San Diego pianist Bryan Finkelstein will perform...

San Diego pianist Bryan Finkelstein will perform a two-hour musical tribute to George Gershwin tonight at the Old Time Cafe in Leucadia. The concert marks the 50th anniversary, almost to the day, of the composer’s death.

“Gershwin’s music exemplifies the spirit of America in the 1920s and ‘30s,” said Finkelstein, 35. “By using jazz idioms in classical forms, he created an entirely new sound that bridged the gap between serious and popular music.

“Nobody else had the nerve to do this. Gershwin wrote exactly what he wanted to; he didn’t try to please anyone but himself. And through his natural ability, he pleased everybody.”

Finkelstein said he will trace Gershwin’s career by performing 25 songs in chronological order. The earliest will be the 1916 rag, “Rialto Ripple”; the latest, “Our Love Is Here to Stay” from the “Gold Wind Follies” movie Gershwin was working on at the time of his death.

“Aside from Gershwin’s favorite melodies, I plan on playing some rarities,” Finkelstein said. “For example, in the late teens and early ‘20s, he made a lot of piano rolls, and I can play these by ear pretty much the way they were originally made.

“I’ve also listened for hours to recordings of Gershwin himself, so I’m able to re-create his piano-playing style and do renditions of his own arrangements of his own songs.

“In addition, I’m going to share with the audience anecdotes and historical information that I’ve accumulated through years of reading everything about Gershwin I could find.”

Finkelstein’s infatuation with the music of George Gershwin began when he was 14, and heard “Rhapsody in Blue” for the first time on an old 78 rpm record that belonged to his parents.

At the time, Finkelstein was already an accomplished musician. He had taught himself to play the piano, by ear, when he was only 4--two years before he began taking formal lessons.

“I was completely overwhelmed by that song,” he recalled. “It wasn’t a week after I first heard ‘Rhapsody’ that I had worked up my own six-minute version.

“Then I started reading up on Gershwin and collecting his music. Before long, I owned not only every one of his records, but also the sheet music to most of his concert work.”

The next two years, Finkelstein played a selection of Gershwin pieces at the National Piano Auditions in his native St. Louis and walked away with top honors both times.

He majored in piano at the University of Missouri’s Conservatory of Music in Kansas City. In 1974, Finkelstein came to San Diego to form the Magic If, a musical comedy troupe that enjoyed a five-year run on the local lounge circuit.

After spending eight years in Colorado, playing solo piano in restaurants, bars and hotels, Finkelstein returned to San Diego in March. Most evenings, he’s behind the piano at the Nordstrom department store in University Towne Centre, entertaining after-work shoppers with a selection of classical, vintage jazz and ragtime instrumentals.

“I got the idea to market my ability to play Gershwin from a friend in Colorado,” Finkelstein said. “I did hours of research and condensed all the pertinent information about his brilliant career into a two-hour evening of music and commentary.

“Before leaving Colorado, I played a series of four Gershwin tributes in Durango. And I’m hoping to do more of them out here, whenever I get the chance.”