Great American Songbook hits are back, and performed on Long Island
Pianist Stan Wiest of Fort Salonga will be performing at the Locust Valley Library at 2 p.m. on Dec. 7, 2014. Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara
The Great American Songbook is hot, and so are the artists who perform the classic tunes of the 1920s to 1950s by legendary composers — George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Duke Ellington, to name a few on a prestigious list.
How hot? Last month, Tony Bennett, at 88, became the oldest living artist to have a No. 1 record on Billboard's album chart for "Cheek to Cheek." The album features duets with Lady Gaga and includes classics such as "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)."
Barbra Streisand's "Partners," featuring the standards "It Had to Be You" and "Come Rain or Come Shine," hit No. 1 on the Billboard album charts in September.
And Rod Stewart transformed from gravelly voiced rocker to silky smooth crooner for his series of four Great American Songbook albums, each of which zoomed into the Top 5 on Billboard's charts.
"The performers who tackle the songs obviously understand the genre and are putting their own flair to the songs," says Stan Wiest, a pianist and arranger who has performed his instrumental versions of these standards in concerts for decades. "Tony Bennett is phenomenal. Lady Gaga is phenomenal, but totally different from Rod Stewart. The songs are wonderful enough that they leave room for a wide variety of interpretations."
Wiest, who lives in Fort Salonga, says his piano versions are different because of his training as a classical pianist. "I've kind of found a niche of a style with my own interpretations," he says. "They're jazz-oriented, with a classical flair."
Wiest will be performing at Locust Valley Library on Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. The show will open with a few favorite selections from his own CD, "Music You Will Love — Music to Drive By," available at Wiest's website (stanwiest.com) and Amazon.com (nwsdy.li/wiestamazon). But the concert will mainly feature selections from another great American songbook — holiday tunes. Songbooks will be distributed, so get ready to sing along. The show is free; call 516-671-1837 for more information.
While older seniors may remember the songs of the Great American Songbook from their youth, many boomers and generation Xers are discovering the timeless tunes for the first time. Wiest says his 38-year-old daughter, Alanna, recently told him she just heard a wonderful song and asked if he'd ever played it. The song: "It Had to Be You," a classic that dates to 1936. His answer? "I've played it maybe 10,000 times."
