The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Angel Eyes

The song of the day for Monday, February 3, 2014 is “Angel Eyes.”

About This Song

The local jazz station in Portland, Oregon (the hometown of The Year of Tony Bennett) introduced new program today called CineJazz, featuring jazz music from the movies. (KMHD streams live over the internet; it’s a great jazz station). CineJazz will be aired on Sundays from 3:00PM to 6:00 PM Pacific Time. One of the first songs they played was Ella Fitzgerald’s 1957 version of today’s song: “Angel Eyes.”

“Angel Eyes” was written in 1946 by Matt Dennis, with lyrics by Earl Brent. It was first recorded by a singer named Herb Jeffries, but his recording company folded and the song faded from sight. Nat “King” Cole recorded it in 1953 on the B-side with “Return To Paradise.” Also in 1953, the song was used in mystery film called Jennifer, starring Ida Lupino and Howard Duff, with the composer Dennis singing his own song.

Dennis himself credits Ella Fitzgerald for the popularity of “Angel Eyes.” She made several fine recordings, the first of which was in 1952 with Sy Oliver and His Orchestra. The 1957 recording that started us down this path is included on First Lady of Song and Ultimate Ella. In 1960, Ella Fitzgerald appeared in a film called Let No Man Write My Epitaph, which starred Shelly Winters, Burl Ives, James Darren and Jean Seberg. Fitzgerald’s character, Flora, sang several songs in the film which were released in 1990 on Intimate Ella, including “Angel Eyes.”

Frank Sinatra recorded “Angel Eyes” in 1958 for Frank Sinatra Sings Only The Lonely and his recording was quite popular as well.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Angel Eyes” in 1992 for the album Perfectly Frank, which was arranged and conducted by Robert Farnon. Frank Laico, who recorded virtually all of Bennett’s songs during from the time he started at Columbia until he left the label in the early 1970s, came out of retirement to engineer this album for Tony Bennett.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4LzdqyK19bQj5BOsGakaGX
“Angel Eyes,” as well as the album Perfectly Frank, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Last Night When We Were Young

The song of the day for Wednesday, January 8, 2014 is “Last Night When We Were Young.”

About This Song

“Last Night When We Were Young” was written in 1935 by Harold Arlen with lyrics by E.Y. “Yip” Harburg. Arlen considered this song to be one of his favorite songs of those he wrote. In American Popular Song, Alec Wilder calls it a “most remarkable and beautiful song … (that) goes far beyond the boundaries of popular music.” Yip Harburg has said that he doesn’t know exactly where the title came from but that “the juxtaposition of those two phrases is almost a whole world of philosophy.” All in all, it’s a very beautiful and introspective song that is much beloved by singers. Frank Sinatra included on his wonderful album In The Wee Small Hours. It has also been recorded by Judy Garland, Mel Tormé, Carmen McRae and, of course, Tony Bennett.

About This Version

Tony Bennett first recorded “Last Night When We Were Young” in 1959 for his album To My Wonderful One. Today’s version, however, is from his 1992 album Perfectly Frank, which consists of songs associated with Frank Sinatra. And, even though Bennett pays tribute to Sinatra in choosing these songs, this is in no way a cover album. It is completely Tony Bennett, at the very top of his form, singing some the greatest songs from the American Songbook, not the least of which is “Last Night When We Were Young.”

http://open.spotify.com/track/1qgQmCZ3fUkG2dNSYI6OvN
“When We Were Young Last Night,” as well as the album Perfectly Frank, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: I’m Glad There Is You

The song of the day for Monday, December 30, 2013 is “I’m Glad There Is You.”

About This Song

“I’m Glad There Is You” was written in 1941 by Jimmy Dorsey and Paul Madeira (also known as Paul Mertz). The first recording of this song was released by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra in 1942. It has been widely recorded by artists including Frank Sinatra, Stan Getz, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan, Joe Pass and many others.

About This Version

Today’s song is from Tony Bennett’s 1992 album Perfectly Frank, consisting of songs made famous by Frank Sinatra. The entire album is a delight and is a great favorite here at The Year of Tony Bennett.

http://open.spotify.com/track/445SF4I1u83hR49ubrukQf
“I’m Glad There Is You,” as well as the album Perfectly Frank, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Indian Summer

The song of the day for Sunday, October 6, 2013 is “Indian Summer.”

About This Song

“Indian Summer” was written as a piano piece in 1919 by Victor Herbert; the lyrics were added in 1939 by Al Dubin. It’s a popular jazz song, with recordings by Frank Sinatra, Sidney Bechet, Gene Krupa, Sarah Vaughan and Paul Desmond, among others. Tony Bennett first recorded “Indian Summer” in 1962 for his album I Wanna Be Around.

About This Version

Indian Summer can be defined as a warm, dry day in autumn following a period of wet, rainy weather. It’s been cold and raining for several weeks in Portland, Oregon (home of The Year of Tony Bennett) until we woke up this morning to clear skies with much sunshine and a high of 72 degrees. To celebrate this beautiful Portland weekend, our song today must be “Indian Summer.”

Today’s version is from Bennett’s 1992 Grammy-winning album Perfectly Frank, in which he sings songs also sung by Frank Sinatra.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4N5DxvYPtXtBeQWV6RfN0G
“Indian Summer,” as well as the album Perfectly Frank, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

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Song of the Day: Last Night When We Were Young

The song of the day for Friday, September 27, 2013 is “Last Night When We Were Young.”

About This Song

Written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg in 1936, “Last Night When We Were Young” may be one of the most perfect love songs ever written. Both Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg considered this their favorite of all their songs. The song had been originally written for a film called Metropolitan, but was cut before the film was released. Judy Garland recorded it for In The Good Old Summertime and Frank Sinatra recorded it for Take Me Out To The Ballgame, but it was cut from both films, mostly because it was considered “too sad.” No matter: it was a hit for both artists as well as many others, including Lawrence Tibbett, Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, and even Carly Simon.

Alec Wilder, author of American Popular Song, said that:

Arlen told me that he wrote “Last Night While We Were Young” for Lawrence Tibbett. I can’t frankly imagine a less likely singer for this song. But, after all, once you have heard the Sinatra version, you can’t imagine anyone else singing it.

This is the most remarkable and beautiful song. It is one which goes far beyond the boundaries of popular music. For me, it is a concert song without a trace of trying to be it. It hasn’t any artiness about it or pretense. It’s obviously deeply felt, both by the composer and the lyricist E.Y. Harburg.

It is unlike any other Arlen song that I have heard. However, it is unmistakably his.

About This Version

I’m certainly in no position to argue with the late and great Alec Wilder, but I can definitely imagine Tony Bennett singing this song, which he does quite well on his tribute album to Frank Sinatra: Perfectly Frank. It was arranged and conducted by Robert Farnon and featured the Ralph Sharon Trio, with Paul Langosch on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums. The extraordinary engineer Frank Laico came out of retirement to engineer this album for Tony Bennett.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1qgQmCZ3fUkG2dNSYI6OvN
“Last Night When We Were Young,” as well as the album Perfectly Frank, is available from iTunes and Amazon.com.

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