The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

By Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Begin The Beguine

The song of the day for Saturday, May 31, 2014 is “Begin The Beguine.”

About This Song

One of Cole Porter’s most popular songs, “Begin the Beguine” is from the 1935 musical Jubilee. The song has an unusual structure, having a 108 measure length, as opposed to the standard 32-bar structure of most popular music. One of the earliest popular recordings was Artie Shaw’s instrumental in 1938. The middle eastern style of the song is well-served by Shaw’s clarinet solo.

About This Version

Today’s version of “Begin the Beguine” is Tony Bennett’s first recording of the song, from The Beat of My Heart, released in 1957. The album, Bennett’s third 12″ LP, featured percussionists from the world over to the studio. This song features the drummer Jo Jones, Ralph Sharon on piano, Eddie Costa on vibes, Eddie Safranski on bass and Robert Alexander, Ziskind Lieb, Kai Winding and James Dahl on trombone.

Even though the album was produced by Mitch Miller, it was devised and conceived entirely by Bennett and Ralph Sharon.

http://open.spotify.com/track/5isGgjYCh3pjzbdicSeLBU
“Begin The Beguine,” as well as the album The Beat of My Heart, is available from iTunes.

For today’s video, we’re doing a bit of a departure in showing a video of Artie Shaw and His Orchestra playing “Begin The Beguine.” Maybe it’s because I used play the clarinet, but I’ve always had real soft spot for Artie Shaw’s version of this Cole Porter song. This recording is from 1938.

By Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: From This Moment On

The song of the day for Thursday, April 3, 2014 is “From This Moment On.”

About This Song

Cole Porter originally wrote “From This Moment On” in 1951 for a musical called Out Of This World, but it was cut from the production. The song was used in the 1953 film version of his hit musical Kiss Me Kate, but was not used in the original stage production.The film features the dancing and choreography of a very young Bob Fosse.

About This Version

Tony Bennett sang “From The Moment On” at his 1964 show at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas entitled The Moment of Truth. Although recorded in 1964, the concert wasn’t released until the 2011 Complete Collection box set. It was recently made available to download from iTunes.

http://open.spotify.com/track/2lXqNwREvh95S7R3Im1Pj7
“From This Moment On,” as well as Tony Bennett Live At The Sahara, is available from iTunes.

Here’s the number from the film, thanks to You Tube. The number features Ann Miller and Tommy Rall, Bobby Van and Jeanne Coyne, and Bob Fosse and Carol Haney.

By Leave a Comment

Song of the day: Experiment

The song of the day for November 1, 2013 is “Experiment.”

About This Song

Cole Porter wrote “Experiment” for Gertrude Lawrence for his 1933 London West End musical Nymph Errant. This song was a favorite of the great singer Mabel Mercer. The song was also featured, somewhat ironically, in the 2004 somewhat autobiographical film about Cole Porter, Delovely, starring Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd, where it was sung by Kevin Kline.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Experiment” for his album Life Is Beautiful, released in 1975 on his own Improv label. It was arranged by Torrie Zito. The album featured the Torrie Zito Trio, with Zito on piano, John Guiffrida on bass and Chuck Hughes on drums.

http://open.spotify.com/track/5zFwXvDD2y002OUKCxP7FC
“Experiment,” as well as all of the songs that Tony Bennett recorded on the Improv label, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

By Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Dream Dancing

The song of the day for Friday, August 30, 2013 is “Dream Dancing.”

About This Song

“Dream Dancing” was written by Cole Porter for the 1941 movie You’ll Never Get Rich, where it was used as an instrumental. Fred Astaire, who appeared in the film, recorded the song (with lyrics) with the Delta Rhythm Boys that same year. Other recordings include those by Ella Fitzgerald, Zoot Sims and Mel Tormé with George Shearing.

About This Version

Today’s song is from the second album that Tony Bennett made with Bill Evans: the 1977 Together Again. Though some critics consider “Dream Dancing” to be a ballad, this version is rather upbeat with a slightly faster tempo than most ballads. It’s a great recording; listen to Tony and Bill at the very end of the song — they seemed to enjoy the take very much.

http://open.spotify.com/track/6V2WinPrfCchxybbDIu4W2
“Dream Dancing,” as well as the album Together Again, is available from iTunes and Amazon.com.

By Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Dream Dancing

The song of the day for Friday, July 26, 2013 is “Dream Dancing.”

About This Song

Cole Porter wrote “Dream Dancing” for the 1941 movie You’ll Never Get Rich, which starred Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth. However, the song was only used as an instrumental for the movie. Fred Astaire recorded the song, with lyrics, in 1941 with the Delta Rhythm Boys.

About This Version

Today’s song is from Tony Bennett and Bill Evans’ second album, Together Again, released in 1977, although Dream Dancing wasn’t included on the original LP, but was added to the 1999 Rhino CD reissue.

http://open.spotify.com/track/6V2WinPrfCchxybbDIu4W2
“Dream Dancing,” as well as the remaster album Tony Bennett and Bill Evans: Together Again (with additional outtakes), is available from iTunes.