The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Happy Birthday Harold Jones

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!

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Remembering Judy Garland

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.

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RIP B. B. King

Your author lived in Jackson, Mississippi for a few years and had the great pleasure of hearing B.B. King play live there. He was most certainly one the greats. His influence on the blues and blues musicians will live on for generations.

We leave you today with his duet with Tony Bennett from Playin’ With My Friends (2001): “Let The Good Times Roll.”

Let the Good Times Roll (with B.B. King)

Listen to Let the Good Times Roll (with B.B. King) on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, B.B. King · 2001

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Remembering Betty Comden

Betty Comden (born Basya Cohen) was born in Brooklyn, NY 98 years ago today on May 3, 1917. When she was just 21, she was introduced to Adolph Green, and one of the greatest writing partnerships ever was born. The pair hooked up with Leonard Bernstein and Judy Holliday to form a group called the Revuers, who performed at the Village Vanguard.

Their first Broadway show, written with Leonard Bernstein, was the 1944 On The Town. Their next two productions weren’t as successful, so the pair headed to Hollywood to adapt On The Town for film. While in Hollywood, they wrote the script for one of Hollywood’s greatest movies, Singing’ in the Rain, for which they won the Screen Writers Guild award.

They continued to work in both Hollywood and on Broadway and wrote some of our great musicals, including Bells Are Ringing, Peter Pan, Wonderful Town and Applause. They received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1991.

Betty Comden died in 2006 and the age of 89. Her songs were wonderful and are still sung today. On The Town is enjoying an enormously popular revival in New York right now, a testament to the great work that she, Green and Bernstein created over 70 years ago.

Here is Tony Bennett singing one of my favorite of their songs from one my favorite of his albums: “The Party’s Over” from Hometown, My Town.

The Party"s Over

Listen to The Party"s Over on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1959