The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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The Value of Arts Education

Tony Bennett on Twitter: "Here's a letter Susan and I wrote to the NYT on the role of arts education in building character. http://t.co/FF2xY9IZ / Twitter"

Here's a letter Susan and I wrote to the NYT on the role of arts education in building character. http://t.co/FF2xY9IZ

Please read this letter from Mr. Bennett and Susan Benedetto in today’s New York Times about the value of an arts education in building character in school children. Just click the link in Mr. Bennett’s tweet to read.

The work that Exploring The Arts does has enormous value for children.

Please join the Year of Tony Bennett in supporting Exploring The Arts.

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Allan Harris and Convergence

Thanks to Stephen Holden at the New York Times, I learned today about Allan Harris, who is playing at the Metropolitan Room in New York.  You can read Stephen Holden’s review here.

Mr. Harris, jazz vocalist and guitarist, with pianist Takana Miyamoto released Convergence in May 2012. In Convergence, Harris and Miyamoto present ten songs from the 1977 Tony Bennett – Bill Evans sessions.  Convergence is most definitely not a cover of  the session, but an interpretation that references the original beautifully. I can’t begin to express this better than Stephen Holden did in his review and do recommend his article. And, if you’re in New York and not busy this Friday night, you might want to head to the Metropolitan Room to hear Mr. Harris.

Here’s their recording of My Foolish Heart:

I’m quite taken with Allan Harris’ voice and look forward to listening to more of him.

Convergence is available from Amazon and iTunes.

I hope you enjoy the album as much as I do. While you’re waiting for your CD to arrive (or just waiting for the iTunes download to complete), take a look at Mr. Harris’ website at www.allanharris.com.

 

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Frances W. Preston

The Year of Tony Bennett would like to acknowledge the passing of someone most of us have never heard of: Frances W. Preston. Ms. Preston died on June 13 at the age of 83.
Ms. Preston, who was a past president and chief executive officer of Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), spent her career defending the copyrights held by songwriters. She testified before Congress in support of the Copyright Renewal Act of 1992. We admire her for her unwavering support of composers, lyricists, and performers.

You can read her obituary in The New York Times.

The Tony Bennett connection? Ms. Preston’s first job included answering fan mail for Hank Williams, who composed Cold, Cold Heart.

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Richard Adler

The Year of Tony Bennett notes the passing of lyricist Richard Adler, who died on June 21, 2012 at the age of 90.

Mr. Adler was best known for his collaboration with composer Jerry Ross. Together they created two major Broadway musicals: The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees. Later in his career, he worked on other musicals as well as classical music compositions.

He, along with Mr. Ross, wrote one of Tony Bennett’s early hits, Rags to Riches.

Obituaries:

The Guardian

Chicago Sun-Times

National Public Radio

The New York Times