Customer Reviews

Nice Work If You Can Get It: My Life in Rhythm and Rhyme

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If you are a lover of good music and equally good writing, then "Nice Work If You Can Get It" is a must. The light and breezy style of Mr. Feinstein makes this one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. I literaly couldn't put it down and once I finished reading it, I started reading it again. Each reading provides me with new insite into this most talented of performers. His stories are fresh and informative. It's hard to believe that Michael didn't personally know the great songwriters and composers of the golden age. His writes about George and Ira Gershwin as if they were beloved members of his family, particularly his love for Ira who became almost a second father to him. If you are a lover of good music and good writing then "Nice Work If You Can Get It" is a must. Sit back, open the book and prepare yourself for a wonderful time, again and again.

Once you stop wondering why you should read an autobiography by someone still in his late 30's, you'll find that "Nice Work If You Can Get It" isn't really an autobiography at all, but rather a story about a young man's fascination with the standard American songbook,and where this interest has led him.

You've got to admire a young kid in the rock era who gets himself involved with one of the great lyricists of our song legacy, for Feinstein's enthrallment with popular songs led to a working and personal relationship with Ira Gershwin. That all came about via Oscar Levant. Feinstein became engrossed with the story of Levant, and when a spiritualist told him that in an aura around Michael, she saw a man in a rumpled suit who chain-smoked, Feinstein decided it was Levant. He called Oscar's widow, June Levant, and eventually she agreed to let him help catalogue much of her husband's record collection. Instead of pay, Michael asked to be introduced to Ira Gershwin.

And that was the start of a beautiful friendship, a mentorship, and the priceless opportunity to meet other premier songwriters like Harry Warren and Burton Lane. Just as Michael Feinstein entertains on stage with infectious enthusiasm, this same energy and youthful pride in his own achievement comes through in his book. His admirable knowledge of our popular music makes for informative reading; his love for the music makes one appreciative that this young kid followed his dream.

-Elizabeth Ahlfors

This is my favorite auto-biography in the whole world bar none. I savored every delightful page. I would make this required reading at every music school in the country if I had my way. It is as honest and no-holds-barred as any book I have ever read. He tells all about himself and about George and Ira Gershwin, Harrey Warren, etc. etc. I live for the day Feinstein releases his *next* book. (He says in this book that another book will be forthcoming). I should mention that I sing and play piano myself (just for fun, not profit) and this probably made this book much more meaningful to me than it might to a normal lay reader. Having said that, I consider this book a classic that will be savored and enjoyed for many centuries to come. I bought every CD Michael ever made after reading this book.

Michael Feinstein writes a very informative as well as entertaining book, tha gives an insiht to famous composers and lyricist of the golden age, like George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Jerome Kern. It's a lot about his life experiences mmeeting and befriending Ira Gershwin. It's well worth reaing, and there's many interesting stories he has to tell, at times happy, sometimes sad, as well as humerous.

This book acquainted me to a new favorite singer. As a girl, I was president of Eddie Fisher fan club. Now, I started acquiring Feinstein cds and on an Alabama radio station. Moving back to Knoxville in 1999, he was on the station here, then in Nashville. I attended his performance with the Nashville Symphony and look forward to seeing how he has changed in March when he is scheduled to appear in Knoxville with the sister group. He's a marvelous talent, better than Fisher and even Sinatra. Read this biography and learn of his glamorous life in California as a young piano player in bars. Now he owns his own clubs, record company and a convivial appearance. He's the most handsome man, next to Mark I have yet to meet. His book is clean reading, not like the last one Eddie did to his sorrow. I lost all respect for him and wanted to throw his huge collection of albums and singles away, but I didn't. I have 13 of Michael's and gave one about movie music to Nick Clooney as a Christmas gift, since he had only one MF cd. This book is informative about a great composer; yes, Michael writes some of his own recordings.

This is an extraordinarily interesting book for those who care about the songs from the first half of the last century that became "standards," and the people and circumstances that produced them. Barely out of high school, Feinstein was such an avid collector and cataloger of the output of the great songwriters and performers that he came to be introduced to the circle, in Los Angeles, of legends who were forgotten but not gone -- Ira and Leonore Gershwin, Harry Warren, Rosemary Clooney, June Levant .... He became a paid secretary to the remarkable lyricist Ira Gershwin, and informally to the great composer of melodies (Jeepers Creepers, I Only Have Eyes For You, 42nd Street) Harry Warren, in the years before their deaths in the early 1980s. He draws on their stories, those of many others who lived beyond the eras in which their songs and talents were in greatest demand, and his own experiences in his climb from piano bar to elite nightclubs and concert halls. He doesn't pull punches or hide his own opinions, about people as well as musical and other issues. Worth it for a raft of funny stories about one-liners, singing telegrams, and quirky personalities. Doesn't matter whether he's a favorite singer of yours or not. Just a great book.

The perfect book for anyone interested in wordsmiths. Ira Gershwin was the master lyricist of popular music. By becoming his archivist, Michael Feinstein began a friendship that lasted until the end of Ira's life. Fiensteins musical knowlegde, and his own highly successful career as a performer of the American song book, makes him the ideal auther of book based on the Gershwins as well as other songwriters of the Golden Era of American music.

This autobiography is outstanding and entertaining but you must hear Feinstein in concert. We saw him with Rosemary Clooney in the declining years of her career and the concert was "amazing". Clooney clearly had only a few years to live ( she lived another 2 years) but Feinstein treated her with the respect she deserved and offered insight into the evolution of the lyrics she was singing. Clooney was the talent, Feinstein was talent plus insight.
Feinstein offers us an insiders look at the great lyricists and writers of the first half of the twentieth century. Fantastic!