An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett
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.
Mark May 28 on your calendar, as the Bennett & Brubeck: The White House Sessions Live 1962 album will be released.
On August 28, 1962, at the invitation of President Kennedy, Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck performed at the Sylvan Theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument in a concert to thank the many college students who had served as interns that summer.
This concert featured two sets: one by Tony Bennett and another by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. An unplanned finale had Bennett come out and sing several songs with the Brubeck quartet, including a bossa nova version of That Old Black Magic.
The recording of this concert had thought to be lost, but was discovered in the Sony vaults in December of last year, not long after Mr. Brubeck passed away.
The recording will be released by RPM/Columbia/Legacy. This story from the New York Times was released today.
The song of the day for Wednesday, February 20, 2013 is You Don’t Know What Love Is.
This song, a major jazz standard, did not have a promising start. Written by Don Raye and Gene DePaul, You Don’t Know What Love Is was written for the 1941 Abbott and Costello film Keep ‘Em Flying, but was cut from the film. It turned up in a 1942 short B musical movie, Behind the Eight Ball.
In spite of this, the song is a true jazz masterpiece, beginning with the 1954 Miles Davis recording on Walkin’. Other notable recordings are by Chet Baker, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O’Day and Billie Holiday among many others.
Last summer, some tweeted that he was listening to Tony Bennett and Bill Evans and that the music was “bruised and beautiful.” I had much the same feeling today listening to Together Again, specifically You Don’t Know What Love Is.
All of the songs in Together Again, their second album after The Tony Bennett Bill Evans Album, were recorded in September 1976. Critics are split on which of their albums is the best. I love them both, but Together Again is my favorite. For me, it has deeper, less guarded and more emotional substance from both artists. When I really listen to this song, as I did today, the pain of the loss is so raw and every nerve is exposed.
I have read that Evans and Bennett did some eighteen takes of this song. Wow. Just wow.
You Don’t Know What Love Is, as well as the remastered Together Again, is available from iTunes.
The Year of Tony Bennett is celebrating the 1950s this week. We’ll be featuring hit singles by Tony Bennett recorded in the 1950s. Hope you enjoy it as much as we’ve enjoyed programming the week.
