CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Standard Time with Michael Feinstein

Zankel Hall
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 7:30 PM

Michael Feinstein, Artistic Director

With Special Guests:
Noah Racey
Wesla Whitfield

With Pianists:
Mike Greensill
Ross Patterson

Program is approximately 1 hour, 30 minutes, and will be performed without intermission

Sponsored by Continental Airlines, the Official Airline of Carnegie Hall

Program Notes:

Jimmy McHugh is the composer of many of the cornerstones of the Great American Songbook, including “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” “I’m in the Mood for Love,” and “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” His compositions have enlivened the repertoires of singers from Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday to Rod Stewart and Queen Latifah, and have been performed in shows that stretch from Blackbirds of 1928 to Jersey Boys.

Born in Boston, McHugh worked as an office boy at the Boston Opera House, then a junior songplugger for Irving Berlin Music Publishing. He began writing songs while still in his teens, and in the Roaring Twenties was hired to be the house composer at Harlem’s legendary Cotton Club. He went on to write for stage and film, collaborating with lyricists who included Dorothy Fields, Harold Adamson, and Frank Loesser. McHugh earned five Oscar nominations; for his service to the country, writing patriotic songs and fundraising during WWII, McHugh was awarded the Presidential Citation of Merit by Harry S. Truman.

In the 1950s and ‘60s, McHugh created his own nightclub act, performing in nearly every major club
and concert hall across the country. He was also a driving force on the Board of the American Society
of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), and was one of the early voices lobbying Congress
for the extension of the life of copyrights and the protection of all intellectual property.

Some of the many other Jimmy McHugh melodies (standards) that will forever live in the Great American Songbook include “et’ Get Lost,”“hen My Sugar Walks Down the Street,”“here Are You,”“ Feel A Song Coming On,”“xactly Like You,”“on’ Blame Me,”and “ Can’ Believe That You’e In Love With Me.”McHugh’ long-awaited biography, The Life of Jimmy McHugh— Feel A Song Coming On, written by Alyn Shipton, jazz critic for the London Times, will be published by University of Illinois Press this fall.

More Information:

‘‘My objective as a performer is to never get in the way of the song,’’ says Michael Feinstein. He might be the most joyful—and certainly the most dedicated—singer of the Great American Songbook. He has explored this repertoire in passionate depth, and his concerts bring both smiles and the delighted thrill of surprise.

Michael Feinstein, Artistic Director
MICHAEL FEINSTEIN
Michael Feinstein, one of the premiere interpreters of American popular song, has been a household name since the success of his 1988 one-man Broadway show, Isn’t It Romantic. He enjoys an active performance calendar, including major concert halls, symphony orchestras, intimate jazz clubs, and college campuses. More than a mere performer, he is nationally recognized for his commitment to the American popular song, both celebrating its art and preserving its legacy for the next generation.

The Sinatra Project—his latest CD from Concord Records that celebrates the musical sensibilities of “Old Blue Eyes”—earned Michael his fifth Grammy nomination. He is currently preparing the PBS-TV series, Michael Feinstein: Man On A Mission, in which he discovers treasures of the Great American Songbook around the world. Michael will also serve as the artistic director of the Carmel Performing Arts Center, a $160 million performing arts center in Carmel, Indiana.

In 2004, Michael completed a national tour with songwriting icon Jimmy Webb based on their CD, Only One Life—The Songs of Jimmy Webb. The disc was named one of “10 Best CDs of the Year” by USA Today.

His Manhattan nightclub, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, has presented the top talents of pop and jazz, including Rosemary Clooney, Steve Tyrell, Barbara Randee St. Nicholas Cook, Tony Danza, Glen Campbell, Diahann Carroll, Jackie Mason, and Dame Cleo Laine. Michael also opened Feinstein’s at the Shaw in London.

Michael started playing piano by ear when he was five. As a teenager, he played at weddings and parties in Columbus, Ohio. After graduating from high school, he worked in local piano lounges, moving to Los Angeles when he was 20. Through the widow of legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant, he was introduced to Ira Gershwin in July 1977. He became his assistant for six years, granting Michael access to numerous unpublished Gershwin songs,
which he has since performed and recorded.

The Library of Congress recently elected Michael to the exclusive National Sound Recording Advisory Board. He and other industry leaders meet regularly in Washington, DC, for a forum on safeguarding America’s musical heritage. Visit michaelfeinstein.com for more information.

With Special Guests:
Noah Racey
NOAH RACEY
Noah Racey is a New York–based performer, choreographer, and director who made his Broadway debut in the revival of Follies (2000) and appeared in the original casts of Thoroughly Modern Millie (associate choreographer), Never Gonna Dance, and Curtains. Other New York credits include appearances at the Apollo Theater, City Center Encores!, Standard Time with Michael Feinstein, Carnegie Hall, and a six-year association with the critically acclaimed Broadway by the Year series at Town Hall.

Favorite regional houses include Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre (Wizard of Oz, Hot Shoe Shuffle), Atlanta’s Fox Theatre (High School Musical I and II), La Jolla Playhouse (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Palm Beach), the St. Louis MUNY (Crazy for You, West Side Story), and Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars (Hot Shoe Shuffle, Oliver). He most recently choreographed the world premier of Turn of the Century at Chicago’s Goodman Theater, directed by Tommy Tune,
and starring Jeff Daniels and Rachel York. Noah is a product of—and strong proponent for—arts funding in public schools.

Wesla Whitfield
WESLA WHITFIELD
Wesla Whitfield inhabits that indeterminate zone where jazz and cabaret meet. Trained in classical music and opera, Wesla has become one of the most gifted performers, breathing life into the Great American Songbook. Working with Mike Greensill, Wesla’s 20th recording, Message From the Man in the Moon, has been hailed as her finest to date. She has garnered numerous national television, radio, and written media credits, including All Things Considered; Fresh Air with Teri Gross; People; CBS Sunday Morning; New York Times Magazine; DownBeat; and O, The Oprah Magazine.

Now teaching voice and vocal interpretation at Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont, California, Wesla can be found performing most weekends at ‘Silo’s’ at the Napa River Inn in the beautiful Napa Valley.

With Pianists:
Mike Greensill

Ross Patterson