Jazz Articles about Michael Feinstein

The Great American Songbook Goes Legit—Thanks to Michael Feinstein

by Joan Merrill
March 17, 2025

A mutual friend introduced them and before the meeting was over, Michael Feinstein had a job. He was to sort out lyricist Ira Gershwin's extensive record collection. At the time, 1976, Feinstein was 20 and Gershwin 80. Perhaps the age difference was the basis for their friendship. Gershwin enjoyed the enthusiasm of the young pianist and Feinstein was inspired by the experience and wisdom of the older man. Whatever the case, the men became friends and ...

An Evening With Scott Hamilton & Friends

by Jim Santella
January 10, 2004

Scott Hamilton & Michael Feinstein Concord 2004

Two classy entertainers turn this television special and extended DVD into a musical moment that captures your full attention throughout. Michael Feinstein’s grand piano has been placed right next to the skating rink down front. With a small jazz ensemble, he sings from the American Popular Songbook, as a cast of professional skaters accompanies with lots of graceful visual action. He and skater Scott Hamilton host the ...

Michael Feinstein: Big City Rhythms

by AAJ Staff
January 21, 2003

Having created some of the best and most enduring musical catalogs of Great American Songbook composers and some of the best cabaret sets ever heard, Michael Feinstein breaks new ground with his first Big Band album. Growing up in the personal attendance of the legendary Ira Gershwin and in the comforting shadow of such standard bearers as Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer and Irving Berlin, Feinstein has partnered his smokey vocals with the fiery horns of the legendary Maynard Fergusion for ...

Michael Feinstein: Michael & George: Feinstein Sings Gershwin

by AAJ Staff
January 21, 2003

Predominantly composed with the warm and familiar intimacy of his famed cabaret sets, Michael Feinstein’s latest release panders a bit to the popular and loses some credibility in the process. A noted expert on the life, times and music of Mr. Gershwin who has performed this material many times before, Feinstein fittingly joins the throngs paying tribute to the centenarian songwriter with this set of fifteen selections, including one on which George himself provides the instrumentation (by way of one ...

Michael Feinstein: Michael Feinstein with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

by AAJ Staff
January 21, 2003

When a top but often undersung crooner pairs up with a similarly situated symphony, the results can often be much more than fantastic. The mellow moods of tunes like “Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry" and “On a Clear Day" may not allow the power of either to be fully recognized, but the emotional coloring is rich and beautiful. And when Feinstein and Conductor Alan Broadbent give the signal to add some sturm und drang to “Stormy Weather" ...

Michael Feinstein: Michael and George

by Matthew S. Robinson
August 1, 2001

Predominately composed with the warm and familiar intimacy of his famed cabaret sets, Michael Feinstein’s latest release panders a bit to the popular and loses some credibility in the process. A noted expert on the life, times and music of Mr. Gershwin who has performed this material many times before, Feinstein fittingly joins the throngs paying tribute to the centenarian songwriter with this set of fifteen selections, including one on which George himself provides the instrumentation (by way of one ...

Michael Feinstein: Big City Rhythms

by Matthew S. Robinson
August 1, 2001

Having created some of the best and most enduring musical catalogs of the composers of the Great American Songbook and some of the best cabaret sets ever heard, Michael Feinstein is breaking new ground with his first Big Band album. Growing up in the personal attendance of the legendary Ira Gershwin and in the comforting shadow of such standard bearers as Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer and Irving Berlin, Feinstein has partnered his smokey vocals with the fiery horns of the ...