Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Legacy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Legacy Blu-ray Movie Review

Echoes of the Past in a Concert Hall Built for Today

Reviewed by Michael Reuben December 10, 2011

No living American musician is more identified with the canon known as "the Great American Songbook" than singer, songwriter and pianist Michael Feinstein—which may have something to do with the fact that no one has done more to popularize the notion. Indeed, the title of Feinstein's three-part 2010 PBS special, Michael Feinstein's American Songbook, may have unwittingly gotten it right, because, as becomes clear during the course of this concert, the "songbook" contains whatever Feinstein says it does, whether it's from Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, the movies or contemporary popular music. At one point during this concert, Feinstein even acknowledges that it's really an international songbook, given the multiplicity of immigrant voices that have shaped American music.

Then again, who better than Feinstein to specify the traditions and trends of 20th and 21st Century American songs? The son of two amateur musicians from Columbus, Ohio, he was already playing piano by ear at age 5. Moving to Los Angeles after high school, Feinstein was lucky enough to land a job cataloguing the musical collection of the legendary Ira Gershwin and spent years becoming intimately familiar with boxes of sheet music and recordings from both Ira and his brother, George. With Gershwin's famous neighbor, Rosemary Clooney, Feinstein established a friendship that would introduce him to a who's who of American music from the era before popular tunes splintered into rock 'n' roll and "stuff your parents like". Eventually, as the latter began to enjoy a resurgence, Feinstein became a fixture on the club and cabaret circuit, opening his own clubs in New York (Feinstein's at the Regency) and London (Feinstein's at the Shaw). He has recorded numerous albums and appeared repeatedly on and off Broadway.

The concert on this Blu-ray was performed in May 2011, just a few months after the grand opening of The Palladium, a state-of-the-art concert hall at The Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana, where Feinstein is artistic director. Although it nowhere says so in any of the accompanying materials, there's a distinctive feel of a public outreach to the whole affair, since a degree of controversy surrounded the building of the Center and the hiring of Feinstein at a substantial annual salary, with much of the expense supported by public funds. One could hardly imagine a more effective ambassador for the Center's mission than a veteran performer who can not only discourse fluently about Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Cole Porter, George Gershwin and Irving Berlin, but also perform their work as engagingly as anyone working today.

Feinstein is backed by a 32-piece orchestra set far enough back on the stage to let him range freely across the front of it. The Steinway grand piano at roughly center stage has had its top reinforced so that it can support the singer's weight when he climbs the concealed stairs behind it to use it as a platform. Three skilled back-up singers (he calls them "the Fein-tones") are seated to the right.

It quickly becomes evident that the title's reference to a "Sinatra Legacy" must be read broadly. It encompasses anyone who ever influenced Sinatra and anyone whom he in turn influenced. Given the length and impact of Ol' Blue Eyes's career, the latter group adds up to a considerable number. Thus, for example, after relating the story of how he came to meet Sinatra (a colorful tale in itself), Feinstein talks about Sinatra's admiration for Billy Holiday as an introduction to his rendition of "There'll Be Some Changes Made".

Sinatra's fondness for songs by Cole Porter (notably "Begin the Beguine") gives Feinstein license to discuss Cole Porter in general. Noting that Porter originally haled from Indiana, Feinstein stresses that he was the only Gentile in the notable generation of songwriters that included the Gershwins, Richard Rodgers and Irving Berlin. According to a story told to Feinstein by Ira Gershwin, Porter had no success as a songwriter until he followed George Gershwin's advice to write "good Jewish melodies". Feinstein then goes on to demonstrate the Hebrew undertones in Porter by first playing and then singing the famous romantic declaration "So in Love" from Kiss Me Kate. He's remarkably convincing.

Early in the program, Feinstein introduces his parents in the audience and comments that his first efforts as an entertainer were at family gatherings, where he did impressions. He retains the gift. An introduction of several songs from Bye Bye Birdie prompts him to start impersonating Paul Lynde (who co-starred in the movie), and Feinstein obviously enjoys it so much that he goes off-script. Later, when he sits down at the piano for an instrumental rendition of "Brazil", he breaks into a brief but eerily accurate imitation of Liberace.

But the best moments are the quieter ones. Feinstein performs a song that Sinatra made famous in a swing version under the title "Fly Me to the Moon". But he does it in the form originally written by its composer, Bart Howard, under the title "In Other Words" as a soulful ballad. Although this variation had been previously recorded, Sinatra's signature sound effectively eclipsed it, and to hear it revived this way is a revelation. But that's Feinstein's gift—taking songs you thought you knew and finding something unexpected in them.

Sometimes it's just a matter of his own enthusiasm. There's nothing novel about the arrangements or delivery of the two Kander & Ebb classics with which Feinstein closes the show—"Maybe This Time" from Cabaret and "New York, New York"—but they're crowd pleasers, and the latter was a Sinatra favorite.

The complete song list follows. Note that, unlike most concert albums, the chapter listing on the Blu-ray does not correspond to the song list below, because there are ten additional chapters marking Feinstein's various anecdotes and presentations to the audience, including his story of his own acquaintance with Sinatra:

1. Once in a Lifetime
2. I Thought About You
3. Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)
4. Put on a Happy Face/I Got a Lot of Livin' to Do
5. So in Love
6. There'll Be Some Changes Made
7. Begin the Beguine
8. Brazil
9. For Once in My Life
10. Maybe This Time
11. New York, New York

Bonus:

12. Sway (6:06)

Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Legacy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Image's 1080i, AVC-encode Blu-ray is typical of concerts shot on hi-def video, which is to say that the image is clean, crisp, well-defined and virtually free of noise except for an occasional touch of aliasing on a horizontal edge. When the image is in motion, there are no obvious artifacts from the interlaced format (though screencaps are another matter). Black levels and contrast are accurate, and colors are natural and appropriately saturated.

Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Legacy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track has been conservatively mixed to keep the instruments and vocals securely situated in the front and to prevent the audience noise (laughter and applause) from being too readily localized; it's neither obviously in front, nor is it clearly in "wraparound" mode. The overall effect is to keep the attention focused on Feinstein's performance, which is where it belongs. The same effect is achieved by the PCM 2.0 mix (which is the only option for the bonus song, "Sway").

Though neither of the audio options on the disc can be faulted, I confess to disappointment that no attempt was made to capture the sonic character of The Palladium, whose acoustically "perfect" qualities are much touted in the extras. There was a time in the history of audio recording when sound engineers went to great lengths to select and position microphones in an attempt to capture and reproduce the precise experience of a specific environment where music was being played, but that does not appear to have been attempted here. This orchestra was miked for ease of mixing, and the result is the same as if they had been sitting in a recording studio. I have yet to experience a concert Blu-ray that sounds like a concert. But shouldn't that be the point: to put the viewer in the live audience?

Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Legacy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• "Sway" (HD; 1.78:1; 6:06): Preceded by recollections of recording a duet with Rosemary Clooney for his first album, this song is Feinstein's tribute to his late friend and mentor. It's from her album A Touch of Tabasco with "King of the Mambo" Pérez Prado. You'll recognize the sound even if you don't recognize the title. In PCM 2.0.


• Journey to the Palladium (HD; 1.78:1; 7:26): A glossy, professionally produced music video cum PSA tracing the building, detailing, "tuning" and opening of the Palladium, accompanied by Feinstein's rendition of the song "Pure Imagination" by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley (originally from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory).


• Palladium Community Video (HD; 1.78:1; 7:00): An alternative version of the same music video using much of the same footage but aimed at a different demographic. You can tell right away when the musical medley accompanying the images opens with rock chords echoing the opening of Van Halen's "Jump", which is a song I don't expect to see on a Michael Feinstein program anytime in the near future. (It's a tease, though. Before we're three minutes in, the mix has managed to segue into "Begin the Beguine", which is a neat trick.)

Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Legacy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

What we really need on Blu-ray is Michael Feinstein's American Songbook, which has so far only been released on DVD. But PBS controls the rights, and their history of Blu-ray releases has been erratic. So for now, The Sinatra Legacy will have to do. It's an entertaining disc and, at a good price, recommended.