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The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

April 27, 2019 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Playlist of the Week: Tony Sings Duke Ellington

The Playlist of the Week starting on April 28, 2019, is Tony Sings Duke Ellington.

Edward Kennedy Ellington was born on April 29, 1899, in Washington D.C. In 2013, I celebrated Duke’s birthday in high style with this series of posts.

Duke Ellington Week
Duke Ellington: His Early Years
Duke Ellington and the Harlem Renaissance
Duke Ellington: 1930s and 1940s
Duke Ellington in the 1950s
Duke Ellington Post-Newport
Duke Ellington Will Always Be With Us

And now to the playlist. This week, I’m including not only Tony’s recordings of my selection of Ellington songs but also recordings by Duke Ellington as well. Plus the legendary recording that nearly caused a riot at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1956. I quote from my post Duke Ellington in the 1950s:

Duke Ellington announced that their next number would be an old number from 1937: Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, with an “interval” by tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves.

What followed was, to many (including this author), the greatest live jazz performance ever recorded. The Gonsalves interval ran for 27 choruses of virtuoso playing: 14 minutes of incredible, perfect jazz. George Avakian wrote these liner notes for the record of this performance:

Throughout the performance there were frequent bursts of wild dancing and literally, acres of people stood on their chairs, cheering and clapping. There were 7,000 people there and by halfway through his solo it had become an enormous single living organism, reacting in waves like huge ripples to the music played before it.

Tony Sings Duke Ellington

The playlist of the week at the Year of Tony Bennett, for the week starting April 28, 2019. We're celebrating Duke Ellington, who was born on April 29, 1899.

Filed Under: Playlist of the Week Tagged With: Duke Ellington, Happy Birthday Duke Ellington, Tony Bennett

April 29, 2016 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: I’m Just A Lucky So And So

The song of the day for Friday, April 29, 2016 is “I’m Just A Lucky So And So.”

About This Song

Duke Ellington wrote “I’m Just A Lucky So And So” in 1945, with lyrics by Mack David. A favorite song of Tony Bennett, “I’m Just a Lucky So-and-So” has also been recorded by Billy Eckstine, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.

About This Version

Tony Bennett has recorded this song several times, starting with his second album, Tony, released in 1956. Because I like the arrangement and the nice guitar work by Gray Sargent, I’ve chosen his 1999 recording for Tony Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool.

I"m Just A Lucky So And So

Listen to I"m Just A Lucky So And So on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 1999.


“I’m Just A Lucky So And So,” as well as Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool, is available from iTunes.

About Today

The great Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born 117 years ago today on April 29, 1999. There aren’t enough accolades in the world for Ellington: pianist, composer, and band leader. A band leader that kept his band together from the 1930s until his death in 1974, a remarkable achievement by any standard.

But this music. It’s as alive and vibrant as ever and still meaningful, at least to this writer. I find traces of Ellington everywhere: right now, I’m working on a screenplay about Ross Macdonald, the mystery author. It turns out that his favorite artist was Duke Ellington.

And as Duke always said: “We love you madly.”

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Duke Ellington, Duke Ellington birthday, Happy Birthday Duke Ellington, Mack David

April 29, 2015 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Remembering Edward Kennedy Ellington

Edward Kennedy Ellington was born 116 years ago today, April 29, 1899, in Washington D.C. Over his career of over five decades, Ellington excelled as a composer, orchestra leader and pianist.

Both of his parents played the piano and the young Ellington started piano lessons at the age of seven. Born into a middle-class African-American family, his mother ensured that her son learned good manners, taught him to live a dignified, elegant life. His nickname of Duke was given to him quite early due to his manners and grace. Ellington wrote his first piece “Soda Fountain Rag” while working as soda jerk at the Poodle Dog Cafe in 1914. His interest in the piano left the classical world and moved to the jazz and ragtime. Even when offered a scholarship to the Pratt Institute to study art, he chose to focus on his music. In 1917 he formed his first group and played society dates and embassy parties in Washington.

He and his drummer, Sonny Greer, moved to New York and Harlem and began the hard job of getting noticed in the larger city. There were setbacks, but he persevered and by 1924 was leading his own group and making records. In 1926, he began his relationship with the agent Irving Mills, which gave him even more recording opportunities. By 1927, his group became the house band for the Cotton Club, which also meant a weekly radio broadcast, further cementing his stature. From then into the 1930s, he was composing some of his greatest works, including “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” “Sophisticated Lady,” “Solitude” and “Mood Indigo.”

In 1941, he met Billy Strayhorn and hired him immediately. Strayhorn composed some of Ellington’s great recordings including “Take the A Train” and “Chelsea Bridge.” The two men worked together until Strayhorn’s death in 1967. Ellington faced the challenges of all the big bands from the 1930s and 40s: the economics of keeping a large band running combined with the inevitable changes in music tastes spelled doom to most of the big bands; even Benny Goodman had to shut his down. Ellington managed to keep his group intact until his death, when it was taken over by his son Mercer.

In the 1940s, Ellington began to focus on longer-form jazz compositions, such as “Black, Brown and Beige,” which he debuted at Carnegie Hall. He also wrote the scores to musicals and films as well. However, by 1955, he was without a recording label.

That all changed on July 7, 1956 when Ellington appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival and gave one of the greatest live jazz performances ever. He announced that he would play “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue,” consisting of two songs he had played since the 1930s, with an “interlude” to be played by Paul Gonsalves on tenor sax. And thus began the greatest 14 minutes jazz ever heard:

Diminuendo In Blue - Live

Listen to Diminuendo In Blue - Live on Spotify. Duke Ellington · Song · 1956.

This performance boosted Ellington’s career and he continued to tour extensively, both in the US and overseas. In 1965, he premiered the first of his Sacred Concerts, with others following in 1968 and 1973.

Duke Ellington died from lung cancer on May 24, 1974, just a few weeks before his 75th birthday.

The Year of Tony Bennett acknowledges the great Duke Ellington often, but especially today, on the day of his birth. We sign off with Tony Bennett singing one of Ellington’s songs: “Solitude” from Bennet’s 1962 performance at Carnegie Hall.

Solitude - Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY - June 1962

Listen to Solitude - Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY - June 1962 on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 1962.

Filed Under: About His Collaborators Tagged With: Duke Ellington, Edward Kennedy Ellington, Happy Birthday Duke Ellington

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