You've heard the phrase "read the book, see the movie." How about "read the book, listen to the recording"?
I know Michael Feinstein is supposed to be a singer and entertainer - but do you suppose "juggler" is part of his job description? Somehow, between concert dates, he's managed to squeeze in his first book ("This won't be my last . . . so stay tuned," he promises in his author's note) and his 15th recording.You can enjoy both the book and the recording separately, but in tandem, it's like reveling in a double feature of "Funny Face" and "Easter Parade" from a loge seat in New York's legendary Roxy. Like the Roxy, most of the musical geniuses in Feinstein's collection of anecdotes are long gone. But wow, what memories!
- "NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT: MY LIFE IN RHYTHM AND RHYME" (Hyperion Books; 406 pages; $24.95).
This bright, breezy, anecdotal book is a must-read for anyone who loves the Tin Pan Alley era. It's a companion piece to the nearly identically named Atlantic recording. But while the recording focuses entirely on brothers George and Ira Gershwin, the book touches on a broad array of composers, lyricists and performers - Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerry Herman and everyone from Oscar Levant's widow to Ira Gershwin's next-door neighbor - Rosemary Clooney.
As a youth, Feinstein had a penchant for searching through used book and record stores and thrift shops to find such cast-off treasures as rare acetate recordings and yellowed sheet music with undiscovered lyrics.
Feinstein's remarkable career has taken him to more than Carnegie Hall and the fabled Algonquin Hotel. He's become acquainted with such luminaries as Liza Minnelli, Tommy Tune and Andre Kostelanetz and collected intriguing stories about Al Jolson's obsessive ego, Oscar Levant's opinions and other insights into the lives of Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Jule Styne and dozens of others.
Much of the book, of course, deals with Feinstein being hired by the ailing Ira Gershwin to organize and catalog the Gershwins' vast music collection.
How he got the job, shortly after leaving Columbus, Ohio, and moving to Los Angeles, is a story in itself. He discovered some rare acetate recordings by Oscar Levant and was able to make contact with Levant's widow, June - a friend of Ira Gershwin's wife, Leonore. This began a chain of events that led Feinstein into various circles of the music and entertainment industry's most famous and fascinating people.
"If George's premature death was both startling and saddening, Ira's long life was cause for celebration, especially to me," he writes.
In addition to page after page of anecdotes and personal experiences, there are 16 pages of photographs.
One of the Gershwins' biggest hits was "Fascinating Rhythm."
Maybe this book should be subtitled "Fascinating Reading."
MICHAEL FEINSTEIN; "Nice Work If You Can Get It: Songs by the Gershwins" (Atlantic Records) * * * *
Michael Feinstein is more than merely a walking encyclopedia of musicana. He gets high marks from people throughout the music industry for his reverential approach to the music in his vast repertoire. His latest recording attests to that.
The 13 tracks on this first-rate collection not only include such George & Ira classics as "Someone To Watch Over Me," "A Foggy Day in London Town," "They Can't Take That Away From Me" and a snappy, 71/2-minute rendition of "Fascinating Rhythm," there are also the world premieres of six previously unpublished, unrecorded Gershwin songs.
Feinstein's constantly growing discography, at this point, is bookended by two Gershwin collections: "Pure Gershwin," released in 1985, which Feinstein recorded shortly after Ira's death, and now this Atlantic recording with a baker's dozen Gershwin tunes.
The six brand new tunes ("Ask Me Again," "Anything for You," "Luckiest Man in the World," "Somebody Stole My Heart Away," "Will You Remember Me?" and "Love Is In the Air") all share a comfortably familiar Gershwin-on-Broadway sound.
As a singer, no one will ever confuse Feinstein with being one of the Three Tenors. And I doubt you'll ever catch him on Broadway in the role of Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables" or portraying Andrew Lloyd Webber's masked Phantom.
Feinstein doesn't belt. He croons.
The music Feinstein sings is the kind of material that calls for turning down the lights and snuggling up in the love seat. It's smooth, quiet, relaxing and romantic.
Feinstein provides the piano accompaniment for some of the tracks. The orchestrations are also top-notch and in keeping with the time frame of the material. The collection was recorded at two legendary Hollywood landmarks - Capitol Studios and Paramount Pictures' "Studio M" recording stage. It was mixed and produced by veteran producer Hank Cicalo.
I admit I'm biased. I really don't care much for the ear-splitting, raucus noise that gets peddled these days under the guise of music. The composers and lyricists back in the Gershwins' era were true musical poets.
It's no accident that Feinstein is held in such high esteem as a caretaker for Tin Pan Alley classics and his dedicated passion for preserving the great songs from America's past.
"Nice Work If You Can Get It . . . " is a really nice recording.