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The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

February 12, 2022 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Album of the Week: Tony Bennett Sings a String of Harold Arlen

The album of the week starting on February 12, 2022, is Tony Bennett Sings a String of Harold Arlen.

Tony Bennett Sings a String of Harold Arlen was Tony Bennett’s first album dedicated to a composer and that composer was one of his favorites: Harold Arlen. The orchestral arrangements are quite beautiful. Bennett remembers this album in The Good Life:

Later on that year I did my first, and for many years my only, songbook album, A String of Harold Arlen. The son of a cantor, Harold grew up in Buffalo. He became the musical director of the Cotton Club and originally wrote many jazz compositions. But his pop songs were dramatic and right up my alley. Arlen was known for the jazzy quality of his melodies, but Mitch thought it would be novel to give his songs a lush, symphonic treatment. He brought in Glenn Osser, a veteran record and show orchestrator, and his charts were just right. I felt free singing to Glenn’s arrangements. We used a big orchestra of mainly classical players, and they really enjoyed the recording session. That’s the only album I ever made where the musicians actually applauded after each take.

 

Album Facts

Release Date March 30, 1961
Label Columbia
Producer Mitch Miller
Vocals Tony Bennett
Arrangements Glenn Osser

Listen to Tony Bennett Sings a String of Harold Arlen

You can also listen to Tony Bennett Sings a String of Harold Arlen on:

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Filed Under: Album of the Week Tagged With: Come Rain or Come Shine, For Every Man There's a Woman, Fun to be Fooled, Glenn Osser, Harold Arlen, House of Flowers, I've Got the World on a String, It Was Written in the Stars, Let's Fall In Love, Mitch Miller, Over the Rainbow, Right As Rain, This Time's the Dream's On Me, Tony Bennett, What Good Does It Do, When the Sun Comes Out

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