The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: My Funny Valentine

The song of the day for Thursday, February 13, 2014 is “My Funny Valentine.”

About This Song

“My Funny Valentine” is one of the great songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. It was written for the 1937 Broadway musical Babes in Arms, where it was introduced by Mitzi Green. This ballad is one of the most-loved songs in the American songbook and has been sung by most jazz and cabaret artists. In addition to Tony Bennett’s excellent recordings of this song, others include those by Chet Baker, Frank Sinatra, and Miles Davis.

About This Version

Tony Bennett has recorded several versions of “My Funny Valentine.” Today’s version from the 1961 album Tony Sings For Two is my favorite of them all. This was a remarkable album for Mr. Bennett. Unlike the popular music of the time, this wonderful album is just Tony Bennett and Ralph Sharon and no other musicians. Not only that, they just went into the studio with a lot of sheet music and chose, arranged and recorded sixteen songs in a single recording session, twelve of which appeared on the album. It’s a remarkably beautiful and sophisticated album and is one my favorites of his albums.

I would like to dedicate this song to my co-blogger Lesley, whose surname is Valentine. You are my funny Valentine.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1QTXexM8oX5Q6vZoV1d28G
“My Funny Valentine,” as well as the album Tony Sings For Two, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Where Or When

The song of the day for Thursday, January 23, 2014 is “Where Or When.”

About This Song

“Where or When”, by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, was written for the 1937 musical Babes in Arms. Benny Goodman recorded “Where or When” in 1941 with a very young Peggy Lee. It is a favorite song of many vocalists and has had many fine recordings.

About This Version

Today’s song is from one of Tony Bennett’s finest albums: Tony Sings For Two. On October 28, 1959, Tony Bennett and Ralph Sharon went into the CBS 30th Street Studio and, in one day, recorded sixteen songs in a single day.. Sharon and Bennett would choose a song and, on the fly, settle on an arrangement and record it in one or two takes. As a result, Tony Sings For Two is fresh and intimate and holds up beautifully years later. It’s one of my most favorite of Tony Bennett’s albums.

http://open.spotify.com/track/1jKAs45clerby224GYvA7H
“Where Or When,” as well as Tony Sings For Two, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Have You Met Miss Jones?

The song of the day for Monday, January 13, 2013 is “Have You Met Miss Jones?”

About This Song

Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote “Have You Met Miss Jones?” for the 1937 musical I’d Rather Be Right. The song has stayed popular over the years, with recordings by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Joe Pass. Robbie Williams recorded it for the soundtrack of the movie Bridget Jones’s Diary.

About This Version

I pondered on and off all day about what song to use today. I thought that we were all past due for some Rodgers and Hart, but at the same time, I was in a mood for some jazz. And then I remembered the great series of songs on the Rarities, Outtakes and Other Delights, Vol. 1 that I first discovered a few years ago when I got Tony Bennett’s Complete Collection. Thankfully, these songs are now available on iTunes as well.

Today’s version of “Have You Met Miss Jones?” was recorded in October, 1964 with the stellar quartet of Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, Stan Getz on tenor sax and Elvin Jones on drums. Bennett and this quartet also recorded “Danny Boy,” “Day Dream,” “Out of This World” and “Just Friends” in the same time frame.

http://open.spotify.com/track/3uyrm6aXjeDHkLiRj3rYgl
“Have You Met Miss Jones?” as well as all of the songs collected on Rarities, Outtakes and Other Delights, Vol. 1, is available from iTunes.

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Song of the Day: My Favorite Things

The song of the day for Thursday, November 28, 2013, US Thanksgiving Day, is “My Favorite Things.”

About This Song

“My Favorite Things” was written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein for the 1959 musical The Sound of Music. Sadly, it was the last musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein; Oscar Hammerstein died from cancer nine months after the opening of the musical on Broadway.

US readers might be interested to know that a live production of The Sound of Music, starring Carrie Underwood as Maria, will air on NBC next Thursday, December 5. I watched a “making of” one hour special about this production on TV Wednesday evening, and it looks quite interesting. I was kind of charmed to see that Carrie Underwood has been listening to her mentor, Tony Bennett. Early in the broadcast, she was asked if she was nervous and she replied that of course she had the butterflies, but if you don’t have butterflies, the audience will likely sense that you don’t really care.

About This Version

Today’s version is from Tony Bennett’s wonderful 1968 album, Snowfall, which was arranged and conducted by Robert Farnon. Musical supervision was by Tony Tamburello and the album was produced by Jack Gold.

As we near our Christmas celebration with The Twelve Days of a Tony Bennett Christmas, beginning on December 14, we’ll be featuring most of the songs from this wonderful album. An editor at iTunes sums up exactly how I feel about this extraordinary album:

The 1968 set Snowfall is far more than an obligatory holiday release from a legendary singer. Teaming with British arranger/composer Robert Farnon, Tony Bennett brings a warmth and emotional commitment to the familiar tunes, lending them a unique luster. With his customary ability to personalize a song lyric, he makes “The Christmas Song,” “White Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland” and other Yuletide standards feel immediate and vital.

I think it’s far and away the best Christmas album ever recorded.

http://open.spotify.com/track/0MoZADdiiC9yzcWpBbNYAC
“My Favorite Things,” as well as the album Snowfall, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

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Song of the Day: There’s A Small Hotel

The song of the day for Friday, November 8, 2013 is “There’s A Small Hotel.”

About This Song

“There’s A Small Hotel” was written in 1935 by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. It was originally intended to be used in the musical extravaganza Jumbo, but was not used; it did get use the next year in On Your Toes. Several small hotels that once had Mr. Rodgers as a guest claimed that their hotel was the inspiration for the song. I believe that we all have an image and memory of a small hotel, whether we actually stayed there or not. You can read more about There’s A Small Hotel, as well as read the lyrics, at our sister site, The Interactive Tony Bennett Discography.

About This Version

Todays version is from the work that Tony Bennett did The Ruby Braff / George Barnes Quartet in 1973 and was released originally on Tony Bennett Sings More Great Rodgers and Hart. The two albums of Rodgers and Hart songs that Bennett did are among my very favorites. The quartet of cornet, two guitars and bass is rather extraordinary.

The writer Whitney Balliet wrote an essay about Tony Bennett titled “A Quality That Lets You In” that was published in the New Yorker Magazine on January 7, 1974. This essay has been collected in several of Balliet’s books, including American Singers: Twenty-Seven Portraits in Song. You can read the essay at no charge on Google Books. (Your opinionated author only wishes she could write a paragraph to compare with Balliet’s first paragraph in this essay). Subscribers to The New Yorker can sign up to read all back issues of the magazine online. The essay covers a few days when Tony Bennett was appearing in New York and singing Rodgers and Hart songs with the quartet.

http://open.spotify.com/track/6tme59SeCHTlavnDUWrZys
“There’s a Small Hotel,” as well as The Complete Improv Recordings, is available from iTunes.

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