[Dixielandjazz] George and Ira Gershwin tribute reviewed - by Stephen Holden - New York Times, April 26, 2014

[Robert Ringwald]

Still the Gershwins, but Dig That Pace
by Stephen Holden
New York Times, April 26, 2014
Michael Feinstein has been preaching the gospel according to George and Ira Gershwin
for so many years that you might think he would run out of things to say or ways
to present their work. But "The Music of George Gershwin," the season-opening concert
of his jazz and popular song series at the Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center on
Wednesday evening, was a gusher in which the great vintage-jazz band Vince Giordano
and the Nighthawks and three guest singers examined the Gershwins' legacy through
a focused nostalgic lens.
As a pop music archivist, Mr. Giordano has amassed one of the world's largest collections
of vintage orchestral arrangements (some 60,000), which he and his band delivered
with a lighthearted enthusiasm matched by their precision. As a bandleader, Mr. Giordano,
who plays bass, bass tuba and bass saxophone, takes standards back to their roots
and infuses them with a quick-stepping effervescence that strips away any tendencies
toward ceremonial grandiosity.
Many, though not all, of the selections heard on Wednesday used vintage arrangements
that picked up the pace of songs that too often are given a solemn, monumental treatment.
A likable curiosity was an old arrangement of part of "Rhapsody in Blue," recast
as a fox trot.
The singers -- Catherine Russell, Carole J. Bufford and Allan Harris -- applied their
personal stamps to songs both famous and obscure. Mr. Feinstein's splashy pianism
and creamy voice provided a core of romanticism.
Ms. Russell's peppy "The Man I Love" brought to mind a sound that, in her words,
conjured "a family sitting around a radio." Mr. Harris, whom Mr. Feinstein introduced
as the heir to Nat King Cole, sang a warm, friendly "They Can't Take That Away From
Me." Ms. Bufford, a latter-day Ethel Merman, delivered a sensational, hard-boiled
"Sam and Delilah," a song that Merman introduced in "Girl Crazy."
When the musicians gathered for the finale, "Our Love Is Here to Stay," the sentiments
of the infrequently performed opening verse sounded as fresh as if the song had been
written last week:
The more I read the papers
the less I comprehend
the world and all its capers
and how it all will end.
-30


-Bob Ringwald K6YBV
www.ringwald.com
916/ 806-9551

Friendship is like peeing your pants, everyone can see it, but only you can feel the true warmth.