The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Close You Eyes

The song of the day for Sunday, September 22, 2024, is “Close Your Eyes.”

About This Song

“Close Your Eyes” was written in 1933 by Bernice Petkere. Petkere was named by Irving Berlin as the “Queen of Tin Pan Alley.” A vaudeville performer as a child, she sold her first song in 1931, “Starlight,” recorded by Bing Crosby. “Close Your Eyes” is her most well-known song. The song started getting jazz treatments in the 1950s, starting with a great duet from Coleman Hawkins and Milt Jackson.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Close Your Eyes” on July 31, 1953; the recording was released in 1956 in the Columbia collection Because Of You and again in Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, Vol. 1, released in 2011 in The Complete Collection box set. This version was arranged by Gil Evans and features The Pastels on background vocals.

“Close Your Eyes,” as well as Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, Vol. 1, is available on Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: Just Friends

The song of the day for Sunday, October 15, 2023, is “Just Friends.”

About This Song

“Just Friends” was written by John Klenner and Sam M. Lewis in 1934. It’s been a popular jazz standard, including vocal versions by Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Charlie Parker, and Chet Baker. The song, both the music and the lyrics, seem more modern than most songs written in the early 1930s and for that reason, it has received interesting jazz treatments and found itself quite at home with bebop stylings.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Just Friends” on October 15, 1964 (59 years ago today), with an amazing jazz quartet: Herbie Hancock (piano), Stan Getz (tenor sax), Ron Carter (bass), and Elvin Jones (drums). This recording and several other recordings made with this quartet remained unreleased until 2012 when they were included in Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, Vol. 1, which was included in Bennett’s Complete Collection box set.

“Just Friends,” as well as Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, Vol. 1, is available on Apple Music.

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Song of the Day: The Way You Look Tonight

The song of the day for Friday, August 6, 2021, is “The Way You Look Tonight.”

About Today

Jerome Kern’s “The Way You Look Tonight” is one of greatest love songs ever written and Tony’s versions of singing this song are quite wonderful and so it’s definitely on my list of Tony Bennett’s greatest recordings.

About This Song

“The Way You Look Tonight” was written in 1936 by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. It was introduced by Fred Astaire in the movie Swing Time; it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the year. Dorothy Fields remarked:

The first time Jerry played that melody for me I went out and started to cry. The release absolutely killed me. I couldn’t stop, it was so beautiful.

Fields was the first woman to win an Oscar for songwriting. It’s a magnificent love song that has found a strong position as a jazz standard, with recordings by Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Mel Tormé and Frank Sinatra.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded this version in 1997 with The Ralph Sharon Trio for the movie My Best Friend’s Wedding. The recording was collected on Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, Vol. 2 in the 2011 Complete Collection.

The Way You Look Tonight

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“The Way You Look Tonight,” as well as all of the songs on Rarities, Outtakes & Other Delights, Vol. 2 is available on Apple Music.

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