Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jazz and Popular Song series, Michael Feinstein curates a series of performances dedicated to the life and legacy of Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) as we embark on the singer and Academy Award® winning actor’s centennial. Sinatra, an artist of uncommon talent, was known simply as “The Voice.” His impact on American culture is as striking today as it was during the height of his career.
Feinstein’s appreciation for Sinatra runs deep, as shown in his own critically acclaimed work in his honor. Feinstein’s album The Sinatra Project earned him a 2009 GRAMMY® nomination and his television special, The Sinatra Legacy, received a 2012 Emmy nomination. Referred to as “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” Feinstein is perhaps best suited to present Jazz at Lincoln Center’s first formal observance of the centennial of this American master.
He opens his always sold-out Jazz and Popular Song series with All or Nothing at All: Origins of a Legend joined by fellow vocalists Ann Hampton Callaway, Lynn Roberts, and Nick Ziobro on April 15 and 16.The series returns on May 13 and 14 with Blue Eyed Saloon Songs, when Feinstein is joined by vocalists Jane Monheit, Denzal Sinclaire, Kate Davis, and Madelyn Baillio to explore the “Saloon Songs” of unrequited love, sadness, and heartbreak. To close out the series on June 10 and 11, Feinstein presents Swinging Songs for Lovers, with guests Freddy Cole and Julia Goodwin and other guests to be announced, emphasizing Sinatra’s significance as a major influence on future generations of male vocalists and his timelessness as an entertainer. Tedd Firth leads the Michael Feinstein Big Band for all concerts.
Jazz at Lincoln Center, in association with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, New Haven is also pleased to be a part of the New York debut of Sinatra: An American Icon, the official exhibition of the Frank Sinatra Centennial. Curated by the GRAMMY Museum® at L.A. LIVE in collaboration with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Sinatra Family, and presented in cooperation with the Sinatra Family, Frank Sinatra Enterprises and the Frank Sinatra Collection, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Sinatra: An American Icon features never-before-seen photos, family mementos, rare correspondence, personal items, artwork and recordings. The free multimedia traveling exhibition is on display at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center through September 4, 2015 in the Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery, Shelby Cullom Davis Museum (40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, New York).
All concerts in Michael Feinstein’s Jazz and Popular Song series take place in The Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street, New York, New York. Single tickets for the Jazz and Popular Song series start at $70. Tickets can be purchased through jazz.org 24 hours a day or at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office, located on Broadway at 60th Street, ground floor. Box Office hours are Monday–Saturday from 10am to 6pm (or 30 minutes past curtain) and Sunday from noon to 6pm (or 30 minutes past curtain). Tickets are also available from CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, open daily from 10am to 9pm.
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2014–15 Concert and Education Season features a season-long journey “through the Americas.” Through a diverse array of concerts and programs, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 27th season will explore how jazz has both integrated and influenced the rich musical traditions of the Caribbean and North, South, and Central America. Click here for the complete season schedule.
Listings details:
All or Nothing at All: Origins of a Legend
Featuring Michael Feinstein with Ann Hampton Callaway, Lynn Roberts, and Nick Ziobro
April 15, 2015, 7pm; April 16, 2015, 7pm & 9pm
The Appel Room
During the first of these three programs in the Jazz and Popular Song series dedicated to Frank Sinatra, curator Michael Feinstein, joined by vocalists Ann Hampton Callaway, Lynn Roberts, and Nick Ziobro, captures the essence of Sinatra’s early years with songs from his first solo recordings like “Night and Day”, focusing on the genesis of Sinatra’s lesser-known musical relationship with the prolific songwriter Cole Porter. During the first of these programs, Feinstein captures the essence of Sinatra’s early years with songs from his first solo recordings like “Night and Day” focusing on Sinatra’s lesser-known musical relationship with Cole Porter.
Blue Eyed Saloon Songs
Featuring Michael Feinstein with Madelyn Baillio,
Kate Davis, Jane Monheit, and Denzal Sinclaire
May 13, 2015, 7pm; May 14, 2015, 7pm & 9pm
The Appel Room
On songs like “One For My Baby” and “Angel Eyes” have become synonymous with Frank Sinatra, who possessed an incomparable personalization of American popular song. Sinatra coined the phrase “Saloon Songs,” which referred to those songs of unrequited love, sadness, and heartbreak. Michael Feinstein curates and performs classics meant to be experienced, “with a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other,” along with vocalists Jane Monheit, Denzal Sinclaire, Kate Davis, and Madelyn Baillio. Like his idols Billie Holiday and Mabel Mercer, Sinatra is among a choice few legendary vocalists whose storytelling is conveyed through song with vulnerability, tenderness, and authenticity.
Swinging Songs for Lovers
Featuring Michael Feinstein with Freddy Cole,
Julia Goodwin and other special guests to be announced
June 10, 2015, 7pm; June 11, 2015, 7pm & 9pm
The Appel Room
In the final installment of this season’s Jazz and Popular Song series, Michael Feinstein closes our Frank Sinatra tribute by highlighting a period of significant musical and cultural shift. The songs “I’ve Got the World On a String” and “That’s Life” are representative of Sinatra’s enduring career. Despite the mass surge of pop-rock music in the 1960s, Sinatra remained on top of his game and the music charts, recording many of his defining tunes during this radical era. Although he embraced some of the aesthetics of the times, Sinatra celebrated his swinging roots, fully. With Swinging Songs for Lovers, Feinstein emphasizes Sinatra’s significance as a major influence on future generations of male vocalists and his timelessness as an entertainer.
Sinatra: An American Icon
Now through September 4, 2015
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY
Frank Sinatra, an artist of such uncommon talent, was known simply as “The Voice.” His impact on American culture is as striking today as it was during the height of his career. As the official exhibition of the Frank Sinatra Centennial, Sinatra: An American Icon showcases 100 years of Sinatra legacy and was curated by the GRAMMY Museum® at L.A. LIVE, in collaboration with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Sinatra Family. Sinatra: An American Icon, presented in cooperation with the Sinatra Family, Frank Sinatra Enterprises and the Frank Sinatra Collection, USC School of Cinematic Arts, will feature never-before-seen photos, family mementos, rare correspondence, personal items, artwork and recordings. The exhibition’s New York debut is presented in association with Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, New Haven.
Jazz at Lincoln Center recognizes the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation for its continued support of the Jazz and Popular Song Series.
Entergy is a Lead Corporate Sponsor of the Jazz and Popular Song series.
Special thanks to the Rockefeller Foundation
for funding, in part, the 2014-15 Concert Season.
Jazz at Lincoln Center proudly acknowledges its major corporate partners:
Amtrak, Bloomberg, Brooks Brothers, The Coca-Cola Company, Con Edison, Entergy,
HSBC Premier, The Shops at Columbus Circle at Time Warner Center, and SiriusXM.