Love Songs for a Late Evening
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (17 March, 1998)
list price: $9.98 -- our price: $9.98
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (1)

Magnificent collection of songs!
I never heard of Portia Nelson until I found this CD about two years ago (the original albums were recorded in the early to mid-1950s, before I was even born).

Although Portia was an accomplished composer ("Sunday in New York"), these 24 songs (some timeless standards, others somewhat obscure) were perfect for her marvelous soprano range. The only instrumental accompaniment needed for these albums was lovingly provided by Norman Paris (of "I've Got a Secret" fame) and his trio (piano/celeste/accordion, bass, and guitar). Norman was a marvelously gifted musician and arranger, and put great loving care into his arrangements, keeping Portia's voice as the focal point.

Sadly, I found out that Portia passed on some time ago, but we are fortunate to have her music around for years to come. ... Read more

Asin: B000000PKW
Sales Rank: 234798
Subjects:  1. Easy Listening    2. Pop    3. Traditional Pop   

Lush Life
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (21 September, 1999)
list price: $12.98 -- our price: $12.98
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (3)

Have you met Mr. Mooney?
I was playing Lush Life over dinner last night and my dinning companion said that he was expecting to see a Zamboni drive across the carpet. I guess Joe Mooney's Hammond organ driven arrangements are not for everyone, but I just love it. My first introduction to Joe Mooney was on the terrific Atlantic Records 1980's Jazz Singers series. Mooney is an American original and I am thoroughly enjoying this wonderful, sly-swinging collection of standards. I have one question, is the racey cover nude photo really the original artwork?

Joe Mooney plays great moodey music.
Recorded in 1957, this CD presents a wonderful selection of tunes, most of which are standards. I enjoyed Joe's use of the organ/accordion. Although his voice lacks range, he has a feel for the music on a level with the Sinatras and Bennetts. Jack Hatop on guitar shows that he can swing. As with all of Joe's CD's currently available, this one is highly recommended.

The Atlantic Album Resurfaces.
Remember Sauter-Finnegan? Remember the first time you heard the band when they played "Nina Never Knew" and you heard a singer and said "wow"! Well, that was Joe Mooney and here he is with thequartet's version of "Nina Never Knew" and many other wonderfultracks. This Atlantic release is sought after on record and now you canhave it on CD with the sound just great except for a little excess bass onone or two tracks. ... Read more

Asin: B00000K540
Sales Rank: 162914
Subjects:  1. Jazz    2. Mainstream Jazz    3. Pop    4. Vocal Pop   

... Read more

Asin: B00005MHVL
Sales Rank: 60122
Subjects:  1. Pop    2. Pop Vocals    3. Traditional Pop   

In Retrospect
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (07 May, 1996)
list price: $13.98 -- our price: $13.98
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (4)

Do Yourself A Favor...
One of the best comedy albums in existence.Listen to the sound of tradition breaking, as Nichols and May use improvisation to turn the world of sketch inside out.
If you're a comedian, you can't not own this.
If you're a human being, you can't not fall in love with it.

A trendsetting period piece
What these 2 artists bring to the table are heaping helpings of warmth, humanity, charm, even sweetness -- not to mention wit and originality.Their trademark parodies of everyday situations, when they work, are nothing short of uproarious."Mother and Son" and "Merry Christmas, Doctor" are priceless, timeless routines that play so well 40 years later as to show the brilliant vision underlying this artistic duo's act and ability to push the envelope in their time.The question in buying this CD is whether the strength of those cuts, plus the generous quantity of cuts, can compensate for the faded vitality of the others imposed by the passing of time.

This is the best collection...
I have always been a big fan of "Telephone", and think it is probably the best comedy bit ever recorded.A few years ago, I had bought a number of Nichols & May albums, and _In Retrospect_ was by far the best.It is essentially a "best of" album, which is much of the reason, but also on their other albums, there were bits that just fell flat.I highly recommend starting with this collection if you don't own any Nichols & May already. ... Read more

Asin: B000001EKT
Sales Rank: 35274
Subjects:  1. Comedy    2. Pop    3. Sketch Comedy    4. Spoken / Comedy / Radio Shows   

Magic Time
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (13 July, 1999)
list price: $14.97 -- our price: $14.97
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (1)

Appropriately titled "The Magic Time"
Buddy's classical training mainifests itself in his unusual use of cords.His smoky voice is unusually capable of "reading" a lyric. The choice of material is superb. My favorites are Sondheim's "PrettyWomen", Richard Rodney Bennet's "The Magic Time" and thedefinitive version of "Green Dolphin Street". His interpretationof his own song "Welcome Back Again" is heartfelt. This songshould have a place in the Great American Songbook.

He is a masterpianist with enormous facility and an outstanding interpreter of song. ... Read more

Asin: B00000JRY7
Sales Rank: 437525

Dave Frishberg Classics
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (30 May, 1991)
list price: $11.98 -- our price: $10.99
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (4)

who doesn't love dave frishberg?
he's in a class all by himself.Nobody writes songs like him, but I bet Randy Newman wishes he could!And his piano playing is sublime................

Instant Frish
Sure, the guy's got a whole bunch of albums out, covering all different parts of his career, all kinds of collaborators, but this is the gold mine, the lodestar.This is what you're looking for - it's all the best songs (up to when the album was recorded, of course, so missing a few nuggets like "Quality Time" and "Catbird Seat"), performed with great elan and style by Dave and a solid bass and drums.The focus is on the wonderful songs and Dave's unmatchable piano playing, and of course there's that fabulous Frishberg croak to navigate you through this fanciful and festive effluvia.Sure, the songs are unclassifiable, the language is some sort of strange post-bop hipster jive, but there's so much heart and talent and prodigious prestidigitation and simple love for the art of songwriting and music that the work easily transcends the "jazz" and "cabaret" labels that get affixed to it. But I'm not telling you what you don't already know - the guy's one of a kind, and the kind is not likely to reproduce, so pick this up and dig it.He is hip, he's no square.

One Off Center Jazz Vocalist/Pianist You Need to Hear...
Dave Frishberg is a quirky genius who seems to fall somewhere between Eddie Jefferson, Mose Allison and Mark Murphy...

His lyrics entertain, his songs swing with a cool bop sensibility, and as the critics rightfullysay, he can raise a whole gamut of emotions.

The song that won me over tohim was "I'm Hip".... click on the sample and dig it, and I thinkyou'll instantly be won over, because as the lyrics go, "he's hip,he's no square, he's alert, he's awake, he's aware..."

If you enjoyhis works, be sure to check out a bit of Eddie Jefferson (Check out his"Things Are Getting Better" CD) and Lambert Hendrix and Ross(anything with Twisted), and if you're in the mood for beat 101, check outthe RHINO Beat Generation boxed set... Frishberg will probably put you inthe mood. ... Read more

Asin: B0000006JR
Sales Rank: 57008
Subjects:  1. Bop    2. Jazz    3. Pop    4. Swing    5. Vocal Jazz   

At the Hungry I
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD
list price: $17.99
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (1)

Great CD, but avoid Amazon.com!
A great slice of Mort Sahl's dry, understated sense of political humor circa 1960.As a teenager, I saw Mort at Ohio Wesleyan University (very late 60s or very early 70s) and was intrigued by his style, which creeps up on you rather than slaps you in the face (as most modern comedy unfortunately does).I've been waiting for years for reissuance of some of Mort's classic early peformances and am glad to have this one.I hope more are on the way.Two drawbacks (and hence only 4 stars) are the CD's 42 minute length (but, after all, it is a reissue of an LP) and the fact that there is some SLIGHT overlap in material, the result of the CD containing two contemporaneous performances.If you are interested, though, I suggest you order from Laugh.com (like I did) for a lower price and faster delivery (and, as always, to avoid Amazon.com's dreadful customer relations).(For the record, I don't work for Laugh.com or any Amazon.com competitor.I'm just tired of Amazon.com and the hassles attendant to ordering from them.) ... Read more

Asin: B00006BNEH
Sales Rank: 156768

Waltz for Debby (20 Bit Mastering)
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (01 August, 2000)
list price: $14.98 -- our price: $13.99
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

Recorded live at the Village Vanguard, this set rounded out what became known as an early "full" portrait of Bill Evans by following Sunday at the Village Vanguard with most of the rest of the music he played on June 25, 1961. Very little in the annals of piano-trio jazz had ever reached the clarity of execution that Evans made his own with the recordings from this single date. With bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian, Evans reached a rapport that sounded whisper-intimate, rolling into gentle cascades and then rhythmically pouncing juts. On the keys, Evans sounds at once completely walled-off and nakedly open as he takes on "My Foolish Heart" and the title melody. The chords are voiced ever so oddly, as are the bass and drums. Coming as it did several months in the wake of the successful first episode in Evans's Vanguard run, Waltz for Debby just made it all the more obvious what a wonder the world had in this trio and its leader. --Andrew Bartlett ... Read more

Features

• Live
• Original recording remastered

Reviews (10)

A jazz legend!

Bill Evans will always be one of the most sublime exponents of the jazz understood and conceived as the supreme improvisation art. Evans `s sensibility and phrasing is absolutely evident in every little bar his velvet fingers played. He had as the most of the creators, the right approach, the sense of rapture, the discrete enchantment and the spelling atmosphere to show the core of every work.
All his works through his career reveal that notable characteristic so typical of the poet man: the non exhausted capacity to re invent himself constantly: innovation is transformation.
So in these terms his craft will survive generations and generations because it is based on convictions and inner values that have nothing to do with material issues.
This historical record will be an unvaluable testimony for the future listeners about the trascendence and importance of this colossal musician.

One of my favorite jazz records
I would rank this as one of the best jazz records, along with Kind of Blue, Giant Steps, and A Blowing Session. Sublime, but Evans' playing keeps it all together due to his ability to convey different emotions through the piano keys. The gold disc version by Analogue Productions is clearly better than the standard OJC version, and also better than the JVC K2 version. However, the K2 is very good for the money and superior to the OJC version. Listening to the gold disc on a good system, you can really hear the microdetails of the piano and symbols, while the overall sound is smooth and full bodied.

Tied with Kind of Blue for my favorite album.
This album might not blow you away the first time you hear it, but man is it powerful. I honestly think that the synergy between Motian, LaFaro and Evans is comporable to that of the players in Davis's kind of blue. Chances are, if you're a jazz fan you've heard Kind of Blue. Evans was in it, and was absolutely amazing. Here, a few years later, he's at it again with a thoughtfulness, sensitivity and passion that might take a while to sink in, but it gets better each time you listen to it and if you're like me, you'll listen to this album hundreds of times. I haven't heard all of Evan's albums but a lot of people say that Live at the Village Vangaurd is the best. I think this album is so great that it tops even that album. I believe Evan's piano will be played as long as the piano of Bethoven . . . seriously! As if the previous reasons weren't enough to justify buying it, you'll hear one of the best bassists of all time. Buy it. The sooner the better. ... Read more

Asin: B00004UEIF
Subjects:  1. Ballads    2. Jazz    3. Modal Music    4. Pop    5. Post-Bop    6. United States of America   

Live at the Algonquin
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (25 October, 1990)
list price: $9.98 -- our price: $9.98
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

Before he forged a reputation as the walking, talking encyclopedia of American popular song, Michael Feinstein was a cabaret singer, and this 1987 live recording from New York's Algonquin Hotel captures him in his element. Feinstein performs ballads, list songs, a medley of Ira Gershwin songs, and comic songs, all to his own expert piano accompaniment. Some of the best (and least familiar) numbers are those aimed at the knowing audience, including "You," a hilarious cut-and-paste job of famous song phrases, and "On Such a Night as This," a poignant listing of bygone musical moments. Feinstein also sings "Old Friends," the cheery Sondheim number from Merrily We Roll Along, and "Old Friend," the heartbreaker from Nancy Ford and Gretchen Cryer's I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road. This is Feinstein at his best.--David Horiuchi ... Read more

Features

• Live

Reviews (2)

Marvellous
I haven't bought an album for such a long time because who needs to spend the extra cash when there's online piracy? But I have to own this.

Feinstein's voice is so pure and versatile; he is funny at a moment and the next, he can be so heartbreakingly bittersweet. His performance is first class, and one has to consider that he can sing so well at a live concert.

His talents showcased in the perfect setting!
If you love Michael's voice, Michael's style, Michael's take on other standards, you should order this one.The mood will take you by surprise, and then you'll have Michael, at the ready, to express what you feel. ... Read more

Asin: B000002H4Y
Subjects:  1. Nostalgia    2. Pop    3. Pop Vocals    4. Show Tunes    5. Traditional Pop   

Inside Shelley Berman
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD
list price: $17.99
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (1)

My tongue is asleep; and my teeth itch.
This is my favorite comedy album of all time. My parents owned it, and my sister and I listened to it about a hundred times. There are a ton of funny little catch phrases that we still laugh about:"Care for a pillow?" might not sound funny to you, but after listening to this album it will be!

"This is your Captain speaking, we will be traveling non-stop to, uh, ...uh....................Los Angeles"

Great stuff, and it is wonderful to have it available on CD -- I haven't had a record player in years, and it was fantastic to be able to hear this masterpiece once again. It was just as good as I remembered it!

His piece on "The Morning After The Night Before" is an all-time classic that just brings me to tears of laughter. "In the shape I was in it was lucky the only thing I threw through the window was the cat... hah haha...oh really, who?" ... Read more

Asin: B000069Z0O
Sales Rank: 55446

At the Waldorf Astoria/At the Sands
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (02 April, 2002)
list price: $16.97 -- our price: $16.97
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (5)

Happy yet sad
I am happy to finally see Lena Horne's only live albums from the RCA years on cd. But as fabulous as these albums are I was hoping they would be reissued seperately with 20 bit technology.The sound here isn't bad, but could be better like the remastering on her original "Stormy Weather" album.I personally like Lena at the Sands slightly better. Nonetheless, thats why I give it 4 stars not 5. Well 5 for Lena 4 for the package.

Enchanting
This is one of the Lena Horne recordings that make me wish I WAS Lena Horne.I don't usually enjoy live recordings but this album is perfect.She is very crisp and clear through the whole album.The audience creates a very curious atmosphere on the album- there are a few instances where the audience is laughing at Lena and something she is gesturing...but I think just the audio alone makes the listener outside of the joke.
In this album she is sassy and quirky- and I think these tracks give a little more insight into Lena's personality than the other non live recordings I have.Vocally she is very rich and obviously in her prime- she sings many standards but of course the one and only Lena Makes them her own!This is the number one Lena Album in my collection!

Magnificent Beyond Compare
No one planned a club act the way Lena Horne and Lennie Hayton could.Unusual songs, little-heard songs, everything literate and sharp and meaningful and clever, arranged perfectly and delivered with supreme intelligence, heart and musical skill.Lena Horne is gorgeous, Lena Horne is a remarkable singer, Lena Horne is an entertainer without peer but above all she is an artist.And these two remarkable and thrilling albums proved it, as if it needs to be proved.The Waldorf album encouraged scores of other singers to open their shows with "Today I Love Everybody" and "Let Me Love You" and steal as much as they could from Lena, knowing she knew exactly what she was doing.Famous at the time for being sexy, aloof and simmeringly angry, Lena comes across today in the same exact recordings as warm, accessible and a great hostess. What a difference time makes!We just saw different things in her then than we see now, I guess.For anyone interested in the art of popular singing at its zenith, this is the C.D. to get.Forty years have not diminished this music's freshness and inventiveness nor the star power of this remarkable entertainer. ... Read more

Asin: B000063RUJ
Sales Rank: 53112
Subjects:  1. Easy Listening    2. Pop    3. Pop Vocals   

In Retrospect
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (07 May, 1996)
list price: $13.98 -- our price: $13.98
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (4)

Do Yourself A Favor...
One of the best comedy albums in existence.Listen to the sound of tradition breaking, as Nichols and May use improvisation to turn the world of sketch inside out.
If you're a comedian, you can't not own this.
If you're a human being, you can't not fall in love with it.

A trendsetting period piece
What these 2 artists bring to the table are heaping helpings of warmth, humanity, charm, even sweetness -- not to mention wit and originality.Their trademark parodies of everyday situations, when they work, are nothing short of uproarious."Mother and Son" and "Merry Christmas, Doctor" are priceless, timeless routines that play so well 40 years later as to show the brilliant vision underlying this artistic duo's act and ability to push the envelope in their time.The question in buying this CD is whether the strength of those cuts, plus the generous quantity of cuts, can compensate for the faded vitality of the others imposed by the passing of time.

This is the best collection...
I have always been a big fan of "Telephone", and think it is probably the best comedy bit ever recorded.A few years ago, I had bought a number of Nichols & May albums, and _In Retrospect_ was by far the best.It is essentially a "best of" album, which is much of the reason, but also on their other albums, there were bits that just fell flat.I highly recommend starting with this collection if you don't own any Nichols & May already. ... Read more

Asin: B000001EKT
Sales Rank: 35274
Subjects:  1. Comedy    2. Pop    3. Sketch Comedy    4. Spoken / Comedy / Radio Shows   

Magic Time
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (13 July, 1999)
list price: $14.97 -- our price: $14.97
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (1)

Appropriately titled "The Magic Time"
Buddy's classical training mainifests itself in his unusual use of cords.His smoky voice is unusually capable of "reading" a lyric. The choice of material is superb. My favorites are Sondheim's "PrettyWomen", Richard Rodney Bennet's "The Magic Time" and thedefinitive version of "Green Dolphin Street". His interpretationof his own song "Welcome Back Again" is heartfelt. This songshould have a place in the Great American Songbook.

He is a masterpianist with enormous facility and an outstanding interpreter of song. ... Read more

Asin: B00000JRY7
Sales Rank: 437525

Dave Frishberg Classics
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (30 May, 1991)
list price: $11.98 -- our price: $10.99
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (4)

who doesn't love dave frishberg?
he's in a class all by himself.Nobody writes songs like him, but I bet Randy Newman wishes he could!And his piano playing is sublime................

Instant Frish
Sure, the guy's got a whole bunch of albums out, covering all different parts of his career, all kinds of collaborators, but this is the gold mine, the lodestar.This is what you're looking for - it's all the best songs (up to when the album was recorded, of course, so missing a few nuggets like "Quality Time" and "Catbird Seat"), performed with great elan and style by Dave and a solid bass and drums.The focus is on the wonderful songs and Dave's unmatchable piano playing, and of course there's that fabulous Frishberg croak to navigate you through this fanciful and festive effluvia.Sure, the songs are unclassifiable, the language is some sort of strange post-bop hipster jive, but there's so much heart and talent and prodigious prestidigitation and simple love for the art of songwriting and music that the work easily transcends the "jazz" and "cabaret" labels that get affixed to it. But I'm not telling you what you don't already know - the guy's one of a kind, and the kind is not likely to reproduce, so pick this up and dig it.He is hip, he's no square.

One Off Center Jazz Vocalist/Pianist You Need to Hear...
Dave Frishberg is a quirky genius who seems to fall somewhere between Eddie Jefferson, Mose Allison and Mark Murphy...

His lyrics entertain, his songs swing with a cool bop sensibility, and as the critics rightfullysay, he can raise a whole gamut of emotions.

The song that won me over tohim was "I'm Hip".... click on the sample and dig it, and I thinkyou'll instantly be won over, because as the lyrics go, "he's hip,he's no square, he's alert, he's awake, he's aware..."

If you enjoyhis works, be sure to check out a bit of Eddie Jefferson (Check out his"Things Are Getting Better" CD) and Lambert Hendrix and Ross(anything with Twisted), and if you're in the mood for beat 101, check outthe RHINO Beat Generation boxed set... Frishberg will probably put you inthe mood. ... Read more

Asin: B0000006JR
Sales Rank: 57008
Subjects:  1. Bop    2. Jazz    3. Pop    4. Swing    5. Vocal Jazz   

At the Hungry I
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD
list price: $17.99
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (1)

Great CD, but avoid Amazon.com!
A great slice of Mort Sahl's dry, understated sense of political humor circa 1960.As a teenager, I saw Mort at Ohio Wesleyan University (very late 60s or very early 70s) and was intrigued by his style, which creeps up on you rather than slaps you in the face (as most modern comedy unfortunately does).I've been waiting for years for reissuance of some of Mort's classic early peformances and am glad to have this one.I hope more are on the way.Two drawbacks (and hence only 4 stars) are the CD's 42 minute length (but, after all, it is a reissue of an LP) and the fact that there is some SLIGHT overlap in material, the result of the CD containing two contemporaneous performances.If you are interested, though, I suggest you order from Laugh.com (like I did) for a lower price and faster delivery (and, as always, to avoid Amazon.com's dreadful customer relations).(For the record, I don't work for Laugh.com or any Amazon.com competitor.I'm just tired of Amazon.com and the hassles attendant to ordering from them.) ... Read more

Asin: B00006BNEH
Sales Rank: 156768

Waltz for Debby (20 Bit Mastering)
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (01 August, 2000)
list price: $14.98 -- our price: $13.99
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

Recorded live at the Village Vanguard, this set rounded out what became known as an early "full" portrait of Bill Evans by following Sunday at the Village Vanguard with most of the rest of the music he played on June 25, 1961. Very little in the annals of piano-trio jazz had ever reached the clarity of execution that Evans made his own with the recordings from this single date. With bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian, Evans reached a rapport that sounded whisper-intimate, rolling into gentle cascades and then rhythmically pouncing juts. On the keys, Evans sounds at once completely walled-off and nakedly open as he takes on "My Foolish Heart" and the title melody. The chords are voiced ever so oddly, as are the bass and drums. Coming as it did several months in the wake of the successful first episode in Evans's Vanguard run, Waltz for Debby just made it all the more obvious what a wonder the world had in this trio and its leader. --Andrew Bartlett ... Read more

Features

• Live
• Original recording remastered

Reviews (10)

A jazz legend!

Bill Evans will always be one of the most sublime exponents of the jazz understood and conceived as the supreme improvisation art. Evans `s sensibility and phrasing is absolutely evident in every little bar his velvet fingers played. He had as the most of the creators, the right approach, the sense of rapture, the discrete enchantment and the spelling atmosphere to show the core of every work.
All his works through his career reveal that notable characteristic so typical of the poet man: the non exhausted capacity to re invent himself constantly: innovation is transformation.
So in these terms his craft will survive generations and generations because it is based on convictions and inner values that have nothing to do with material issues.
This historical record will be an unvaluable testimony for the future listeners about the trascendence and importance of this colossal musician.

One of my favorite jazz records
I would rank this as one of the best jazz records, along with Kind of Blue, Giant Steps, and A Blowing Session. Sublime, but Evans' playing keeps it all together due to his ability to convey different emotions through the piano keys. The gold disc version by Analogue Productions is clearly better than the standard OJC version, and also better than the JVC K2 version. However, the K2 is very good for the money and superior to the OJC version. Listening to the gold disc on a good system, you can really hear the microdetails of the piano and symbols, while the overall sound is smooth and full bodied.

Tied with Kind of Blue for my favorite album.
This album might not blow you away the first time you hear it, but man is it powerful. I honestly think that the synergy between Motian, LaFaro and Evans is comporable to that of the players in Davis's kind of blue. Chances are, if you're a jazz fan you've heard Kind of Blue. Evans was in it, and was absolutely amazing. Here, a few years later, he's at it again with a thoughtfulness, sensitivity and passion that might take a while to sink in, but it gets better each time you listen to it and if you're like me, you'll listen to this album hundreds of times. I haven't heard all of Evan's albums but a lot of people say that Live at the Village Vangaurd is the best. I think this album is so great that it tops even that album. I believe Evan's piano will be played as long as the piano of Bethoven . . . seriously! As if the previous reasons weren't enough to justify buying it, you'll hear one of the best bassists of all time. Buy it. The sooner the better. ... Read more

Asin: B00004UEIF
Subjects:  1. Ballads    2. Jazz    3. Modal Music    4. Pop    5. Post-Bop    6. United States of America   

Live at the Algonquin
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (25 October, 1990)
list price: $9.98 -- our price: $9.98
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

Before he forged a reputation as the walking, talking encyclopedia of American popular song, Michael Feinstein was a cabaret singer, and this 1987 live recording from New York's Algonquin Hotel captures him in his element. Feinstein performs ballads, list songs, a medley of Ira Gershwin songs, and comic songs, all to his own expert piano accompaniment. Some of the best (and least familiar) numbers are those aimed at the knowing audience, including "You," a hilarious cut-and-paste job of famous song phrases, and "On Such a Night as This," a poignant listing of bygone musical moments. Feinstein also sings "Old Friends," the cheery Sondheim number from Merrily We Roll Along, and "Old Friend," the heartbreaker from Nancy Ford and Gretchen Cryer's I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road. This is Feinstein at his best.--David Horiuchi ... Read more

Features

• Live

Reviews (2)

Marvellous
I haven't bought an album for such a long time because who needs to spend the extra cash when there's online piracy? But I have to own this.

Feinstein's voice is so pure and versatile; he is funny at a moment and the next, he can be so heartbreakingly bittersweet. His performance is first class, and one has to consider that he can sing so well at a live concert.

His talents showcased in the perfect setting!
If you love Michael's voice, Michael's style, Michael's take on other standards, you should order this one.The mood will take you by surprise, and then you'll have Michael, at the ready, to express what you feel. ... Read more

Asin: B000002H4Y
Subjects:  1. Nostalgia    2. Pop    3. Pop Vocals    4. Show Tunes    5. Traditional Pop