The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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October 8 2013 is Tony Bennett Digital Day!

In conjunction with the release of Live at the Sahara: Las Vegas, 1964, the release date of October 8 is Tony Bennett Digital Day.

liveathesahara

With this release, Tony’s entire catalog will be available on iTunes! (I am not going to bring up the three Verve/MGM albums). Tony will be online Tuesday to answer questions from his fans.

11:45 – 12:15 PM ET: HuffPost Live Chat. This will be a live, streaming interview with Tony conducted by Marc Lamont Hill. Click here to go the HuffPost Live page.

12:30 – 12:45 PM ET: Twitter Chat hosted by iTunes. Use the hashtag #asktony or #tonydigitalday to ask questions now.

1:00 – 2:00 PM ET: Mystery Event! (I love surprises!)

2:15 – 3:00 PM ET: Facebook Chat. Sorry, no connect information yet, but I’ll update as soon as I know anything. Click here to view Tony’s page on Facebook and add questions now for the chat.

There’s a special section set up on Tony Bennett’s website with information about Tony Bennett Digital Day at digital.tonybennett.com. You can find up-to-date information about Tuesday’s events and even submit questions for the Facebook and Twitter chats from this page. Use the hashtag #tonydigitalday

You can read more about the release of Live at the Sahara: Las Vegas 1964 and Tuesday’s special activities in this press release.

Your opinionated author will be working on Tuesday, but will post transcripts as soon as possible. Now to adjust my meeting schedule for next Tuesday from 11:45 – 3:00 ET. 🙂

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Song of the Day: The Moment of Truth

The song of the day for Wednesday, April 10, 2013 is The Moment of Truth.

About This Song

The Moment of Truth was written by Tex Satterwhite and Frank Scott. I’ve not been able to find out much about either composer, other than Frank Scott worked with Lawrence Welk and that they wrote the song in 1963. It’s a terrific song and has been recorded by Peggy Lee (or Miss Peggy Lee, as I always call her) and Vic Damone. The Peggy Lee version is very good.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded a performance at the Sahara in Las Vegas on April 8, 1964 with the Ralph Sharon Trio and an orchestra led by Louis Basil. The performance was recorded by Bennett’s long-time recording engineer Frank Laico and was intended to be released as an album. The album was finally released as part of the 2011 Tony Bennett Complete Collection.

Bennett called the show The Moment of Truth, and the show both opens and closes with that song.  In between is a fantastic performance by Bennett and even a comedy interlude with Milton Berle, Danny Thomas and Mickey Rooney.  I wish I could point you to a location to hear this show, but as far as I know, it’s only available in the boxed Complete Collection. I recommend this concert recording highly.

Today’s version is from Bennett’s 1963 album This Is All I Ask. It has much of the same energy and punch as the concert version, with a wonderful arrangement by Ralph Burns.

http://open.spotify.com/track/39yeBiimbSr3Iimz0ckReB
The Moment of Truth, as well as the remastered This Is All I Ask album, is available from iTunes.

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