piano Jazz sleigh ride sets off with George Shearing and Marian McPartland's lively duet of "Let It Snow." And Feinstein follows with a performance of one of his favorite holiday tunes. A contemplative composition by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, "The Secret of Christmas" was written for Bing Crosby in the 1959 film Say One For Me.

This holiday celebration heads back in time to 1936 Chicago with Fats Waller and his Rhythm Makers performing "Swingin' Jingle Bells." Waller's fingers fly across the keys, and he turns in a loose, manic vocal performance, punctuating the other soloists with "Y'all come on with it!" Another unmistakable voice in the world of jazz and standards, Blossom Dearie uses her trademark girlish-yet-worldly delivery to great effect in "Liz, Ralph, and Calvin," as she sings the praises of designer labels she'd like to see under the tree on Christmas morning.
Listen Program on: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/24/132270959/holiday-memories-with-michael-feinstein

Complete on  >>  http://www.npr.org/2010/12/24/132270959/holiday-memories-with-michael-feinstein?ft=1&f=24

Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook

If you have someone on your list that loves American Music, or Americana for that matter, consider Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook a three part, two-disk documentary which originally aired on PBS this past October.

Instead of a concert, as Mr. Feinstein does many per year, this is a documentary highlighting the music which has become ingrained into the fabric of our society. What person can honestly say they hate Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong when their iconic voices float through a speaker at a party, or restaurant?

Complete on  >>  http://www.edgephiladelphia.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=&sc2=blurbs&sc3=&id=114213

LOU'S VIEWS: Feinstein more than fine at Great American Songbook Competition

Lou Harry
While the announcement of opening-week events for Carmel’s Center for the Performing Arts seems to have been greeted with a resounding “and…?”, let’s celebrate what the center’s artistic director, Michael Feinstein, has already achieved.

I’m talking about his talent-seeking creation, The Great American Songbook High School Academy and Competition.

This year, the second for the GAS battle, more than 100 teens sent in tapes of tunes from the vaguely defined Great American Songbook—songs from roughly the ’20s through the ’60s, when singers and the songwriters were separate and distinct things. During that period—encompassing Tin Pan Alley, Broadway’s golden years, and the big-band era—interpretation was key. Rare was the definitive version of a song. Sure, “Fly Me to the Moon” is identified with Frank Sinatra, but Kaye Ballard, Johnny Mathis and Nat King Cole had at it first. And even after the Chairman of the Board set his vocal chords to it, Tony Bennett, Connie Francis and others took a shot. Nobody called them derivative for doing it.

In other words … songs from the Great American Songbook don’t exclusively belong to anyone the way the Beatles owned “Twist and Shout.”

The 10 finalists this year were chosen to come to Indy to participate in workshops with Feinstein and his fellow judges (including Grammy-winning opera star Sylvia McNair and jazz singer Catherine Russell). These led to the impeccably produced finals program June 5 at the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center.

Photo > Teens from five states made the top 10 for the Great American Songbook High School Academy and Competition. The winner: Annie Yokom, 7th from left. (Photo Courtesy Mark Lee

Complete on > http://www.ibj.com/on-a-high-note/PARAMS/article/20477

Michael Feinstein plans a return to Broadway

Michael Feinstein plans a return to Broadway early next year — his first appearance there in nearly 20 years. The show is tentatively called "All About Me." It will feature the vocalist and pianist accompanied by a small orchestra in an evening of standards. Producer Jeffrey Richards says the show will open sometime in February at a theater and date to be announced.
Feinstein last appeared on Broadway in 1990 in "Michael Feinstein in Concert: Piano and Voice."
Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090908/ap_en_ce/us_people_michael_feinstein