Song of the Day: But Beautiful

The song of the day for Wednesday, February 6, 2013 is But Beautiful.

About But Beautiful

Written for Road to Rio in 1947, a Bob Hope/Bing Crosby road movie, But Beautiful was written by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Johnny Burke. The song was introduced by Bing Crosby in the movie. Other notable recordings include those by Nat King Cole, Doris Day, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Hartmann, Billy Holiday and Shirley Horn.

About This Version

But Beautiful was a favorite of Bill Evans; he had recorded it live with Stan Getz at the 1974 Laren International Jazz Festival; the recording from the festival was released as an album in 1996.

Tony Bennett and Bill Evans recorded this song for their first album, The Tony Bennett / Bill Evans Album. All I know is that as a Tony Bennett fan and a jazz piano fan, it doesn’t get any better than their two albums, at least for me.

But Beautiful, as well as The Complete Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Recordings compilation, is available from iTunes. This compilation album includes an excellent selection of alternate takes and is well worth listening to.

As a little something extra today, we also present Evan’s piano-only recording from their second album: The Bad And The Beautiful, the David Raskin theme song from the 1952 movie of the same name, starring Kirk Douglas and Lana Turner.

Not everyone knows that Tony Bennett is the one who insisted that The Bad And The Beautiful solo be used as the first song on their second album, Together Again. It’s all about the music. Always, for both artists.