An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett
On his new 24-7 streaming Jonathan Channel, Jonathan Schwartz is doing all Johnny Mercer songs today. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the Jonathan Channel and if you love the American Songbook, check out his site on WNYC:
http://www.wnyc.org/series/jonathan-channel/
I can’t think of a better way to help celebrate Johnny Mercer on his birthday.
The song of the day for Monday, November 18, 2013 is “Out Of This World.”
“Out Of This World” was written in 1944 by Harold Arlen, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The song was introduced in the 1945 movie Out Of This World, where Bing Crosby dubbed the voice Eddie Bracken for the singing of this song. This song is favorite of singers including Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney and Jo Stafford.
Alec Wilder, in his book American Popular Song, notes that this song is somewhat unusual, as it has no verse, as was customary for most popular songs written at that time. He says that “it is a very strong song, with splendid support in a John Mercer lyric.”
We choose this song today to celebrate the birth of John Herndon Mercer, on this day in 1909. Mercer is, without a doubt, one of America’s finest lyricists and his work, especially that with Harold Arlen, is beyond compare.
Tony Bennett has recorded Out of This World twice: first in 1960 for the album Alone Together and again in 1967 for For Once In My Life. Both are versions are outstanding. Today’s version is from 1967, arranged and conducted by Marion Evans.
Our hat is off to the great Johnny Mercer and all of the wonderful songs he gave us.
http://open.spotify.com/track/1lbNdANp7StpkibXrAMjbi
“Out Of This World,” as well as the album For Once In My Life,” is available from iTunes and Amazon.
Note: All links are to The Interactive Tony Bennett Discography.
The song of the day for Sunday, November 10, 2013 is “Laura.”
“Laura” was written for the 1944 film of the same name, which starred Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb and Dana Andrews. The music was written by David Raksin and lyrics were added later by Johnny Mercer. Raksin was a noted film composer who wrote “The Bad and the Beautiful,” which Bill Evans played as a solo on his and Tony’s album Together Again. “Laura” is jazz standard, ranking #35 on the jazz standards.com website. In 1945, the year the film was released, there were five different recordings, with Woody Herman’s version gaining million-seller status. Over the years, “Laura” has been recorded by artists including Frank Sinatra, Billy Eckstine, Ella Fitzgerald and many others, including Tony Bennett.
Tony Bennett recorded “Laura” at the famed CBS 30th Street Studio in New York on this day in 1959. At the same session, he also recorded “Autumn Leaves,” “Speak Low” and “Tenderly.” The album was arranged and conducted by Frank DeVol and has a lush orchestral sound that suits the song selection very well. As an aside, Bucky Pizzarelli played guitar at this session. You can read more about the session here.
“Laura” appeared on Tony Bennett’s 1960 album To My Wonderful One, his eighth album at Columbia.
http://open.spotify.com/track/6A7vt75OqxDCsEWvvqgoCf
“Laura,” as well as the album To My Wonderful One, is available from iTunes.
The song of the day for Monday, November 4, 2013 is “Jeepers Creepers.”
“Jeepers Creepers” was written by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer for the 1938 movie Going Places. Louis Armstrong introduced the song in the movie and continued to sing it throughout his career. In the movie, Armstrong portrays the trainer for a racehorse, who can only be calmed when by hearing the song “Jeepers Creepers” played on the trumpet.
Today’s song is from Tony Bennett’s 1959 album with the Count Basie Orchestra, Basie/Bennett. The Year of Tony Bennett thinks this is a good song to get us all up and going on a Monday. This song, as well as the entire album, was arranged by Ralph Sharon and produced by Teddy Reig.
http://open.spotify.com/track/4IhBcazBOrGm8CHegL1uiT
“Jeepers Creepers,” as well as the Basie/Bennett album, is available from iTunes and Amazon.
The song of the day for Friday, October 25, 2013 is a medley of “The Good Life” and “I Wanna Be Around.”
These are two of Tony Bennett’s most popular songs, both of which originally appeared on Bennett’s 1964 album I Wanna Be Around.
“The Good Life” (“La Belle Vie” in the original French) was written in 1962 by Sacha Distel with lyrics by Jack Reardon. The song originally appeared in the 1963 film Seven Capital Sins.
“I Wanna Be Around” was written 1959 by Johnny Mercer and Sadie Vimmerstedt. Ms. Vimmerstedt, who lived in Youngstown, Ohio, was a big fan of Johnny Mercer. One day she was inspired to write the line “I want to be around to pick up the pieces, when somebody breaks your heart.” She thought it sounded like a Johnny Mercer song, and so she mailed the lyrics to him (Johnny Mercer, Songwriter, New York, NY). The post office forwarded the letter to ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), who gave it to Mercer. Mercer must have agreed with Sadie, as he not only completed the lyric but composed the tune as well. Mercer gave Ms. Vimmerstedt a healthy portion of the royalties, which made Ms. Vimmerstedt a very well-to-do woman.
Because Tony Bennett is performing with the quartet tonight (Casino Rama Entertainment Centre in Rama, Ontario, Canada), we thought it would be nice to feature a recording of a live performance. Tonight’s medley is from Tony Bennett’s Grammy-winning album MTV Unplugged from 1994. Bennett, playing with the Ralph Sharon Trio, gave a great concert live on television and won over a whole new generation of fans in one night. This concert also marks the first time Bennett performed with k.d. lang; a few years later they did an album of songs made famous by Louis Armstrong, A Wonderful World. They have been recording together since then.
http://open.spotify.com/track/3hW8O0OAEOr3ubovTzmswF
“The Good Life / I Wanna Be Around,” as well as the entire MTV Unplugged album, is available from iTunes and Amazon.