The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Indian Summer

The Song of the Day for September 14, 2012 is Indian Summer.

There has been quite some discussion about what really constitutes an Indian summer at the Year of Tony Bennett. One of us was born in Liverpool, UK and emigrated to Oregon as child. I was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama and gradually worked my west as an adult. It turns out that Indian summer means different things to people, depending on where they are from.

But, as it was quite chilly here in Portland last week and is now quite warm with temperatures in the mid-eighties, I declare it to be Indian summer.

About Indian Summer

The song was written as piano solo in 1919 by Victor Herbert.  Al Dubin wrote the lyrics in 1939. The next year, Tommy Dorsey, with Frank Sinatra, recorded the song and it reached #1 on the Hit Parade. Sidney Bechet, playing the soprano saxophone, recorded one of the first jazz recordings of the song. It has also been recorded by Gene Krupa, Paul Desmond, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan.

About This Version

Tony Bennett first recorded Indian Summer in 1962 and was released on the 1963 album I Wanna Be Around. This version was arranged and conducted by Ralph Sharon. The version for today is from Perfectly Frank, released in 1992,  orchestrated by Robert Farnon.

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Song of the Day: The Boulevard of Broken Dreams

The Song of the Day for September 10, 2012 is The Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

About The Boulevard of Broken Dreams

This song was written by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics) in 1933.  It appears in the 1934 film Moulin Rouge and was sung by Constance Bennett.

About This Version

I think it can be said, in all fairness, that The Boulevard of Broken Dreams was the song that propelled Tony Bennett to stardom. In 1950, he made a demo recording of Crazy Rhythm and The Boulevard of Broken Dreams. The great Hugh Martin (yes, I’m biased about Mr. Martin; he and I are from the same town and attended the same college) heard it and was very enthusiastic about the young Mr. Bennett.  A bit later, Mitch Miller at Columbia heard the recording and that demo song landed Tony Bennett his contract at Columbia.  He re-recorded The Boulevard of Broken Dreams with Columbia and that version was released as a single and was a great hit.

Today’s version was recorded for the masterful Astoria: Portrait Of The Artist, released in 1990. Arranged by Jorge Calandrelli, and accompanied by the Ralph Sharon Trio (with Paul Langosch (bass) and Joe LaBarbera (drums), this version is, for me, more haunting, being sung from the mature man’s point of view.

Mr. Bennett’s rendition of The Boulevard of Broken Dreams was one of the highlights from his Bumbershoot concert last week. This  version from Astoria has a similar emotional punch for me.

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Boulevard of Broken Dreams

The Song of the Day for August 6, 2012 is Boulevard of Broken Dreams, by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics) was written in 1993 and was used in the 1934 film Moulin Rouge. Tony originally recorded the song in 1949 on a demo record. He recorded the song for Columbia in 1950 and it was his first big hit. Tony sang the song at the Paramount Theater when he was invited to perform there by Bob Hope.

Today we feature a version of Boulevard of Broken Dreams that you may not have heard. This version was recorded for Astoria: Portrait of the Artist (which is in my top five favorite Tony Bennett albums) in 1990.