The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Happy Birthday Harold Jones

The Year of Tony Bennett bloggers would like to wish drummer Harold Jones a very happy birthday!

Harold Jones was Count Basie’s favorite drummer and he’s our favorite drummer too. He has been playing for Tony Bennett since 2006. He also spends a lot of his free time doing drumming workshops and playing with his own band, The Bossmen, in California.

You can read more about Mr. Jones at drummerworld.com. We also enjoyed this interview with Harold from 2012.

Here’s a video of Harold Jones playing with Count Basie in 1968:

p.s. Hope you, Tony and rest of the quartet will be visiting us in Portland, Oregon or Seattle this year. We miss you!

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Song of the Day: Poor Little Rich Girl

The song of the day for Friday, August 21. 2015 is “Poor Little Rich Girl.”

About This Song

Noël Coward wrote “Poor Little Rich Girl” for the 1925 revue On With the Dance. It is one of his most popular songs.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Poor Little Rich Girl” with Count Basie and His Orchestra in 1959 for their first album: Basie/Bennett. The very effective arrangement is by Ralph Sharon.

About Today

Today we celebrate the birth of one of America’s great band leaders: William James Basie, who was born in Red Bank, New Jersey on August 21, 1904. He started playing piano in his youth; by the time he was a teenager, he had dropped out of school and starting his career as a jazz pianist.

He made the decision to move west to Kansas City, where he joined Bennie Moten’s band in 1929. After Moten’s death in 1936, Basie formed his own band and took it to Chicago. In that time, he worked with some of the great jazz musicians: Lester Young, Freddie Green, Buck Clayton, Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams.

In 1937, he took his band to New York, playing in venues like the Roseland Ballroom and The Savoy. During this time, he played with Billie Holiday and other noted artists of the day.

Count Basie
Count Basie

Like most big bands after the war, Basie had to disband his large group, but continued to play in smaller combos and moved on to the new forms, like bebop, with a new group of musicians: Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, among others. He gradually reformed his band, toured Europe and kept his band alive and vibrant all the way into the 1980s, including a wonderful appearance in Mel Brook’s film Blazing Saddles.

We note here that Tony Bennett’s drummer, Harold Jones, played with Count Basie from 1967 to 1972. Tony Bennett always introduces Jones as “Count Basie’s Favorite Drummer.” We have a little video of Harold Jones playing with Count Basie and His Orchestra that seems to prove that point:

Happy Birthday, Count Basie. Thanks for all the great music.

Poor Little Rich Girl - 1990 Remix / Remaster

Listen to Poor Little Rich Girl - 1990 Remix / Remaster on Spotify. Song · Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Tristan Powell · 1959


“Poor Little Rich Girl,” as well as Basie/Bennett, is available from iTunes.

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Our Favorite Drummer

The Year of Tony Bennett would like to wish a very happy birthday to Harold Jones, Tony Bennett’s drummer. Classically trained as a percussionist, Jones has had distinguished career. Tony Bennett introduces him at concerts as ‘Count Basie’s favorite drummer.” We recently read a delightful biography of Harold Jones called Harold Jones: The Singer’s Drummer, which is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as well as other booksellers.

Harold with Basie3

He has played not only for Tony Bennett and Count Basie, but also Natalie Cole, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr., Carmen McRae, Ray Charles, Kay Starr and many, many other great performers.

You can learn more about Harold Jones at his website haroldjonesbigband.com, which contains a full biography, discography, reviews, downloads and much more.

There is also this excellent interview with Scott Laningham, which you can read or listen to here.

And, we just wanted to mention how very handsome you look in the Cheek To Cheek DVD in your formal wear.

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Happy Birthday to Harold Jones

The Year of Tony Bennett bloggers would like to wish drummer Harold Jones a very happy birthday!

Harold Jones was Count Basie’s favorite drummer and he’s our favorite drummer too. He has been playing for Tony Bennett since 2006. He also spends a lot of his free time doing drumming workshops and playing with his own band, The Bossmen, in California.

You can read more about Mr. Jones at drummerworld.com. We also enjoyed this interview with Harold from 2012.

Here’s a video of Harold Jones playing with Count Basie in 1968:

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Song of the Day: Remind Me

The song of the day for Wednesday, August 28, 2013 is “Remind Me.”

About This Song

Today’s song was composed by Jerome Kern and featured lyrics by Dorothy Fields. “Remind Me” was written for the 1940 film One Night in the Tropics. The song is typically performed by women; recordings include those by Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, June Christy, Doris Day and Jeri Southern.

About This Version

“Remind Me” is from Tony Bennett’s 1972 album With Love, which was arranged and conducted by Robert Farnon. The album was recorded in London and produced by Jimmy Wisner. I’m a big fan of Farnon’s work with Tony Bennett, starting with the 1968 album Snowfall, which may very well be one of the best Christmas albums ever recorded, and the 1971 live recording Get Happy with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Farnon had a great feel for Bennett’s voice in his arrangements and the results were wonderful.

http://open.spotify.com/track/2OOYgAiO1Qplp18lhAl89p
“Remind Me,” as well as the entire With Love album, is available from iTunes and Amazon.com.

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