Review of Michael Feinstein Sings Irving Berlin
Feinstein Interprets a Collection of Composer Berlin's Standards
Apr 20, 2009
For lovers of jazz standards, Irving Berlin is a composer of note. Michael Feinstein, who as a young man worked with several aging legendary composers of popular American music including Ira Gershwin, Harry Warren and others, has selected some of the top standards as well as tunes that are often overlooked, and combined them into a wonderful retrospective entitled, "Remember: Michael Feinstein sings Irving Berlin."
Feinstein starts the album off with the classic opener, "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy." This tune features the arrangement and piano stylings of not only Michael Feinstein but also David Ross. The song was written in 1930 for Al Jolson to perform in the movie called "Mammy." In his 1995 autobiography, Nice Work If You Can Get It: My Life In Rhythm and Rhyme, Feinstein notes that he has often opened his cabaret act with this tune (345). It is a tune that lets the audience know that the performer is pleased to be there, entertaining them, and Feinstein delivers it with his characteristic warmth to draw the listener in.
Tribute to Astaire, Garland and Minnelli
There are several tunes on this album that were either written for Fred Astaire to introduce or for films that Astaire was to star in. These songs include, "Change Partners," "I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket," and "Better Luck Next Time," which was sung in the film Easter Parade by the phenomenal Judy Garland. "Change Partners" especially has the feel you come to expect from a song that is a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance number: elegance, style and romance.
Garland's daughter, Liza Minnelli, also appears on this album with Michael Feinstein. Minnelli sings a duet with Michael Feinstein on what may be three of Irving Berlin's most famous songs: the title song "Remember," "Always," and "What'll I Do." The two harmonize beautifully, both aware of what Berlin has written and while taking nothing away from that magnificence bestowed in the composition, add their own classy and appropriate vocal touches and interpretations that complement both the music and each other well.
Beautiful Ballads and Novelty Numbers
For pure, lush Michael Feinstein vocals, it would be hard to beat his performance of Irving Berlin's "Say It Isn't So." A song that captures a lover's discovery that, through second-hand sources, his loved one doesn't care for him anymore, Berlin's masterpiece is honestly and heartrendingly rendered by Michael Feinstein.
Novelty numbers written by Irving Berlin are blended into the mix. Included are, "When The Midnight Choo Choo Leaqves For Alabam'," "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee" and "I Say It's Spinach." The Berlin classics, "How Deep Is The Ocean," "Puttin' On The Ritz," and "Slumming On Park Avenue" also make an obligatory, and welcome, appearance. Lesser-known tunes are added, featuring Irving Berlin's witty "What Chance Have I With Love," along with a ballad medley of "Looking At You (Across the Breakfast Table)" and "Just One Way To Say I Love You."
Michael Feinstein Album Review Conclusion
Michael Feinstein selects what is likely Irving Berlin's best-known piece, "Alexander's Ragtime Band" as a fitting ending to this superb album. Michael Feinstein, as always, has done his homework on this album. He understands the music, and doesn't try to jazz it up as so many contemporary "artistes" so often do, but he instead plays the ink because it cannot be improved upon. Not only that, but Michael Feinstein also understands the lyrics that Berlin penned; both have a phenomenal understanding of Tin Pan Alley and early Broadway, and the people who orginated these works, and both come together in Remember: Michael Feinstein sings Irving Berlin in a very satisfying way for the listener.
