Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Prelude No. 2 For Piano
2. I Got Rhythm - Ethel Waters
3. Oh Lady, Be Good - Buck & Bubbles
4. Summertime - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
5. Nice Work If You Can Get It - Maxine Sullivan & Her Orchestra
6. They Can't Take That Away From Me - Fred Astaire
7. Swanee - Al Jolson
8. Liza - Benny Goodman
9. Someone To Watch Over Me - Frank Sinatra
10. 'S Wonderful - Dinah Shore & Buddy Clark
11. Do It Again - Jane Russell
12. Soon - Dorothy Kirsten
13. Fascinating Rhythm/Someone To Watch Over Me - Morton Gould
14. The Man I Love - Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
15. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off - Fred Astaire
16. Love Is Here To Stay - Gene Kelly
17. How Long Has This Been Going On? - Felicia Sanders
18. Blues - Harry James & His Orchestra
19. But Not For Me - Doris Day
20. A Foggy Day - Rosemary Clooney
21. I'll Build A Stairway to Paradise - Georges Guetary
22. Third Movement (Allegro Agitato) - Oscar Levant & Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra Of New York

Disc 2:

1. Of Thee I Sing Overture - Buffalo Philharmonic
2. They All Laughed - Tony Bennett
3. Of Thee I Sing - The Hi-Lo's
4. Promenade (Walking The Dog) - Los Angeles Philharmonic
5. I've Got A Crush On You - Ella Fitzgerald
6. Somebody Loves Me - Alberta Hunter
7. Love Walked In/Embraceable You - Maureen McGovern
8. Mine - Dick Hyman
9. Isn't It A Pity - Mel Torm�
10. Introduction and Jazzbo Brown - Andre Kostelanetz & His Orchestra
11. It Ain't Necessarily So - Aretha Franklin
12. Bess, You Is My Woman Now - Robert Mcferrin & Adele Addison
13. I Loves You, Porgy - Miles Davis
14. My Man's Gone Now - Sarah Vaughan
15. There's A Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon For New York - Cab Calloway
16. Who Cares? - Tony Bennett
17. Rhapsody in Blue
18. Strike Up The Band - Andr� Kostelanetz & His Orchestra
19. Home Blues - Michael Feinstein

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5983 in Music
• Released on: 2003-01-14
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Limited Edition
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Amazon.com
Given his seemingly effortless ability at melding such disparate forms as jazz and gospel with his own rare melodic gifts, it's not hard to view George Gershwin as America's first classical crossover artist. But as this glorious, 41-track double-disc introduction to Gershwin's epochal repertoire quickly demonstrates, that assessment woefully shortchanges the sheer grandeur of "Rhapsody in Blue" or the sultry earthiness of "Summertime." Singer and pop musicologist Michael Feinstein produced the set (as well as contributing a new recording of "Home Blues"), and under his guidance it understandably leans toward Gershwin's remarkable body of songcraft, though it also includes more concert-oriented pieces such as the "Rhapsody" and "Prelude No. 2," both in original performances by the composer. But Feinstein's loving sense of American pop song history insures that the performances here are both inspired and enlightening. Indeed, his choices represent not only a who's who of 20th-century pop and saloon singers--spanning a rich pantheon that includes Jolson, Kelly, Astaire, Holliday, Sinatra, Bennett, Waters, Torme, Clooney, Day, Vaughan, and Fitzgerald--but deftly underscore Gershwin's transcendent synthesis of style, era, and distinctly American subject matter. Also includes a written tribute by modern songwriter Diane Warren and an essay by Pulitzer Prize winner Tim Page. -–Jerry McCulley