The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Playlist of the Week: Marion Evans does great jazz arrangements for Tony

The playlist of the week of July 28, 2019, is Marion Evans does great jazz arrangements for Tony.

I have a real soft spot in my heart for Marion Evans. Like me, he’s also from Alabama, and we have musical friends — or acquaintances in my case — with fine Alabama musicians, such as Hugh Martin, who wrote the songs for Judy Garland’s Meet Me in St. Louis, including the best Christmas song ever (IMHO): “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

A few years after I started this blog, he left a comment thanking me for acknowledging the importance of arrangers to the greatness of recordings. Tony Bennett has worked with many great arrangers and I’ll be featuring some of them in coming weeks.

But this week is Marion Evans. We start with their first album: the 1967 Tony Makes It Happen!, followed bu Duets II and Cheek to Cheek.

Marion Evans does great jazz arrangements for Tony

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It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing), with Lady Gaga, by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills
The Lady’s in Love With You by Burton Lane and Frank Loesser
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore by Duke Ellington and Bob Russell
On the Sunny Side of the Street by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields
The Lady is a Tramp, with Lady Gaga by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart
Old Devil Moon by Burton Lane and Yip Harburg
They All Laughed, with Lady Gaga, by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin
I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Henry Nemo, and John Redmond
Can’t Get Out This Mood by Jimmy McHugh and Frank Loesser
Anything Goes, with Lady Gaga by Cole Porter

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Song of the Day: All My Tomorrows

The song of the day for Saturday, July 20, 2019, is “All My Tomorrows.”

About This Song

“All My Tomorrows” was written by Jimmy McHugh and Sammy Cann for the 1959 film A Hole In The Head. This film, directed by Frank Capra, starred Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson, and Eleanor Parker. Cahn and Van Heusen won the Academy Award for Best Music and for Best Song, though the song that won was “High Hopes” and not “All My Tomorrows.”

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “All My Tomorrows” in 1965 for the album If I Ruled the World: Songs for the Jet Set. Don Costa did the fine arrangement.

All My Tomorrows

Tony Bennett · If I Ruled The World: Songs For The Jet Set · Song · 1965

“All My Tomorrows,” as well as If I Ruled the World: Songs for the Jet Set, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: I Thought About You

The song of the day for Thursday, July 18, 2019, is “I Thought About You.”

About This Song

“I Thought About You” was written in 1939 by Jimmy McHugh and Johnny Mercer. In the biography Portrait of Johnny: The Life of John Herndon Mercer, author Gene Lees quotes Mercer about this song:

I can remember the afternoon that we wrote it. He [Van Heusen] played me the melody. I didn’t have any idea, but I had to go to Chicago that night. I think I was on the Benny Goodman program. And I got to thinking about it on the train. I was awake, I couldn’t sleep. The tune was running through my mind, and that’s when I wrote the song. On the train, really going to Chicago.

“I Thought About You” proved quite popular and has been recorded many times by jazz performers including Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Hartman, Shirley Horn, Dinah Washington, and Mel Tormé.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “I Thought About You” in 1992 for his album Perfectly Frank. Ralph Sharon did the arrangement.

I Thought About You

I Thought About You, a song by Tony Bennett on Spotify

“I Thought About You,” as well as Perfectly Frank, is available from iTunes.

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Playlist of the Week: Tony Loves Jerome Kern

The playlist of the week for July 14, 2019, is Tony Loves Jerome Kern.

This week’s consists of songs written by Jerome Kern, who wrote some of the most beautiful songs of the 20th century. As Bill Charlap said about Kern:

Jerome Kern is the angel at the top of the tree for American popular songwriters and writers of the theater. He influenced George Gershwin. He influenced Richard Rodgers. He influenced all of the songwriters.

Tony Loves Jerome Kern

This week our playlist explores the songs of Jerome Kern. Tony Bennett has a special feel for Kern's songs, as do I and many of his fans.

The Way You Look Tonight, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, written in 1936
Make Believe, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, written in 1927
All The Things You Are, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, written in 1939
Ol’ Man River, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, written in 1927
I’m Old Fashioned, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, written in 1942
I Won’t Dance, lyrics by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, written in 1934
Nobody Else But Me, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, written in 1946
They Didn’t Believe Me, lyrics by Herbert Reynolds, written 1914
Long Ago and Far Away, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, written in 1944
Look for the Silver Lining, lyrics by Buddy DeSylva, written in 1919

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Song of the Day: I Won’t Dance

The song of the day for Saturday, April 6, 2019, is “I Won’t Dance.”

About This Song

“I Won’t Dance” was originally written by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein and Otto Harbach in 1934 for a London musical called Three Sisters, though the show was a flop and was quickly forgotten. The following year, a film of Roberta was made, and the song was re-purposed, this time with the new Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields lyrics.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga recorded “I Won’t Dance” in 2014 for their album Cheek To Cheek and features a great arrangement by Marion Evans.

I Won’t Dance

I Won’t Dance, a song by Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga on Spotify

“I Won’t Dance,” as well as Cheek To Cheek, is available from iTunes.

About Today

For our video this Saturday, we have Fred Astaire’s dance to “I Won’t Dance” from the film Roberta.

Fred Astaire – I Won’t Dance, from Roberta

Here’s the full “I Won’t Dance” number from “Roberta.” It starts with Fred playing what earlier in the film he calls “dirty piano.” And how about Ginger in that dress! Wow!