An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett
The Year of Tony Bennett would like to recognize the anniversary of the birth of Mitch Miller on July 4, 1911.
I uncovered this video of Tony, Mitch with his oboe, and Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion from 1969. I kid you not. I will state that I don’t think Tony was cut out to smoke a pipe or, as in this video, use it as a prop.
It was with great sadness that The Year of Tony Bennett learned that Kay Starr passed away on November 3, 2016 at her home in Bel Air, California, from complications due to Alzheimer’s disease.
She was one of the great singers of the 20th century who did it all: country, western, popular, jazz, the blues and more. Of all of her accolades, I think the greatest came from Billie Holiday, who said that “she was the only white woman who could sing the blues.”
Kay Starr was born in Dougherty, Oklahoma on July 21, 1922, but soon moved with the family to Dallas, Texas. Her singing talents were recognized when she was quite young; she won many radio station talent contests as a child. She was only ten years old when she was earning $3 a night singing popular and hillbilly music.
After high school, she moved to Los Angeles and began working with Charlie Barnet’s band. In 1947, she was signed by Capitol Records, though found herself taking a back seat to the more established female singers. In spite of that, she steadily built a solid and long-lasting career as a singer.
Her background in pop, jazz and country-western type music was unusual, but put her in a position to sing all types of music, though her primary interest and leanings were to sing jazz and she became known as a “saloon singer” and was known for her emotional power and connection to the songs she sang.
You can her obituaries from the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times by clicking on the links.
We leave you with the duet she recorded with Tony Bennett in 2001 for the album Playin’ With My Friends: Tony Bennett Sings the Blues: “Blue and Sentimental.”
Blue and Sentimental (with Kay Starr)
Listen to Blue and Sentimental (with Kay Starr) on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 2001.
The Year of Tony Bennett bloggers would like to wish drummer Harold Jones a very happy birthday!
Harold Jones was Count Basie’s favorite drummer and he’s our favorite drummer too. He has been playing for Tony Bennett since 2006. He also spends a lot of his free time doing drumming workshops and playing with his own band, The Bossmen, in California.
You can read more about Mr. Jones at drummerworld.com. We also enjoyed this interview with Harold from 2012.
Here’s a video of Harold Jones playing with Count Basie in 1968:
p.s. Hope you, Tony and rest of the quartet will be visiting us in Portland, Oregon or Seattle this year. We miss you!
The late Amy Winehouse was born on September 14, 1983 in London and died, tragically, on July 23, 2011. Her father, Mitch Winehouse, created The Amy Winehouse Foundation, which works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people.
I’d like to remember her today with the video of “Body and Soul” from Duets II.
Judy Garland, a great friend of Tony Bennett, was born on June 10, 1922 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She died in London on June 22, 1969–she was only 47 years old.
Tony Bennett tells this story about Judy in his autobiography The Good Life:
The last time I saw her was in London in April 1969, when I was there doing a TV special with Count Basie. After the show she came backstage to see me, and the last thing she said to me was, “You’re pretty good!” She died two months later. I’ve never gotten over it. She was so kind, so talented, such as dear friend. When I look back, it’s hard to believe that most of the time she was just trying to hold on for dear life.
In tribute to Judy Garland, I leave you with this video from the fifth episode of her television show, with Tony Bennett as the guest star. The year is 1963. It’s one of my favorites; I can actually remember watching this episode with my Mom.