The song of the day for Thursday, January 17, 2013 is But Beautiful.
About But Beautiful
Originally written for the 1947 film Road To Rio, But Beautiful was written by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Johnny Burke. It was introduced in the film by Bing Crosby. It found great popularity as jazz ballad, with recordings by Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Johnny Hartman, and Shirley Horn, among others.
About This Version
Tony Bennett and Bill Evans recorded this song in 1975 for their first album,The Tony Bennett Bill Evans Album. Bill Evans had recorded the song with Stan Getz in 1974 at the Laren (Holland) International Jazz Festival; an album, with the same name, was released posthumously in 1996. Mr. Bennett often sings this song in concert.
But Beautiful, as well as the full The Tony Bennett Bill Evans Album, is available from iTunes.
Readers of this blog know that I am a big fan of the work that Tony Bennett and Bill Evans did on their two albums. On their second album, Together Again, they included a piano solo The Bad And The Beautiful, which I have always liked. A few weeks ago, the film showed up on Turner Classic Movies and I so watched it, for the first time. It’s a bit of a melodrama, but it has a terrific cast (Kirk Douglas, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Barry Sullivan and many more) and its theme song, by David Raskin, is used throughout. Here’s But Beautiful, here from the The Complete Tony Bennett Bill Evans Recordings set from Fantasy / Concord. Note that this set contains a good selection of alternate takes from the Together Again session.
The Bad and the Beautiful, as well as the full Together Again album, is available from iTunes.
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