The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Sophisticated Lady

The song of the day for Monday, August 5, 2024, is “Sophisticated Lady.”

About This Song

“Sophisticated Lady” was written in 1932 by Duke Ellington, with lyrics by Irving Mills and Mitchell Parish. Ellington is said to have been inspired to write this song by two of his grade school teachers, who toured Europe in the summers after teaching all year. “To me that spelled sophistication.” “Sophisticated Lady” was first recorded in 1933 on the flip side with Harold Arlen’s Stormy Weather. It is, of course, one of Ellington’s most popular and often-played songs. In addition to numerous recordings by Ellington over the years, the song has been recorded by Art Tatum, Anita O’Day, Billie Holiday, Billy Eckstine, Johnny Hodges, Sarah Vaughan, and Glenn Miller.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Sophisticated Lady” in May 1999 for his album Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool. The recording features Joel Smirnoff on violin. Jorge Calandrelli wrote the arrangement.

em>Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Performance.

“Sophisticated Lady,” as well as Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool, is available on Apple Music.

Here’s a live recording of “Sophisticated Lady: from Ellington’s performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival (where he brought down the house with the extraordinary 14 minute rendition of “Dimenuendo In Blue” which I’m also including):

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Song of the Day: I Wanna Be Around

The song of the day for Monday, April 2, 2018 is “I Wanna Be Around.”

About This Song

“I Wanna Be Around” was written in 1959 by Johnny Mercer and Sadie Vimmerstedt.

The story of “I Wanna Be Around” is legendary in the music business. Sadie Vimmerstedt, who lived in Youngstown, Ohio, was a big fan of Johnny Mercer’s music. She wrote the opening line ‘I want to be around to pick up the pieces, when somebody breaks yours heart’ and felt it sounded like a Johnny Mercer song. She mailed a letter to ‘Johnny Mercer, Songwriter, New York.’ The post office forwarded the letter to ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), who got the letter to Mercer. Mercer wrote the melody himself and completed the lyrics for “I Wanna Be Around” in 1959 and asked Tony Bennett to record it, which he did in 1962. Mercer gave 50% of the profits to Ms. Vimmerstedt, which made her a wealthy woman and enabled her to retire and travel the world. It is one of the great songs in the American Songbook.

About This Version

Today I’m featuring Bennett’s first recording of “I Wanna Be Around,” for which he named his album I Wanna Be Around. While the album was released in 1963, it was recorded in October, 1962 and so fits in nicely with our ongoing tribute to Tony Bennett and 1962. As most of the songs on this album were recorded in 1962, I predict you’ll be hearing more from this great album in the days to come. Marty Manning did the arrangement.

I Wanna Be Around...

Listen to I Wanna Be Around... on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1963


“I Wanna Be Around,” as well as I Wanna Be Around, is available from iTunes.

As I missed posting over the weekend, I can at least present this video of Tony Bennett singing “I Wanna Be Around,” live from the Newport Jazz Festival in 2002. Accompanying Bennett are Lee Musiker (piano), Gray Sargent (guitar), Paul Langosch (bass) and Clayton Cameron (drums.).

Check out the beautiful live shot from the stage looking out over the audience and the ocean just behind. One of these days, I’m going to have to go to the Newport Jazz Festival.

In fact, one the great jazz films ever made is Jazz On A Summer’s Day, filmed in 1959 at the Newport Jazz Festival. YouTube has a nice trailer of the film. It’s a must-see.

Every time I see this film, I wish I had been born 10 or 15 years earlier and hand been there that summer.

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What To Do Until Your Next Live Tony Bennett Concert

If you’re like The Year of Tony Bennett, you’re waiting (somewhat impatiently) for your next live Tony Bennett concert. (Scroll to the bottom of the page to see how long The Year of Tony Bennett has to wait for their next concerts.)

As this is summer and we’re in a jazz festival state of mind, we’d like to draw your attention to a collection of videos from the Newport Jazz Festival in 2002 that are hosted on Wolfgang’s Vault.

This link will take to the page where you can choose from the many films available.

Enjoy! And remember: The Best Is Yet To Come!

Thanks to Wolfgang’s Vault.