The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: The Way You Look Tonight

The song of the day for Saturday, November 14, 2015 is “The Way You Look Tonight.”

About This Song

Today’s song, “The Way You Look Tonight,” was written by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields in 1936 for the film Swing Time, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for that year. Dorothy Fields remarked “The first time Jerry played that melody for me I went out and started to cry. The release absolutely killed me. I couldn’t stop, it was so beautiful.” Dorothy Fields was the first woman to win an Oscar for songwriting. It’s a magnificent love song that has found a strong position as a jazz standard, with recordings by Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Mel Tormé and Frank Sinatra.

About This Version

Today I return to Tony’s new album with Bill Charlap, The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern. It’s a beautiful album and one I cannot stop listening to. And, like Dorothy Fields, this song is so beautiful that it makes me want to cry.

The Way You Look Tonight

Tony Bennett, Bill Charlap · The Silver Lining - The Songs of Jerome Kern · Song · 2015


“The Way You Look Tonight,” as well as The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, is available from iTunes.

About Today

It’s Saturday and here are Tony and Bill …

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Song of the Day: Long Ago and Far Away

The song of the day for Thursday, November 11, 2015 is “Long Ago and Far Away.”

About This Song

“Long Ago and Far Away” was written in 1944 by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin for the 1944 film musical Cover Girl, starring Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly. In the film, the song was sung by Rita Hayworth to Gene Kelly. At the time of movie’s release, there were four versions of the song that all charted at the same time by Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest, Bing Crosby, Jo Stafford and Perry Como.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap recorded “Long Ago and Far Away” in 2015 for their new album The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, which is my favorite album in both vocal and piano jazz this year. It simply doesn’t get any better than this.

Long Ago and Far Away

Tony Bennett, Bill Charlap · The Silver Lining - The Songs of Jerome Kern · Song · 2015


“Long Ago and Far Away,” as well as The Silver Lining, is available from iTunes.

About Today

Today brings to an end my arbitrary look at Tony Bennett’s career, so far, where I picked out a song for each year that Mr. Bennett has recorded. It’s been a lot of fun for me and hope you’ve enjoyed it as well.

Stayed tuned for a return to the first half of the 1960s.

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Song of the Day: I Won’t Dance

The song of the day for Sunday, October 4, 2015 is “I Won’t Dance.”

About This Song

Today’s song, “I Won’t Dance,” has a wonderful tune written by Jerome Kern. The lyrics are, on the other hand, a bit complicated. The song was originally written for for a 1934 London musical called Three Sisters with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach; alas the production was flop and closed quickly. Kern decided to use this great tune for the 1935 film of Roberta, starring Irene Dunne with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. This time, the lyrics were from Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields. I won’t even begin to figure out how they split the royalties.

About These Versions

Tony Bennett has recorded “I Won’t Dance” twice. The first time was in 2014 with Lady Gaga on their album Cheek To Cheek, with a great big band arrangement from Marion Evans. I’ve always loved this song and thought that Bennett and Gaga sang it just great. It was also quite effective on the Cheek To Cheek television special. [I don’t care what the Television Academy thinks. As far as I’m concerned, it earned the Emmy Award for Best Variety Special hands down.]

The second recording was just released in September 2015 on Bennett’s album with Bill Charlap–The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern. Bennett and Charlap arranged this version 3/4 waltz time. It’s quiet and sweet; Bennett dances lightly over the piano.

“I Won’t Dance” is a perfect example of why I started this Sunday feature of presenting different versions of the same song sung by Tony Bennett. Whether separated by decades, as in last week’s song, or a matter of months, as for today’s song, it is telling on many levels how this master treats the material. Just brilliant, Tony Bennett is.

2014

I Won"t Dance

Listen to I Won"t Dance on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga · 2014


“I Won’t Dance,” as well as Cheek To Cheek, is available from iTunes.

2015

I Won"t Dance

Tony Bennett, Bill Charlap · The Silver Lining - The Songs of Jerome Kern · Song · 2015


“I Won’t Dance,” as well as The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, is available from iTunes.

Because I’m in a great mood today, here’s a video of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers from Roberta. This film is the first time they worked together. I don’t know if Astaire actually played the piano or not. If he didn’t, it’s the best fake piano playing I’ve ever seen on film. And if he did play piano, he plays great! And Ginger’s gown is fantastic!

Your author is off to the Newport, Oregon Jazz Festival for concert by Bill Charlap and his Trio, also joined by his wife and pianist, Renee Rosnes. I’ll report in a few days.

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Song of the Day: All The Things You Are

The song of the day for Sunday, September 27, 2015 is “All The Things You Are.”

About This Song

“All The Things You Are” was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein for the 1939 musical Very Warm For May. In American Popular Song, Alec Wilder considers it to be one of Kern’s finest songs and with good reason. It’s a beautiful tune and Hammerstein’s lyrics are excellent.

About These Versions

I completely fell in love with this song the first time I listened to Tony Bennett sing it on the 1962 Carnegie Hall Concert album. I always thought it was such a great song for him and wondered why he never recorded it again. On Friday, my hopes came true: “All The Things You Are” is the first song on the new Tony Bennett – Bill Charlap album The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern.

Once again, we have the lovely contrast of a love song from the same singer, decades apart. I’ll leave you to your own conclusions. I dearly love both of these versions.

1962

All The Things You Are (From "Very Warm For May") - Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY - June 1962

Listen to All The Things You Are (From "Very Warm For May") - Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY - June 1962 on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Ralph Sharon & His Orchestra · 1962


“All The Things You Are,” as well as Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall, is available from iTunes.

date unknown

All The Things You Are

Tony Bennett, Bill Charlap · The Silver Lining - The Songs of Jerome Kern · Song · 2015


“All The Things You Are,” as well as The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, is available from iTunes.

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