The song of the day for Saturday, March 15, 2025, is “That Old Black Magic.”
About This Song
“That Old Black Magic” was written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer for the 1942 film Star Spangled Rhythm. Glenn Miller made the first recording of the song, also in 1942. “That Old Black Magic” has been recorded many times and used in several films, including the 1956 film Bus Stop, where it was sung by Marilyn Monroe.
About This Version
On August 28, 1962, Tony Bennett (with his trio) and The Dave Brubeck Quartet gave a concert at the request of President John F. Kennedy, honoring that year’s group of Presidential Scholars. Bennett and Brubeck each performed sets of their music. After both had played, they joined for an impromptu. improvised set, featuring Tony Bennett, Dave Brubeck (piano), Joe Morello (drums), and Eugene Wright (bass). At the time of the concert, both Brubeck and Bennett were at the height of their careers. Bennett had entered the Billboard charts with his hit “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” and Brubeck’s “Take Five” had become an instant jazz classic. The concert was originally to be held in the White House Rose Garden, but there was so much interest that it was moved to the Mall near the Washington Monument. Frank Laico, one of Columbia’s top recording engineers, taped the concert.
Unfortunately, the tape of the concert was long thought to be lost. It was only discovered in 2012 in the Classical music archives at Columbia/Song. The album Bennett/Brubeck: The White House Sessions Live 1962 was released in 2013.
According to jazz writer Ted Gioia, both had arrived at stardom but were seemingly stars from different galaxies. Yet these two beloved musicians also had much in common.” He points out that both men served in the Second World War and participated in the Battle of the Bulge, as well as having been active in the Civil Rights movement. (Brubeck cancelled 23 concerts rather than replace his black bassist, Eugene Wright, and Bennett marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery, Ala.)
But these two artists were musically simpatico as well. They shared a devotion to the great American songbook, and knew how to straddle the worlds of jazz and popular music without compromises or crass commercialism, yet still reach millions of people, many of whom would never step inside a jazz club or read a copy of Down Beat.
So what a blessing to have these tracks from the past, a true meeting of musical masters, come to us more than a half-century after they were made, but still sounding as fresh and alive as they did to those present back in 1962. And after hiding out in a dark archive for so many decades, the music of two of the best and brightest to ever interpret the American popular song is shining for us once more.
“That Old Black Magic,” as well as Bennett/Brubeck: The White House Sessions Live 1962, is available on Apple Music.
After their 1962 performance, Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck didn’t work together again until 2009 the Newport Jazz Festival. The video is shaky. obviously hand-held by someone in the audience, the audio is quite good.
As one of the commenters of the video said: “If you look up cool in the dictionary, this video should be there.”
