The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: But Beautiful

The song of the day for Saturday, October 7, 2017 is “But Beautiful.”

About This Song

“But Beautiful” was written in 1947 by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke for the movie The Road to Rio, where it was sung by Bing Crosby. The song has been widely recorded, including recordings by Bill Evans, Johnny Hartman, Billie Holiday, Gregory Porter, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga recorded “But Beautiful” in 2014 for their album Cheek to Cheek.

But Beautiful

Listen to But Beautiful on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga · 2014


“But Beautiful,” as well as Cheek to Cheek, is available from iTunes.

About Today

It wouldn’t be Saturday without a video. Here are Tony and Lady Gaga recording today’s song.

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Song of the Day: Anything Goes

The song of the day for Tuesday, October 3, 2017 is “Anything Goes.”

About This Song

In Anything Goes, Cole Porter and book writers Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse created one of the great musical comedy characters of all time: Reno Sweeney, played by Ethel Merman in the original 1934 production. The score contains many of Porter’s most popular songs, including “I Get a Kick Out You,” “You’re The Top,” and “Blow, Gabriel, Blow.”

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga chose “Anything Goes” as the first cut on their album Cheek to Cheek. Marion Evans did the big band arrangement.

Anything Goes

Listen to Anything Goes on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga · 2014


“Anything Goes,” as well as Cheek to Cheek, is available from iTunes.

Here’s Miss Merman singing today’s song from the film version of Anything Goes!

Ethel Merman, born Ethel Agnes Zimmerman, grew up in Astoria, Queens. She learned secretarial skills in high school and after graduation in 1924, was able to get a job as a stenographer at $28 a week, which was good money in those days. With a pay check to back her up, she sang in clubs evenings and weekends in her goal of making it to Broadway.

In 1934, she was cast as Reno Sweeney in Cole Porter’s Anything Goes. When the script of Anything Goes was re-written during rehearsals, Ethel put her secretarial skills to good use by taking down dialogue in shorthand as the authors improvised. She then typed out the material herself.

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Song of the Day: Anything Goes

The song of the day for Wednesday, April 26, 2017 is “Anything Goes.”

About This Song

In Anything Goes, Cole Porter and book writers Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse created one of the great musical comedy characters of all time: Reno Sweeney, played by Ethel Merman in the original 1934 production. The score contains many of Porter’s most popular songs, including “I Get a Kick Out You,” “You’re The Top,” and “Blow, Gabriel, Blow.”

About This Version

Tony Bennett first recorded “Anything Goes” in 1959 for the album Basie/Bennett. Today, however, we feature the Marion Evans arrangement for Mr. Bennett and Lady Gaga for their album Cheek To Cheek.

“Anything Goes,” as well as Cheek To Cheek, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Cheek To Cheek

The song of the day for Monday, February 6, 2017 is “Cheek To Cheek.”

About This Song

Irving Berlin wrote “Cheek To Cheek” for the 1935 film Top Hat, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, where it was introduced (beautifully) by Fred Astaire. Though the song was nominated for an Academy Award (it lost to “Lullaby Of Broadway”), it became a hit in 1935 and remains popular to this day. Significant recordings include those by Harry James, Glenn Miller, Roy Eldridge, Bing Crosby and many, many more. Fans of the Tom Hanks’ movie The Green Mile might remember this song, as Top Hat is viewed in the prison. For many, it is one of the very first songs that comes to mind when one thinks of Fred Astaire and the 1930s Hollywood musical.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga recorded “Cheek To Cheek” in 2014 for their album of the same name, Cheek To Cheek. The arrangement is by our friend Marion Evans. (I think, at least. The liner notes are rather vague when it comes to the arranger for each song.)

Cheek To Cheek

Listen to Cheek To Cheek on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga · 2014


“Cheek To Cheek,” as well as the album Cheek To Cheek, is available from iTunes.

About Today

After watching the halftime in today’s Super Bowl, I had no choice but to play a Lady Gaga song. I’ve been watching halftime shows and live concerts by some of the greatest performers, but this show was something else. If you missed it, here’s a link to the show on YouTube.

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Collaborator of the Month: Marion Evans

The Year of Tony Bennett is proud to name arranger Marion Evans as the collaborator of the month for February 2017.

Marion Evans, a native of Alabama, started his musical career at Auburn University, playing the trumpet in what was then the best college dance band in America. He interrupted his education to serve as a United States Marine in World War II, stationed in the Pacific Theater.

He returned to Auburn to continue his education in engineering after the war. At the same time, a friend sent some of his old college arrangements to Tex Beneke, who had taken over as the lead of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, following Miller’s death. These arrangements led to a job offer with the band. He moved to New York and enrolled at Juilliard, using the same GI Bill that sent Tony Bennett to the Actor’s Studio.

His career took off and in the 1950s and 1960s, he wrote arrangements for Tommy Dorsey, Percy Faith and Count Basie, among many others. He orchestrated the music for one of my favorite films, Some Like It Hot, Broadway shows, television and many vocalists, including Eydie Gorme’s “Blame It On The Bossa Nova.”

Marion Evans and Tony Bennett in 1967. Photo by Milt Hinton.

Evans’ first association was with Tony Bennett for Bennett’s 1967 album Tony Makes It Happen!, which he arranged and conducted. They were reunited in 2011, when Bennett asked him to do a last-minute orchestration of “The Lady Is A Tramp” for Lady Gaga and Bennett to record for Duets II. He’s continued to work for Bennett, including work on Cheek To Cheek as well as other projects.

We’ll be playing arrangements by Mr. Evans throughout the month. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

If you’d like to read more about Marion Evans …

The Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802, honored Marion Evans in September 2016 by playing some of his great arrangements in concert with the 48th Street Big Band. You can read about the concert in their newsletter, Allegro.

Marion and his wife Terri live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. These links are stories about Marion from local newspapers.

“The Beat Goes On” from the The Midweek Wire – Lower Bucks Times

“The arranger behind the Grammy-winning Tony Bennett/Lady Gaga album talks recording then and now,” also from The Midweek Wire.