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The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

February 19, 2022 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Album of the Week: Tony Sings For Two

The album of the week starting on February 20, 2022, is Tony Sings For Two.

Tony Sings For Two

On October 28, 1959, Tony Bennett and Ralph Sharon entered the CBS 30th Street Studio with a briefcase full of sheet music to record an album with no orchestra, just Bennett and Sharon on piano. They looked through the music and tried different tunes. Once a song was selected, they recorded it in one or two takes; the arrangements were spontaneous. In one afternoon, they recorded 16 songs, 12 of which made it onto the album; a 13th song was added to the 1995 CD re-release. Mitch Miller showed up at the start of these sessions, furious that they were really going through with it. When he saw that there was no dissuading Bennett, he turned to Frank Laico and said, “I’m leaving. I can’t support this.” The resulting album, Tony Sings For Two was released until early 1961. The album was a masterpiece and is one of Bennett’s finest albums.

Album Facts

Release Date February 6, 1961
Label Columbia
Producer Mitch Miller
Vocals Tony Bennett
Piano Ralph Sharon
Recording Date October 28, 1959
Recording Engineer Frank Laico

Listen to Tony Sings For Two

You can also listen to Tony Sings For Two on

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Filed Under: Album of the Week Tagged With: A Sleepin' Bee, Bewitched, Frank Laico, Happiness is a Thing Called Joe, I Didn't Know What Time It Was, I'm Thru With Love, Just Friends, Mam'selle, Mitch Miller, My Funny Valentine, Nobody's Heart Belongs To Me, Ralph Sharib, Skylark, Street of Dreams, The Man That Got Away, Tony Bennett, Where Or When

February 2, 2014 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Remembering Stan Getz

The Year of Tony Bennett would like to remember the great Stan Getz, who was born on February 2, 1927 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The family moved to New York and the young Stan began his study of music. His father first bought him a clarinet, but Stan preferred the saxophone and practiced eight hours a day. As a high school student, he was accepted into the All City High School Orchestra of New York City, which also enabled him to get private (and free) music lessons.

In 1943, at the age of 16, Getz got a job playing saxophone for Jack Teagarden. Because Getz was underage, he became Teagarden’s ward. His career began to skyrocket and he served as soloist with Woody Herman, and was able to then launch his career as a leader and soloist.

Getz was one of the early proponent of the West Coast cool jazz style in the mid 1950s, playing with artists including Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach. In the 1960s, he helped introduce the bossa nova style in the US with his 1963 Getz/Gilberto album and the Grammy winning “The Girl From Ipanema.”

He continued to work successfully up until his death in 1991.

In 1964, Tony Bennett, Herbie Hancock, Stan Getz, Ron Carter and Elvin Jones recorded a series of songs that remained unreleased until the 2011 release of the Complete Collection. In honor of Stan Getz, we feature one of the songs from that session: “Just Friends.”

Just Friends

Listen to Just Friends on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 2012.

Filed Under: About His Collaborators Tagged With: Just Friends, Stan Getz, Stan Getz Birthday

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