An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett
After waiting for fifty years, we only have twenty more days to wait for the Tony Bennett / Dave Brubeck album The White House Sessions Live 1962.
Here’s a very nice video preview, narrated by Mr. Bennett, about the concert and the upcoming release with music, great still photographs from the concert and even the voice of President Kennedy.
Songwriter Douglass Cross was born on May 4, 1920 in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Douglass Cross, partnered with George Cory, wrote I Left My Heart In San Francisco in 1954. The song was originally written for a performer named Claramae Turner, who did sing it, but never recorded it. Turner suggested that the songwriters pitch it to Tennessee Ernie Ford, who turned it down. They gave a copy of the sheet music to Ralph Sharon, who promptly stuck it in a drawer.
While packing for a tour that would take Sharon and Bennett to San Francisco, he came across the song and packed it, thinking it might be a nice song to perform to the locals in San Francisco. And so in December, 1961, in the Venetian Room at the Fairmont Hotel, Tony Bennett first sang the song that became his trademark. And he hasn’t stopped singing it since.
San Francisco loves Tony Bennett. February 14, 2012 (Valentine’s Day) was declared Tony Bennett Day. The song is played over the public address system after every home game won by the San Francisco Giants. Last year, when the Giants won the World Series, Bennett attended the parade and sang I Left My Heart In San Francisco at their celebration at City Hall.
The song is probably Tony Bennett’s most loved song and he sings it at each and every concert. In the concerts I’ve attended, the feeling from the audience when he sings the song is palpable.
This version is the original, from the album of the same name.
Today, April 30, is International Jazz Day. You can read all about the jazz activities all over the world today, especially in this year’s host city, Istanbul (where Tony Bennett had a very successful concert last sumer), at the Official International Jazz Day website.
Here at the Year of Tony Bennett, our celebration is a bit smaller, but no less heartfelt. And, as we are honoring Duke Ellington this week, we’ve chosen three great recordings of Ellington’s It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Aint’ Got That Swing) for our readers and listeners. Why? Because it’s one of my favorite songs and I absolutely love all three of these recordings. And, they do exhibit not only a purity of the song, but also of the mores of their time in jazz. For this author, these three recordings are a mini-history of jazz.
Ellington wrote this song in 1931 during intermissions at club dates in Chicago. The song was first recorded in 1932, with vocals by Ivie Anderson and instrumental solos by Joe Nanton (trombone) and Johnny Hodges (alto sax). Here’s Ivie Anderson singing this song:
Tony Bennett has performed and recorded this song throughout his career; I am partial to this version from his 1999 album, Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool. Clayton Cameron on drums …
And, to finish off this trio, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong from 1961 The Great Summit.
Just remember: it really don’t mean a thing if ain’t got that swing.
One of the great Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer songs, That Old Black Magic was sung in the Tony Bennett – Dave Brubeck concert that will be released in May on Bennet & Brubeck: The White House Sessions Live 1962 CD. To my knowledge, this recording of Old Black Magic is the only song from that concert that has ever been released.
Here’s that recording of That Old Black Magic – bossa nova style.
This photograph from the August, 1962 concert shows (from left to right) Joe Morello (drums), Eugene Wright (bass). Dave Brubeck (piano) and Tony Bennett.