• Home
  • About
    • About This Blog
    • About the Authors
  • Song of the Day
  • Album of the Week
  • Music and Art
    • Tony Live!
    • Music
      • Viva Duets
      • Songs
      • Albums
    • Art
  • And More
    • Collaborator of the Month
    • Songwriter of the Month – 2016
    • News
      • Cheek To Cheek
      • Bennett & Brubeck -The White House Sessions Live 1962
      • Life is a Gift
      • Viva Duets
      • Zen of Bennett
      • Other News
    • About His Collaborators
    • Musings
    • Extras
      • Books
      • Interviews
      • Media
  • The Interactive Tony Bennett Discography

The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

January 31, 2017 By Suzanne 8 Comments

Collaborator of the Month: Marion Evans

The Year of Tony Bennett is proud to name arranger Marion Evans as the collaborator of the month for February 2017.

Marion Evans, a native of Alabama, started his musical career at Auburn University, playing the trumpet in what was then the best college dance band in America. He interrupted his education to serve as a United States Marine in World War II, stationed in the Pacific Theater.

He returned to Auburn to continue his education in engineering after the war. At the same time, a friend sent some of his old college arrangements to Tex Beneke, who had taken over as the lead of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, following Miller’s death. These arrangements led to a job offer with the band. He moved to New York and enrolled at Juilliard, using the same GI Bill that sent Tony Bennett to the Actor’s Studio.

His career took off and in the 1950s and 1960s, he wrote arrangements for Tommy Dorsey, Percy Faith and Count Basie, among many others. He orchestrated the music for one of my favorite films, Some Like It Hot, Broadway shows, television and many vocalists, including Eydie Gorme’s “Blame It On The Bossa Nova.”

Marion Evans and Tony Bennett in 1967. Photo by Milt Hinton.

Evans’ first association was with Tony Bennett for Bennett’s 1967 album Tony Makes It Happen!, which he arranged and conducted. They were reunited in 2011, when Bennett asked him to do a last-minute orchestration of “The Lady Is A Tramp” for Lady Gaga and Bennett to record for Duets II. He’s continued to work for Bennett, including work on Cheek To Cheek as well as other projects.

We’ll be playing arrangements by Mr. Evans throughout the month. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

If you’d like to read more about Marion Evans …

The Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802, honored Marion Evans in September 2016 by playing some of his great arrangements in concert with the 48th Street Big Band. You can read about the concert in their newsletter, Allegro.

Marion and his wife Terri live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. These links are stories about Marion from local newspapers.

“The Beat Goes On” from the The Midweek Wire – Lower Bucks Times

“The arranger behind the Grammy-winning Tony Bennett/Lady Gaga album talks recording then and now,” also from The Midweek Wire.

Filed Under: Collaborator of the Month Tagged With: Cheek to Cheek, Collaborator of the Month, Marion Evans, The Lady is a Tramp

March 28, 2013 By Suzanne 1 Comment

Happy Birthday to Lady Gaga

The Year of Tony Bennett wishes Lady Gaga a fantastic birthday. We hope she’s recovering well from her surgery and wish her the very best. We can hardly wait for her album with Tony and know it’s going to be a huge hit for them both.

To put us all in a great mood, here’s the video of The Lady is a Tramp.  We note that this video has had well over 10 million views on YouTube.  And for good reason.

Filed Under: About His Collaborators Tagged With: Duets II, Happy Birthday to Lady Gaga, The Lady is a Tramp

June 25, 2012 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

The Lady is a Tramp

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga sing Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.  And they swing like nobody’s business! Pure joy! Pure energy!

Filed Under: Media Tagged With: Lady Gaga, Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers, The Lady is a Tramp, Tony Bennett

Subscribe to The Year of Tony Bennett

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Current Reader Favorites

  • Duke Ellington and the Harlem Renaissance
  • Song of the Day: Capital City
  • The Quartet
  • Song of the Day: The Day You Leave Me
  • Song of the Day: Once Upon a Time
  • Song of the Day: When In Rome
  • Home
  • About
  • Song of the Day
  • Album of the Week
  • Music and Art
  • And More
  • The Interactive Tony Bennett Discography

Copyright © 2023 The Year of Tony Bennett · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress