The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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The Quartet

The Year of Tony Bennett has seen Tony Bennett several times in concert, always with this quartet of gifted musicians who not only back up Mr. Bennett superbly, but are all exceptional artists in their own right.

Tom Adair (piano).

Gray Sargent (guitar). Gray Sargent has, to the best of our knowledge, played with Mr. Bennett longer than other members of the current quartet. Gray was a member of the Ralph Sharon Quartet (along with Clayton Cameron and Paul Langosch) and has played with Ruby Braff. He is a recognized jazz and swing guitarist. Tony often sings with only Gray accompanying him at his concerts and those songs are always quite lovely. You can sometimes find Gray’s album, Shades of Gray, from Amazon.

Marshall Wood (bass). Marshall Wood is a well-respected jazz bass player. He played with Gray Sargent on Shades of Gray and with Rudy Braff.

Harold Jones (drums). Count Basie’s Favorite Drummer. He’s The Year of Tony Bennett‘s favorite drummer too. A native of Richmond, Indiana, he has played with many of the 20th and 21st century’s finest jazz artists: Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Hoagy Carmichael, Oscar Peterson, Benny Goodman, Joe Williams, Ella Fitzgerald and Natalie Cole. He is a renowned drumming instructor as well. We recently enjoyed the new biography of Mr. Jones: Harold Jones: The Singer’s Drummer by Gil Jacobs, which is available on Amazon.

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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

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Thank You, Tony Bennett

The fact that I’ve started this blog means that I have a fair amount to say about Tony Bennett. I’ve said some of it already, and there’s a lot more to come.

But it comes down to this–thank you, Tony Bennett.

Thank you for making so many wonderful albums. Thank you for continuing to appear in concert. And for playing the West Coast often enough for me to see you in concert pretty often. Thank you for writing your books. Thank you for everything you mean to those of us who love your art and music.

Thank you for letting us share in that.

– Suzanne

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