Feinstein's PBS series salutes 'American Songbook'

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Take a trip down musical-memory lane in "Michael Feinstein's American Songbook" (7 p.m. Oct. 6, 13 and 20, Ch. 7), a three-part look back at the popular music of America's 20th century.

Each of the three one-hour programs includes clips from vintage performances as well as portions of Feinstein's shows as he travels the country. The series also follows him as he tracks down old recordings as part of his preservation efforts.

Episode one, "Putting on the Tailfins," focuses on music of the 1950s and '60s and how the likes of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Rosemary Clooney reinterpreted pop standards from the 1930s and 1940s.

"Best Band in the Land," airing the next week, explores the role of popular songs during World War II.

Episode three, "A New Step Every Day," takes one step further back to look at the birth of movies and radio and their impact on the recording industry in the 1920s and '30s.

In Wednesday's premiere, Feinstein puts on gloves and a facemask to go through the storage unit of a deceased music man who kept boxes of recordings and sheet music.

"Quite frequently people throw this stuff away because it's too much to deal with, it's too overwhelming," he said. "And it's a terrible thing because some of this stuff is priceless."

At an August PBS press conference, Feinstein defined the contents of the Great American Songbook.

"Anything that resonated with the American populace and affected and changed our lives is part of the fabric of what it's about," he said. "The preponderance of what we focus on is what we call the golden age, which may be, let's say, from the teens through the '50s maybe, into the '60s."

But he doesn't want to leave out Burt Bacharach, the Beatles, Marvin Hamlisch and others who came later.

"It is more of a style, I guess, in that it has to do with the perfect, seamless connection of music and lyrics that are of a certain level of craft and quality," Feinstein said. And yes, he does claim the Beatles, who are in this series, even though they are not American.

"Paul McCartney was just given the Gershwin Award at the White House because, let's face it, the Beatles changed the face of American music as much as they did anywhere else."

Feinstein said the music survives because of its malleability and how it's open to interpretation by new artists.