An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett
The Year of Tony Bennett remembers our musical collaborator of the month, William James “Count” Basie on the anniversary of his birth on August 21, 1904.
While we’ve been featuring the work he did with Tony Bennett on Basie/Bennett and In Person!, today I’d like to feature some of Basie’s biggest hits from the late 1930s and early 1940s, including “One O’Clock Jump.”
One O"Clock Jump - The Very Best Of Count Basie
Listen to One O"Clock Jump - The Very Best Of Count Basie on Spotify. Count Basie · Compilation · 1936 · 14 songs.
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.