An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett
If you live in the Denver area or are visiting the area, you have a chance to catch Ralph Sharon playing at the St. Julien Hotel Saturday Afternoon Teas.
St. Julien is located at 900 Walnut Street in Boulder, Colorado. Their telephone number is 720-406-9696.
Here’s a post about the Saturday afternoon teas from 5280: The Denver Magazine.
This photograph from the August, 1962 concert shows (from left to right) Joe Morello (drums), Eugene Wright (bass). Dave Brubeck (piano) and Tony Bennett.
The Year of Tony Bennett mourns the passing of noted record producer and sound engineer Phil Ramone. Mr. Ramone died today, March 30, 2013, at the age of 72.
Phil Ramone worked with great performers from the jazz and popular music worlds, including Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon, Ray Charles, Billy Joel, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Stresiand and many more.
A musician himself, who was trained at Julliard, Ramone was noted for his ability to communicate musically with artists and creating environments that supported the musicians.
His work with Tony Bennett includes Playin’ With My Friends (2001), The Art of Romance (2004), Duets (2006), Duets II (2011) and Viva Duets (2012). He appeared in his role as producer of Duets II in the recent documentary film The Zen of Bennett.
We extend our condolences to his wife Karen and his sons Matthew, William and Simon.
The New York Times obituary may be read here.
The Year of Tony Bennett wishes Lady Gaga a fantastic birthday. We hope she’s recovering well from her surgery and wish her the very best. We can hardly wait for her album with Tony and know it’s going to be a huge hit for them both.
To put us all in a great mood, here’s the video of The Lady is a Tramp. We note that this video has had well over 10 million views on YouTube. And for good reason.
The Year of Tony Bennett wishes Marian McPartland a very happy 95th birthday.
Her Piano Jazz program on NPR has nurtured and created an entire generation of jazz fans, including this author. And her outstanding gifts as a jazz pianist are, thankfully, available to us to enjoy over and over, even those of us who were never able to hear her at the Hickory House.
Here’s a number from Tony Bennett’s Live with the McPartlands and Friends from 1977 on Tony’s Improv label.