Michael Feinstein
Michael & George – Feinstein Sings Gershwin (Concord Jazz 4849)

I don't feel compelled to do any convertin' on the subject of Michael Feinstein … you either already like him or you've never heard him! Or you hate him. I'm sure many people just won't get anything out of his 100% reverent cabaret style. I'm not entirely sure why I do to even a small extent.

Feinstein is a huge star in the cabaret world, relatively small world though that is, and has built his career for almost twenty years on albums of old standards "the way they used to do 'em." The main appeal is to Broadway fans and old people, so all you Eminem fans will probably be nonplussed … though by all means, I would love to meet a person who simultaneously loves Eminem and Michael Feinstein. Musically, I mean, not in terms of fantasy.

So this would be Feinstein's (at least) third album of all-Gershwin songs, which have formed the cornerstone of his repertoire since he served as Ira Gershwin's personal assistant in the last years of the great lyricist's life.

If you need to get one Michael Feinstein album, Michael and George is probably the one to go with – avoid, for example, Over There, his strident collection of World War I songs. Yuck! Actually, I bought that CD about 10 years ago, the logic behind the purchase now befogged in mystery and confusion, and was not pleasantly surprised.

I am pleased, upon listening to the new CD (released to commemorate the Gershwin centenary in 1998) that Michael's voice has mellowed into an almost smoky version of Barry Manilow's better moments. It's got all the expressiveness and "flair" (you can take that as good or bad depending on how much you like "flair") of his early recordings but now it's marked by a greater depth of emotion and maturity.

Surprisingly, nothing too over-the-top occurs. Most of the songs are treated with class, though Feinstein has loosened up to allow some contemporary arrangements in. This isn't really for the better, though it does make the disc a bit less static than it would otherwise be.

I suppose "synthestrations" (that's a direct quote from the liner notes) are not what I look for in Gershwin arrangements, but then these songs are getting so musty that maybe it's refreshing to hear them done in a new way. The overall effect is pretty straightforward, quite relaxing, in places verging on smooth jazz, in others remaining very traditional and focussing on the piano and vocal.

"Embraceable You" is the only real standout, and maybe "Love Walked In," though in that case I think it's just the strength of the song itself that props up a pretty lame performance. "Soon" is really good, though it is followed by a moment so painful that I'm knocking the rating down just for the misstep.

So … the last track is "Swanee," using George Gershwin himself on piano (via digitized piano roll). This is a bad enough idea without the tacked-on introduction in which Michael says "Ladies and gentlemen … at the piano … Mr. George Gershwin!" followed by canned applause effects.

If he were trying to be funny, I'd say that he's the next Adam Sandler, but I have a feeling that even if he were trying to be funny, he wasn't trying to make me wince (though I did, harshly).

Almost as bad is the middle section in which he shouts out "Take it, George!" and Gershwin gets a piano solo. It's a sickness, this duet-with-the-dead thing. I better stop now before I give the album a zero just on principle.

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Review by Jane Penne-Pasta