An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett
Joe Smith, a music industry executive, recorded more than 200 interviews with musicians, dating from the late 1980s. In 2012, he donated his recordings to the Library of Congress, which has now made The Joe Smith Collection available to the public via the Internet.
Click here to reach the The Joe Smith Collection page. Tony Bennett’s interview is at the top of the list.
This is my kind of interview: music people talking about music.
Tony Bennett’s 2004 visit to Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz was replayed this week. If you haven’t heard this episode of this very fine program, you can listen to it here.
I’ve been listening to audio version of Marian McPartland’s book, All In Good Time. Ms. McPartland reads her own book, which makes it even more special. The book is available from Audible.
How Do You Keep The Music Playing, with music by Michel LeGrande and lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, was written in 1982. Tony Bennett first recorded the song in 1986 for The Art of Excellence and has performed it ever since.
This video was made of the Duets II session with Aretha Franklin. The single tear running down his cheek at the end of this song is an extraordinary moment that reminds us what he puts into every song he sings.
We’re happy to include the video of the Thalía / Tony Bennett duet of The Way You Look Tonight. We’ve heard Mr. Bennett sing it several times in concert, and it’s always thrilling to hear him sing this song, written by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields.
I cannot praise Gray Sargent’s guitar work on this song enough. It’s breathtaking. The Target version of Viva Duets, which add duets with Maria Gadú, Ana Carolina and Miguel Bosé to the original twelve songs, also includes this song with just the guitar accompaniment.
Who Can I Turn To, with Tony Bennett and Gloria Estefan!