The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: My Heart Tells Me

The song of the day for Wednesday, April 9, 2014 is “My Heart Tells Me.”

About This Song

“My Heart Tells Me” was written by Harry Warren, with lyrics by Mack Gordon, for the 1943 movie Sweet Rosie O’Grady. The movie starred Betty Grable, who in fact introduced the song while sitting in bathtub filled with bubbles as part of a performance in a somewhat naughty beer hall show. The song has been widely recorded by artists including Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Harry James, Glenn Miller, Dorothy Collins and Charlie Parker.

About This Version

Tony Bennett selected this song for his first album, Cloud 7, released in 1955. Having spent the first five years of his contract Columbia recording hit singles, Cloud 7 was the album that he had wanted to make — a solid jazz long-playing album with a solid group of jazz musicians. Jazz critic Thom Jurek said that ”The mood is nocturnal, elegant, amorous, hip.” As a first album by a young singer (Bennett was not even 30 when he made Cloud 7), it’s a remarkable album that defined Bennett not only as vastly popular singer, but a jazz artist with impeccable taste and true vision of his own artistry.

“My Heart Tells Me” was arranged by Charles Panely and featured Chuck Wayne on guitar.

http://open.spotify.com/track/7ETUKFxsrPTyVM8MsbcDmj
“My Heart Tells Me,” as well as the album Cloud 7, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: There Will Never Be Another You

The song of the day for Friday, January 10, 2014 is “There Will Never Be Another You.”

About This Song

“There Will Never Be Another You” was written by Harry Warren, with lyrics by Mack Gordon, for the 1942 film Iceland. It’s ironic that one of Harry Warren’s most beautiful songs was written for a Sonja Henie vehicle called Iceland, starring Miss Henie and John Payne as a U.S. Marine stationed in Iceland during World War II. The song was introduced in the movie by Joan Merrill. Amazingly, this beautiful song was not nominated for an Academy Award. No matter. The song has become a serious jazz standard and has had many fine recordings, including Bennett’s 1959 recording with Count Basie and his 1962 improvisation with Dave Brubeck at the White House Sessions. Other significant recordings include those by Lionel Hampton, Chet Baker, Nat King Cole and Sonny Rollins.

About This Version

Today’s version of “There Will Never Be Another You” is from the recently-released Bennett/Brubeck The White House Sessions, Live 1962. My previous post on this site was to announce that Tony Bennett has been named the Best Male Jazz Vocalist for 2013 by the readers of Jazz Times and I want to feature one of his finer jazz performances. Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck improvising: jazz doesn’t get much better.

http://open.spotify.com/track/43Nhohs8pPUMtF534R5tvA
“There Will Never Be Another You,” as well as Bennett/Brubeck The White House Sessions, Live 1962, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

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Song of the Day: There Will Never Be Another You

The song of the day for Sunday, December 8, 2013, is “There Will Never Be Another You.”

About This Song

“There Will Never Be Another You” was written by Harry Warren, with lyrics by Mack Gordon, for the 1942 Sonja Henie musical film Iceland. Many of the most exquisite songs in the American Songbook have come from unexpected films, including “But Beautiful” from Road to Rio and today’s song.

Today’s song has been widely recorded by artists including Chet Baker, Rosemary Clooney, Andy Williams, Frank Sinatra and Joe Williams.

About This Version

Today’s version is from Tony Bennett’s 1959 album In Person! with Count Basie and His Orchestra. Bennett’s two album with the Count Basie Orchestra (the other being Basie/Bennett) are quite wonderful and like all great music, they hold up beautifully and sound as if they could have been recorded yesterday. They are among my favorite Bennett albums.

http://open.spotify.com/track/6EPp2rr3eB93hlfchjTJNE
“There Will Be Another You,” as well as the album In Person!, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Mam’selle

The song of the day for Monday, October 28, 2013 is “Mam’selle.”

About This Song

The song “Mam’selle” was written in 1947 by Edmung Goulding, with lyrics by Mack Gordon. It is a somewhat bittersweet love song; it first appeared in the 1947 movie The Razor’s Edge.

About This Version

On this day in 1959, Tony Bennett and Ralph Sharon went into the CBS 30th Street Studio with a stack of sheet music and proceeded to choose, arrange and record sixteen songs in a single session, twelve of which would be released on the 1961 album Tony Sings For Two. We are always happy to feature any song from this wonderful album as song of the day, but “Mam’selle” is a favorite of ours, even though it isn’t heard as often as the other fine songs on this album.

http://open.spotify.com/track/25RurDuYwQlN78ijOoCG4N
“Mam’selle,” as well as the album Tony Sings For Two, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

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Song of the Day: There Will Never Be Another You

The song of the day for Thursday, May 30, 2013 is There Will Never Be Another You.

About This Song

There Will Never Be Another You was written by Harry Warren with lyrics by Mack Gordon in 1942 for the Sonje Henie movie Iceland.  This song has long outlived the so-so film and has been a well-respected song, both as a popular standard and in the jazz repertoire. Significant recordings (in addition to the one that we feature today) include those by Frank Sinatra, Art Tatum, Chet Baker, Rosemary Clooney and Nat King Cole.

About This Version

This song has been a favorite of mine for many years and so I was very happy to see on the playlist for the newly released Bennett/Brubeck: The White House Sessions, Live 1962 album.  It comes at the end of the album in the section where Tony Bennett and the Dave Brubeck Trio (Brubeck, Eugene Wright and Joe Morello) improvise for a few songs, including the previously released That Old Black Magic.  This recording is a revelation. It starts off like the nice slow ballad I’ve always loved and then Tony just takes off on one of the most exciting jazz vocal performances I’ve ever heard. It’s really extraordinary how well this album captures the energy of that live performance.

There Will Never Be Another You (with The Dave Brubeck Trio) - Live at the Washington Monument, Washington, D.C. - August 1962

Listen to There Will Never Be Another You (with The Dave Brubeck Trio) - Live at the Washington Monument, Washington, D.C. - August 1962 on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Dave Brubeck Trio · 2013

There Will Never Be Another You, as well as the new Bennett/Brubeck: The White House Sessions, Live 1962, is available from iTunes. It is also, as of this writing, the number one jazz album on Amazon.com.

For more information about the Bennett/Brubeck: The White House Sessions, Live 1962 album, please visit our sister site (which is still under construction) The Interactive Tony Bennett Discography.