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Michael Feinstein

Michael Feinstein was born in Columbus, OH, and developed an interest in the piano and in show music at an early age. After moving with his family to Los Angeles in 1976, he met Oscar Levant's widow, who in turn introduced him to Ira Gershwin. He was hired by Gershwin in 1977 to help organize The Gershwin archives, and continued to work with the lyricist until Gershwin's death in 1983.

In 1984, Feinstein launched a career as a pianist and singer devoted to the music of the '30s and '40s, playing at private parties in the Los Angeles area. He had a seven-month residence at the Mondrian Hotel, during which Liza Minnelli threw a party in his honor (February 1985) that got his name around. In January 1986, he opened at the Algonquin Hotel in New York, where a six-week engagement stretched to 16 weeks.

Feinstein's debut album, Live at the Algonquin, mixed the songs of Irving Berlin and Oscar Levant with more current material by Stephen Sondheim and Gretchen Cryer. By 1988 he had been signed to Elektra Records, for whom he has recorded a series of albums spotlighting the work of specific composers, among them 1998's Michael & George: Feinstein Sings Gershwin, as well as a children's album.

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294
Film Review

An Evening With Scott Hamilton & Friends

Read "An Evening With Scott Hamilton & Friends" reviewed by Jim Santella


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 ...

108
Album Review

Michael Feinstein: Big City Rhythms

Read "Big City Rhythms" reviewed by AAJ Staff


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 ...

94
Album Review

Michael Feinstein: Michael & George: Feinstein Sings Gershwin

Read "Michael & George: Feinstein Sings Gershwin" reviewed by AAJ Staff


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 ...

125
Album Review

Michael Feinstein: Michael Feinstein with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

Read "Michael Feinstein with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra" reviewed by AAJ Staff


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" ...

112
Album Review

Michael Feinstein: Michael and George

Read "Michael and George" reviewed by Matthew S. Robinson


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 ...

196
Album Review

Michael Feinstein: Big City Rhythms

Read "Big City Rhythms" reviewed by Matthew S. Robinson


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 ...

166
Album Review

Michael Feinstein: Romance On Film, Romance On Broadway

Read "Romance On Film, Romance On Broadway" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Released just in time for the 2000 holiday season (and I did see this CD filling end-cap displays at Barnes & Noble), the new Michael Feinstein two-CD package broadens his appeal beyond Broadway tunes that he does so famously. Instead, he has chosen romantic tunes written for film and stage as the glue holding together all of the tunes thematically.As one would expect, almost all of the tunes were written by the classic songwriters of earlier generations, going ...

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75

Performance / Tour

Feinstein's Presents Five-Time Grammy Nominee Michael Feinstein and Star Vocalist Linda Eder in "Two for the Road"

Feinstein's Presents  Five-Time Grammy Nominee  Michael Feinstein and Star Vocalist  Linda Eder  in  "Two for the Road"

Source: Miller Wright & Associates

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed “Best of New York" by New York Magazine and “an invaluable New York institution" by The New York Post will continue its Fall 2011 season with the first New York joint engagement of the club's founder MICHAEL FEINSTEIN and critically acclaimed vocalist LINDA EDER. The two powerhouse performers will share the spotlight in their show “Two For The Road." The evening will feature classics from Harold Arlen, George Gershwin and Sammy Cahn; hits ...

241

Music Industry

Michael Feinstein to Lead Jazz at Lincoln Center Series

Michael Feinstein to Lead Jazz at Lincoln Center Series

Source: Michael Ricci

Jazz at Lincoln Center is bringing classic American popular song into its fold with the appointment of the singer and pianist Michael Feinstein as director of its new popular music series. Mr. Feinstein will create three programs as well as a family event, all focusing on the relationship between jazz and songwriting, for the spring of 2011. The concerts will be in the Allen Room in Frederick P. Rose Hall, at Broadway and 60th Street. The announcement is to be ...

134

Performance / Tour

Michael Feinstein Snarling Sinatra Tribute Boots Santa

Michael Feinstein Snarling Sinatra Tribute Boots Santa

Source: Michael Ricci

Christmas, Michael Feinstein and Frank Sinatra: three different, tenuously connected worlds collided Tuesday evening at Feinsteins at Loews Regency, where Mr. Feinstein brought a drastically revamped version of his annual holiday extravaganza.

What used to be a campy variety show, featuring witty obscure novelties and backup singers wearing Santa hats, became a testosterone-fueled homage, “The Sinatra Holiday Project," whose title is borrowed from Mr. Feinsteins recent tribute album, The Sinatra Project.

As he did in September in the shows introducing ...

83

Recording

Michael Feinstein's Fresh Take On Classic Sinatra

Michael Feinstein's Fresh Take On Classic Sinatra

Source: Michael Ricci

Ol' Blue eyes did it his way -- and so now has Michael Feinstein. Feinstein takes Ol' Blue Eyes' 1940s hits and gives them 1950s Nelson Riddle-style arrangements.

When he began kicking around ideas recently for a new album, the singer and recording artist who carries a torch for the Great American Songbook initially dismissed a suggestion that he do a Frank Sinatra tribute. There were too many on the market already, he thought, and most simply copied ...

311

Recording

Michael Feinstein's the Sinatra Project CD in Stores September

Michael Feinstein's the Sinatra Project CD in Stores September

Source: Special Ops Media

Four time Grammy nominee Michael Feinstein returns with The Sinatra Project, his first CD release since 2005's Hopeless Romantics, in stores September 2nd! Feinstein will also be celebrating the 10th Anniversary of his famed club in New York City, Feinsteins's At The Regency, with a week long Sinatra themed celebration during release week. Four time Grammy nominee, singer/pianist Michael Feinstein is poised to release his 24th album, The Sinatra Project, through Concord records September 2, 2008. The new album is ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Change Of Heart: The...

Creative Sources
2013

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Sinatra Project, Vol....

Creative Sources
2011

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We Dreamed These Days

Creative Sources
2011

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Fly Me To The Moon

Creative Sources
2010

buy

The Power Of Two

Creative Sources
2009

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The Sinatra Project

Creative Sources
2008

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