The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: I Could Write A Book

The song of the day for Monday, May 2, 2016 is “I Could Write A Book.”

About This Song

Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote “I Could Write A Book” for the 1940 Broadway musical Pal Joey. This has always been an interesting song. Today it’s considered a lovely romantic number, but in the context of the musical, it’s sung as a phony love song in order to woo the innocent ingenue. It’s been widely recorded by artists including Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Betty Carter, Anita O’Day and Ella Fitzgerald.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “I Could Write A Book” in 1976 for Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers and Hart Songs. The lovely accompaniment is from the Ruby Braff-George Barnes Quartet, which featured Braff on cornet, Barnes and Wayne Wright on guitar and John Guiffrida on bass. It’s a lovely sound.

I Could Write A Book

Listen to I Could Write A Book on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 2004


“I Could Write A Book,” as well as The Complete Improv Recordings, is available from iTunes.

About Today

We’re featuring “I Could Write A Book” to celebrate the 121st anniversary of the birth of the lyricist of the song, Lorenz Hart.

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Song of the Day: Blue Moon

The song of the day for Tuesday, October 6, 2015 is “Blue Moon.”

About This Song

“Blue Moon” was written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1933. The tune first was used in the 1934 film Manhattan Melodrama, though with a completely different lyric. It has gone on to be one of the great jazz standards, ranking #94 on the Jazz Standards website. The song was recorded by many of the great artists of the 1930s, including Benny Goodman and Ray Noble. It has remained popular up to now and is regularly sung by jazz and cabaret vocalists.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded today’s version of “Blue Moon” in July 1973 at the CBS 30th Street Studios on his own label, Improv, founded after Bennett left Columbia. It was initially released on Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers & Hart Songs. Other songs recorded over the two day long session were released on Tony Bennett Sings More Great Rodgers & Hart. The songs from both albums, as well as alternate versions of many of the songs, is collected on The Complete Improv Recordings, which is available from iTunes and on CD from Amazon. The liner notes for the CD set is wonderful.

For these two albums, Bennett was backed by the Ruby Braff – George Barnes Quartet, featuring Braff on cornet, Barnes and Wayne Wright on guitar and John Guiffrida on bass. No piano and no drums. And completely brilliant. Not only does the sound of the quartet beautifully evoke the sound of the 1930s, the Quartet and Bennett are perfect together. After the pretty rough last months at Columbia, these songs are pure perfection. There’s a wonderful lightness in his voice that I dearly love–when he dances just over the tune. I believe these recordings to be some of Tony Bennett’s finest work.

Blue Moon

Listen to Blue Moon on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 2004


“Blue Moon,” as well as The Complete Improv Recordings, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

The song of the day for Monday, October 14, 2013 is “The Most Beautiful Girl In The World.”

About This Song

“The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” was written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1935 for the Broadway spectacular Jumbo. It’s one of the songwriting team’s most popular love songs, with recordings by Frank Sinatra and Perry Como, in addition to Bennett’s very fine recording.

About This Version

Today’s version is from Bennett’s 1976 album Tony Bennett Sings More Great Rodgers and Hart, also released with the songs on Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers and Hart Songs on Tony Bennett Sings the Rodgers and Hart Songbook.

Tony Bennett recorded these songs with the Ruby Braff / George Barnes Quartet, with Braff on cornet, Barnes and Wayne Wright on guitar and John Guiffrida on bass. No drums; no piano: just cornet, guitars and bass. The results were extraordinary. I find these recordings superb; it’s an intimate and focused treatment of these wonderful songs by Rodgers and Hart. And Bennett is in perfect voice for this song as well as all the songs on the album.

http://open.spotify.com/track/3XTwokibF9IHDzl7lumC2u
“The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” as well as The Complete Improv Recordings, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

Tony Bennett Sings the Rodgers and Hart Songbook is available from Amazon.

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Song of the Day: I Could Write a Book

The song of the day for Tuesday, August 27, 2013 is “I Could Write a Book.”

About This Song

Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote “I Could Write a Book” for the 1940 Broadway musical Pal Joey. Based on the novel by John O’Hara, Pal Joey was one of the first musicals with an anti-hero. Joey is a charming, but is manipulative and ambitious.

About This Version

“I Could Write a Book” is from Tony Bennett’s sublime Improv recordings of the Rodgers and Hart songbook in 1973. Originally released on two separate albums, all 26 songs are available on a combined set: Tony Bennett Sings the Rodgers and Hart Songbook.

For all of these songs, Bennett sings with the Ruby Braff – George Barnes Quartet, with Barnes and Wayne Wright on guitar, Ruby Braff on cornet and John Guiffrida on bass. The quartet and Bennett’s voice are perfect. A brilliant collection of songs, Bennett in very fine voice and the unusual, but very effective quartet add up to a splendid set.

http://open.spotify.com/track/7MxaMByk7vzys1FjVGGSo7
“I Could Write a Book,” as well as the Tony Bennett Rodgers & Hart Songbook, is available from iTunes and Amazon.com.

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Song of the Day: I Could Write A Book

The song of the day for Wednesday, January 30, 2012 is I Could Write A Book.

About I Could Write A Book

Composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Lorenz Hart, I Could Write A Book is one of the hit songs from the 1940 musical Pal Joey (the other being Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered). Rodgers and Hart had a magnificent career and worked together from 1919 until Hart’s death in 1943. They wrote two more musicals after Pal Joey: By Jupiter and A Connecticut Yankee. After Hart’s death, Rodgers partnered with Oscar Hammerstein II.

The contribution of Rodgers and Hart to the American Songbook cannot be underestimated. Mountain Greenery, Thou Swell, Blue Moon, This Can’t Be Love and many, many more are some of the songs that were popular when written and remain popular today with jazz and cabaret singers.

10RodgersHart

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded two Rodgers and Hart albums for his Improv label: Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers and Hart Songs and Tony Bennett Sings More Great Rodgers and Hart, both released in 1973.

Bennett is an excellent interpreter of the songs of Rodgers and Hart. The albums are also remarkable for the musicians he recorded the albums with. Bennett was a big fan of the cornet player Ruby Braff. Together, they created a wonderful sound with Braff’s cornet, George Barnes and Wayne Wright on guitar, and John Guiffrida on bass. No drums, no piano: just cornet, two guitars and bass. It’s a warm, inviting and very intimate sound that Bennett’s voice fits beautifully with.

I Could Write A Book originally appeared on Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers & Hart Songs.

I Could Write A Book

Listen to I Could Write A Book on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1973

I Could Write A Book, as well as the full Tony Bennett Sings Rodgers and Hart, is available from iTunes.

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