• Home
  • About
    • About This Blog
    • About the Authors
  • Song of the Day
  • Album of the Week
  • Music and Art
    • Tony Live!
    • Music
      • Viva Duets
      • Songs
      • Albums
    • Art
  • And More
    • Collaborator of the Month
    • Songwriter of the Month – 2016
    • News
      • Cheek To Cheek
      • Bennett & Brubeck -The White House Sessions Live 1962
      • Life is a Gift
      • Viva Duets
      • Zen of Bennett
      • Other News
    • About His Collaborators
    • Musings
    • Extras
      • Books
      • Interviews
      • Media
  • The Interactive Tony Bennett Discography

The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

December 14, 2014 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Lost in the Stars

The song of the day for Sunday, December 14, 2014 is “Lost in the Stars.”

About This Song

“Lost in the Stars” is from the 1949 musical of the same name, based on the 1948 novel by Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country. It was written by Kurt Weill, with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson. Set in South Africa in an era when apartheid seemed as if it would never end, the plot concerns a black priest whose son kills, in a robbery attempt, a white man who is a friend of his father. The priest sings this song at the end of the first act, in a complete crisis of faith.

About This Version

This is Tony Bennett’s second recording of this song; he has recorded it several times. Today’s version was recorded in 1958 with Count Basie and His Orchestra. It appears on their album In Person!, released in 1959.

Lost In The Stars

Listen to Lost In The Stars on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 1959.


“Lost in the Stars,” as well as the album In Person!, is available from iTunes.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Count Basie and His Orchestra, In Person! with Count Basie and His Orchestra, Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson

August 21, 2014 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Taking A Chance On Love

The song of the day for Thursday, August 21, 2014 is “Taking A Chance On Love.”

About This Song

“Taking a Chance on Love” was written for the 1940 musical Cabin in the Sky by Vernon Duke (music) and John Latouche and Ted Fetter (lyrics), where it was introduced by the great Ethel Waters and Dooley Wilson. The song works well for both jazz singers and instrumentalists, with significant recordings by Dave Brubeck, Tony Bennett, Judy Garland and Dizzy Gillespie.

And, even though we have featured two songs in row with lyrics by John Latouche, it is not John Latouche Week, though that’s a great idea.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded today’s song in December, 1958 with Count Basie and His Orchestra for the 1959 album In Person! with Count Basie and His Orchestra. In his autobiography, The Good Life, Bennett tells this story:

Although I’d talked with him on the telephone I didn’t meet Count Basie until our rehearsals began. It was an amazing experience, the fulfillment of a dream, and I’ll never forget it. We hit it off right away, as though we always knew and understood each other. At one point, Basie turned to his band, pointed his finger at me, and said, ‘Anything this man wants, he gets!’ I was floored.

About Today

William James “Count” Basie was born on August 21, 1904 in Red Bank, New Jersey and would have been 110 years old today. He learned to play piano from his mother as a child and by the time he was a teenager, he was performing. He had dropped out of school and ran lights for a vaudeville house while he learned to accompany silent movies. By the age of 16, he was performing professionally. Though from the East Coast, he really got his start in jazz in Kansas City, playing with Bennie Moten’s Band from 1929 until 1935, when Moten died. He then started his own band, which lasted for nearly fifty years. Some of the great talent that came through Basie’s band include Lester Young, Freddy Green, Buck Clayton, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams. Billie Holiday toured with Basie after the band moved to New York in 1938.

Basie’s was one of the very bands that managed to stay together after the Swing era ebbed out in the early 1940s; even Benny Goodman dismantled his band. Basie and Ellington found ways to last, even though it meant prodigious touring to make the payroll.

Younger fans may remember Count Basie and His Orchestra playing in the desert at the end of Mel Brook’s Blazing Saddles.

And Tony Bennett fans remember that his current drummer, Harold Jones, played with Basie.

Taking A Chance On Love

Listen to Taking A Chance On Love on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 1959.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Cabin in the Sky, Count Basie, Happy Birthday Count Basie, In Person! with Count Basie and His Orchestra, John Latouche, Ted Fetter, Vernon Duke

June 11, 2014 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: When I Fall In Love

The song of the day for Wednesday, June 11, 2014 is “When I Fall In Love.”

About This Song

“When I Fall In Love” was written by Victor Young (music) and Edward Heyman (lyrics). It was introduced in the 1952 movie One Minute To Zero. The first recording was released in April 1952 by Jeri Southern and was arranged and conducted by the composer, Victor Young. However, the first real hit of the song was the 1952 recording by Doris Day. Other notable recordings include those by Nat King Cole, Etta Jones, Tom Jones and, of course, Tony Bennett.

About This Version

Today’s song is from the album In Person! With Count Basie and His Orchestra, released in 1959. It was his second album with Basie, the first, Basie/Bennett, also released that same year.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1iqN4Q3ZaoADUxrEe8X1XI
“When I Fall In Love,” as well as the album In Person! With Count Basie and His Orchestra, is available from iTunes.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Count Basie, Edward Heyman, In Person! with Count Basie and His Orchestra, Victor Young

January 11, 2014 By Suzanne 1 Comment

Song of the Day: Taking a Chance on Love

The song of the day for Saturday, January 11, 2014 is “Taking a Chance on Love.”

About This Song

“Taking a Chance on Love” was written for the 1940 musical Cabin in the Sky by Vernon Duke, with lyrics by John La Touche and Ted Fetter. The song was introduced by the great Ethel Waters and Dooley Wilson. The song works well for both jazz singers and instrumentalists, with significant recordings by Dave Brubeck, Tony Bennett, Judy Garland and Dizzy Gillespie.

About This Version

Tony Bennett first recorded this song for his second album, Tony, released in 1957. However, I prefer this version from 1958 In Person! with Count Basie and His Orchestra. This version was also used on the 1962 album I Left My Heart in San Francisco.

http://open.spotify.com/track/7eZGFUxQlMDkDPzJAuGYQm
“Taking a Chance on Love,” as well as the album In Person! with Count Basie and His Orchestra, is available from iTunes.

And as it’s YouTube Saturday, I have two videos for you.

The first is Tony Bennett singing today’s song:

And here is Miss Ethel Waters from Cabin in the Sky:

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Cabin in the Sky, Ethel Waters, In Person! with Count Basie and His Orchestra, John La Touche, Ted Fetter, Vernon Duke

October 3, 2013 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Solitude

The song of the day for Thursday, October 3, 2013 is “Solitude.”

About This Song

“Solitude” was written by Duke Ellington in 1934, with lyrics by Eddie DeLange and Irving Mills. One of his masterpieces, Ellington is said to have written this song in twenty minutes at the recording session, as they were on number short (Ted Gioia in Jazz Standards). It’s a very strong song for both vocalists and instrumentalists. Ellington made over a hundred recordings of this song. Other great recordings include those by Paul Robeson, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Billy Eckstine.

About This Version

Today’s version is Tony Bennett’s first recording of “Solitude” and is from the 1950 album In Person! with Count Basie and His Orchestra. Other Bennett recordings of today’s song include the 1962 Carnegie Hall concert and the 1997 recording from On Holiday.

Tony Bennett has said that he probably has sung this song more often than other, even “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” It was a popular request from his early (even pre-World War II) days as a singing waiter.

http://open.spotify.com/track/29vIfak1UHQzo5VUA1GaEZ
“Solitude,” as well as the album In Person!, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Duke Ellington, Eddie DeLange, In Person! with Count Basie and His Orchestra, Irving Mills

Subscribe to The Year of Tony Bennett

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Current Reader Favorites

  • Duke Ellington and the Harlem Renaissance
  • Song of the Day: The Good Life
  • Embrace Me
  • Song of the Day: Yesterday I Heard The Rain
  • Song of the Day: You Must Believe In Spring
  • Song of the Day: I Left My Heart In San Francisco
  • Home
  • About
  • Song of the Day
  • Album of the Week
  • Music and Art
  • And More
  • The Interactive Tony Bennett Discography

Copyright © 2023 The Year of Tony Bennett · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress