The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: I Get a Kick Out of You

The song of the day for Thursday, November 25, 2021, is “I Get a Kick Out of You.”

About This Song

“I Get a Kick Out of You” was written by Cole Porter for his 1934 musical Anything Goes, where it was introduced by Ethel Merman. It’s been popular since then and has been recorded by artists including Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Anita O’Day, Max Roach and many more. The original lyrics reference the use of cocaine (I get no kick from cocaine), and that particular line in the lyric is often rewritten, often to champagne.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga recorded “I Get a Kick Out of You” for their 2021 album Love For Sale. This song was arranged and conducted by Marion Evans.

“I Get a Kick Out of You” is nominated for Record of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and Best Music Video for the 2022 Grammy Awards. Love For Sale is nominated for both Album of the Year, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. The Year of Tony Bennett congratulates Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, and Dae Bennett on their nominations.

“I Get a Kick Out of You,” as well as Love For Sale is available on Apple Music.

Here’s that Grammy-nominated music video!

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Tony at the 2018 Grammys

Tony Bennett, looking great on the Red Carpet!

Tony Bennett on Twitter

Walking the red carpet at tonight’s #Grammys

Tony’s son, Dae Bennett, who produced Tony Bennett Celebrates 90, won the Grammy for Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

Tony Bennett on Twitter

So thrilled that my son Dae just won a Grammy for “Tony Bennett Celebrates 90” #GRAMMYs

Congratulations to Tony and Dae!

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How The Magic Happens

I came across an article today about the recording techniques used for Duets and Duets II that I wanted to share with you.

This article is from the Sound on Sound website and discusses, in some detail, the techniques that Dae Bennett, Tony’s son and recording engineer and co-producer, used to record the duets. Click here to read the article.

Typically, Tony and his duet artist record in a studio with Tony Bennett’s Quartet (Lee Musiker, Gray Sargent, Marshall Wood and Harold Jones). Others, such as the Duets II session with Andrea Boccelli, were recorded in home studios. Once the editing had been done on these sessions, additional recording sessions were held for the big band and orchestral tracks for the songs.

The results, as we know, are several outstanding albums: Duets, Duets II and Viva Duets, all recorded using these techniques.

The article also includes a nice visual slide show with photographs of the artists as well as “backstage” shots of the recording process.

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