The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Something To Live For

The song of the day for Sunday, August 31, 2014 is “Something To Live For.”

About This Song

“Something to Live For” was written in 1939 by Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington; it was their first collaboration as composers and the first (of many) of a Strayhorn song to be recorded by Ellington’s orchestra. The lyric of the song was based on a poem that Strayhorn had written as a teenager. In addition to the Duke Ellington and His Orchestra recording, it has also been recorded by Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Art Farmer and Nine Simone, among others. Ella Fitzgerald has said that it’s her favorite song.

About This Version

Today’s recording of “Something To Live For” was an outtake for Tony Bennett’s 1971 album Love Story and was unreleased until the 2011 Complete Collection. The arrangement is by Peter Matz. He recorded it again a year later for the album Summer of ’42, with John Bunch on piano, but the song was cut from that album as well. They are both lovely recordings and I’m happy that they are now available.

About Today

I wrote about Billy Strayhorn today on my new blog, Just Truth and Beauty. At the end of the post are links to learn more about Strayhorn’s life and career.

Billy Strayhorn was born on November 29, 1915; I look forward to the centennial celebrations of his life and accomplishments. Storyville Records is releasing a seven-CD, plus a DVD, box set of Strayhorn compositions: Billy Strayhorn: Out of the Shadows. This video describes the contents of the set, which is already available in Europe and will be available in the US in October.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1BC3zTkqJgNhEsqSm4oaWJ
“Something To Live For,” as well as the other treasures on Rarities, Outtakes and Other Delights, Volume 2, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Day Dream

The song of the day for Wednesday, August 6, 2014 is “Day Dream.”

About This Song

“Day Dream” was written in 1941 by Billy Strayhorn with Duke Ellington, with lyrics by John La Touche. The first recording was with Ellington saxophonist Johnny Hodges with Billy Strayhorn on piano. Ellington recorded it several times, including his 1968 tribute album to Strayhorn, And His Mother Called Him Bill (if you can keep from crying while Ellington plays “Lotus Blossom” all by himself for his late friend, as the band is packing up, you must have nerves of steel), Betty Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Jo Stafford. Tony Bennett recorded “Day Dream” in 1999 for Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool.

About This Version

This version of “Day Dream” was recorded in May, 1964 with a superlative group of jazz musicians: Herbie Hancock on piano, Stan Getz on tenor sax, Ron Carter on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. There are six songs from this session on this Rarities collection and they are all worth your time. I’m just glad that they were finally released in 2011 with the complete collection and now available on iTunes for everyone.

http://open.spotify.com/track/66ZCFZIrtAWe2pa1RhicXX
“Day Dream,” as well as all of the treasures on Rarities, Outtakes and Other Delights, Vol. 1, is available on iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Something To Live For

The song of the day for Sunday, May 4, 2014 is “Something To Live For.”

About This Song

“Something To Live For” was written by Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington in 1939. It was, in fact, their first collaboration. The lyric was based on a poem that Strayhorn had written when he was high school. The song has been widely recorded. Ella Fitzgerald has said it was her favorite song.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded this version of “Something To Live For” with John Bunch at piano in 1971. It was to be included on the album Summer of 42, but was not used. Thankfully, this song was included on the second volume of Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, originally released in the 2011 complete collection (and now available on iTunes).

http://open.spotify.com/track/2YhAZNd40KrlqHMkLKaLUB
“Something To Live For,” as well as the collection Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, Vol. 2, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Chelsea Bridge with Take The A Train

The song of the day for Friday, November 29, 2013 is “Chelsea Bridge.”

About This Song

“Chelsea Bridge” was written in 1941 by Billy Strayhorn. Lyrics for the song were added in 1958 by Bill Comstock. This song has been recorded by Duke Ellington, Ben Webster, Ella Fitzgerald and many more.

We choose this song today to honor the birth of Billy Strayhorn, who was born on November 29, 1915 in Dayton, Ohio. Trained as a classical musician, Strayhorn found it too difficult as a black man to be taken seriously as a classical composer. In 1938, he met Duke Ellington when Ellington was performing in Pittsburgh. Ellington was impressed with the young man and asked that Strayhorn visit him at his home in Harlem so that they could discuss his future. Ellington left directions, which started out with “take the A train.” Strayhorn appeared for his visit, having composed the song “Take The A Train” to present to Ellington upon that first visit. “Take the A Train” became one of Ellington’s most beloved and recorded songs.

Ellington and Strayhorn worked together from that time forward. Strayhorn was an arranger, composer, pianist and collaborator with Ellington until his death from cancer in 1967. Ellington is quoted as saying that “Billy Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine.”

About This Version

Tony Bennett, who produced this album with his son Danny Bennett, included this instrumental version “Chelsea Bridge” in his 1999 album dedicated to the music of Duke Ellington — Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool. It’s a very fine album; this song in particular features some excellent work from the band, including the muted trombone in the introduction and some exceptional trumpet work by Wynton Marsalis.

http://open.spotify.com/track/0vSrl1MhXAlxcbA1m1ZMuY
“Chelsea Bridge,” as well as the album Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

What, no Tony Bennett singing? Well, as we are celebrating the anniversary of the birth of Billy Strayhorn, here’s Bennett singing Strayhorn’s “Take The A Train.” This recording was not included in full on the album, but the outtake was made available upon the release of the Complete Collection on the Rarities, Outtakes and Other Delights, Volume 2:

Take The "A" Train

Tony Bennett · Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, Vol. 2 · Song · 2012

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Take The A Train

The song of the day for Wednesday, September 4, 2013 is “Take The A Train.”

About This Song

“Take The A Train” was the first song that Billy Strayhorn wrote for Duke Ellington in 1938. Strayhorn had met Ellington at a concert in Pittsburgh; Ellington invited Strayhorn to come to New York to talk. Ellington wrote out instructions to get to his home in Harlem, starting with the instructions to “take the A train.” Strayhorn decided to write a song based on that phrase for Ellington. That was the beginning of their collaboration which lasted for nearly thirty years, until Strayhorn’s death in 1967.

During that time, Billy “Sweet Pea” Strayhorn composed, arranged and sat in on piano for rehearsals for the Ellington Orchestra. In addition to “Take The A Train,” he wrote “Lush Life,” “Chelsea Bridge” and “Day Dream,” among others. Having been classically trained in Pittsburgh, he also composed modern classical music, both with and without Ellington, including “Such Sweet Thunder” and “The Far East Suite.”

National Public Radio named “Take The A Train” as one of the top 100 songs of the 20th century. You can hear their wonderful story about the song here.

About This Version

Today’s version of “Take The A Train” was an outtake from Tony Bennett’s 1999 album Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool (though you can hear snippets of this recording in the album). It’s a marvelous recording arranged by Ralph Burns, featuring the Ralph Sharon Quartet (Sharon on piano; Gray Sargent on guitar; Clayton Cameron on drums; and Paul Langosch on bass) with Wynton Marsalis on trumpet and Al Grey on trombone.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4qch81yK3NtvyITD5UOXQl
“Take The A Train,” as well as all of the songs on Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, is available from iTunes.