The song of the day for Wednesday, July 4, 2018 is “That Old Black Magic.”
About This Song
One of the great songs by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, “That Old Black Magic” was written in 1942 and first recorded by Glenn Miller. It was also used in the 1942 movie Star Spangled Rhythm. It’s been recorded many times and used in several films, including the 1956 film Bus Stop, where it was sung by Marilyn Monroe.
About This Version
In August 2018, Tony Bennett, along with the Ralph Sharon Trio, and Dave Brubeck, along with Paul Desmond, Joe Morello and Eugene Wright both for performed at the request of President John Kennedy in special evening for the White House summer interns. After both Bennett and Brubeck did their respective sets, Tony Bennett, Dave Brubeck, Joe Morello and Eugene Wright came back onstage for a completely improvised set, including a terrific recording of “That Old Black Magic.”
The tapes from the concert, long thought lost, were discovered a few months after Brubeck’s death in December 2012. They had been misfiled in the classical music vaults. The result of this fortuitous find was Bennett/Brubeck: The White House Sessions, Live 1962, released in 2013.
“That Old Black Magic,” as well as Bennett/Brubeck: The White House Sessions, Live 1962, is available from iTunes.
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