Michael Feinstein demonstrates how the blues became part of America’s popular musical lexicon through songs like “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “Great Balls of Fire,” and “Show Me the Way to Get Out of this World.” “There were a lot of singers before Ella who would have sung ‘Am I Blue’ and ‘I’ve Got a Right to Sing the Blues,’ who would have sung the song square,” said Feinstein, “but it was vocal jazz artists who mined the jazz and blues elements from these songs, and therefore made them enduring standards.” Joining Feinstein will be the Tedd Firth Big Band and singers Mary Stallings, a renowned vocalist who’s worked with top jazz musicians since the 1950s, Storm Large, a versatile artist well known as a member of the genre-crossing “little orchestra” Pink Martini, and Jamie Davis, a world-traveling baritone powerhouse. Jazz at Lincoln Center, Appel Room, Time Warner Building, 10 Columbus Circle, Broadway & 60th St., fifth fl. May 11, 7 p.m.; May 12, 7 & 9 p.m. For tickets, call CenterCharge at 212-721-6500.
