The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Alright, Okay, You Win

The song of the day for Wednesday, February 4, 2015 is “Alright, Okay, You Win.”

About This Song

This song was written for the Count Basie Orchestra in 1955 by Maymie Watts and Sid Wyche. It was first recorded by the Basie Orchestra with their male vocalist, Joe Williams. In addition to the Bennett / Krall recording, this song has been recorded by Peggy Lee, Elvis Presley, Ella Fitzgerald and Bette Midler.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Diana Krall recorded “Alright, Okay, You Win” in 2001 for Tony’s blues album: Playin’ With My Friends: Bennett Sings The Blues. The song was arranged by Rob Mathes and the album produced by Phil Ramone.

And if you think Tony Bennett can’t sing the blues, well, I suggest that you take some time to listen to this album.

About Today

Diana Krall released her latest album, Wallflower, on Tuesday of this week. Those of us at The Year of Tony Bennett are enjoying it immensely and highly recommend it to all.

Alright, Okay, You Win (with Diana Krall)

Listen to Alright, Okay, You Win (with Diana Krall) on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Diana Krall · 2001


“Alright, Okay, You Win,” as well as Playin’ With My Friends: Bennett Sings The Blues, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Alright, Okay, You Win

The song of the day for Monday, April 21, 2014 is “Alright, Okay, You Win.”

About This Song

This song was written in 1955 by Maymie Watts and Sid Wyche for the Count Basie Orchestra. It was first recorded in 1955 by the Basie Orchestra with their male vocalist, Joe Williams. In addition to the Bennett / Krall recording, this song has been recorded by Peggy Lee, Elvis Presley, Ella Fitzgerald and Bette Midler.

About This Version

“Alright, Okay, You Win” is the first song on Bennett’s wonderful 2001 album Playin’ With My Friends: Bennett Sings The Blues and is a duet with singer and pianist Diana Krall. They are ably accompanied by the Ralph Sharon Quartet, with Clayton Cameron on drums, Paul Langosch on bass, and Gray Sargent on guitar.

http://open.spotify.com/track/5Q9uoUcUF0bVLJqDLaurw4
“Alright, Okay, You Win,” as well as the album Playin’ With My Friends: Bennett Sings The Blues, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Blues in the Night

The song of the day for Wednesday, April 2, 2014 is “Blues in the Night.”

About This Song

“Blues in the Night” was written in 1941 for the film of the same name by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. Arlen wrote the music first and wrote a true blues song. Johnny Mercer, who later wrote the lyrics, drew on his southern heritage to write the exceptional blues lyrics. It’s said that while Mercer was working on the lyric, he had scribbled “my momma done tol’ me” in the margin of his notes. Arlen saw that and thus a great lyric was born.

About This Version

Today’s version of “Blues in the Night” isn’t the original version Bennett recorded in 1957 for The Beat of My Heart, but the 2001 version from Playin’ With My Friends: Bennett Sings The Blues. This version features the Ralph Sharon Quartet, with Paul Langosch on bass, Clayton Cameron on drums and Gray Sargent on guitar. It’s a terrific arrangement; nice and tight with great work from all four musicians.

http://open.spotify.com/track/60oEw14Ucnko8skELizX71
“Blues in the Night,” as well as the album Playin’ With My Friends: Bennett Sings The Blues, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Undecided Blues

The song of the day for Friday, January 31, 2014 is “Undecided Blues.”

About This Song

Recently, your Year of Tony Bennett bloggers (all two of us) watched a wonderful documentary called A Great Day In Harlem, directed by Jean Bach and released in 1994. It was her very first film and was nominated for Best Documentary for that year. Ms. Bach, who was a great jazz fan and knew many jazz musicians in New York, decided to make a film about the great 1958 photograph by Art Kane for Esquire magazine. Simply, the word was put out to the jazz community to show up at the unreasonably early hour of 10:00 AM at a particular intersection in Harlem to have their picture taken. And show up they did.

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Many of the greats showed up: Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Milt Hinton, Roy Eldridge, Gerry Mulligan, Marian McPartland, Art Blakey, Thelonius Monk, Jimmy Rushing and many, many more.

This film is a must-see for any jazz fan. It not only documents the process of creating the photograph, it also includes interviews with several of the musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie and Marian McPartland, and plays a lot of music from the late 1950s as well. You can rent the disc from Netflix and it’s available as well from Amazon.com. And be sure to watch the extra DVD features — they’re great too.

After viewing this film twice (and I’m not returning it until the copy I ordered from Amazon arrives), I knew I had to feature a song featuring one of the greats from this photograph and so today it’s Jimmy Rushing.

Jimmy Rushing, who wrote “Undecided Blues,” was one of the great blues performers and composers. The first recording of the song was made in January, 1941 with Count Basie.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Undecided Blues” for his 2001 album Playin’ With My Friends. Most of the songs on this album are duets, but there are several solo songs and this is one of them. If you’re a Bennett fan and like the blues, I encourage you to check out this album; Tony Bennett can really sing the blues.

http://open.spotify.com/track/24GVJ7Mx7Jh6g0EL8k77oz
“Undecided Blues,” as well as the album Playin’ With My Friends: Bennett Sings The Blues, is available from iTunes.