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The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

January 2, 2016 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Look For The Silver Lining

The song of the day for Saturday, January 2, 2106 is “Look For The Silver Lining.”

About This Song

Today’s song, “Look For The Silver Lining,” was written by Jerome Kern (songwriter of the month for January 2016) with lyrics by Buddy DeSylva. It was written in 1919 for the musical Zip, Goes A Million, which was not a successful production, and published in 1920 and reused in the more popular show Sally, where it was introduced by Marilyn Miller. Other recordings include those by Judy Garland, Chet Baker and Margaret Whiting.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap used “Look For The Silver Lining” as the title song for their 2015 album The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern.

Look For the Silver Lining

Look For the Silver Lining, a song by Tony Bennett, Bill Charlap on Spotify


“Look For The Silver Lining,” as well as The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, is available from iTunes.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Bill Charlap, Buddy DeSylva, Jerome Kern, The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern

November 14, 2015 By Suzanne 2 Comments

Song of the Day: The Way You Look Tonight

The song of the day for Saturday, November 14, 2015 is “The Way You Look Tonight.”

About This Song

Today’s song, “The Way You Look Tonight,” was written by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields in 1936 for the film Swing Time, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for that 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.” Dorothy 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

Today I return to Tony’s new album with Bill Charlap, The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern. It’s a beautiful album and one I cannot stop listening to. And, like Dorothy Fields, this song is so beautiful that it makes me want to cry.

The Way You Look Tonight

The Way You Look Tonight, a song by Tony Bennett, Bill Charlap on Spotify


“The Way You Look Tonight,” as well as The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, is available from iTunes.

About Today

It’s Saturday and here are Tony and Bill …

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Bill Charlap, Dorothy Fields, Jerome Kern, The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern

November 11, 2015 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Long Ago and Far Away

The song of the day for Thursday, November 11, 2015 is “Long Ago and Far Away.”

About This Song

“Long Ago and Far Away” was written in 1944 by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin for the 1944 film musical Cover Girl, starring Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly. In the film, the song was sung by Rita Hayworth to Gene Kelly. At the time of movie’s release, there were four versions of the song that all charted at the same time by Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest, Bing Crosby, Jo Stafford and Perry Como.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap recorded “Long Ago and Far Away” in 2015 for their new album The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, which is my favorite album in both vocal and piano jazz this year. It simply doesn’t get any better than this.

Long Ago and Far Away

Long Ago and Far Away, a song by Tony Bennett, Bill Charlap on Spotify


“Long Ago and Far Away,” as well as The Silver Lining, is available from iTunes.

About Today

Today brings to an end my arbitrary look at Tony Bennett’s career, so far, where I picked out a song for each year that Mr. Bennett has recorded. It’s been a lot of fun for me and hope you’ve enjoyed it as well.

Stayed tuned for a return to the first half of the 1960s.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: 2015, Bill Charlap, Cover Girl, Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern

October 4, 2015 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: I Won’t Dance

The song of the day for Sunday, October 4, 2015 is “I Won’t Dance.”

About This Song

Today’s song, “I Won’t Dance,” has a wonderful tune written by Jerome Kern. The lyrics are, on the other hand, a bit complicated. The song was originally written for for a 1934 London musical called Three Sisters with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach; alas the production was flop and closed quickly. Kern decided to use this great tune for the 1935 film of Roberta, starring Irene Dunne with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. This time, the lyrics were from Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields. I won’t even begin to figure out how they split the royalties.

About These Versions

Tony Bennett has recorded “I Won’t Dance” twice. The first time was in 2014 with Lady Gaga on their album Cheek To Cheek, with a great big band arrangement from Marion Evans. I’ve always loved this song and thought that Bennett and Gaga sang it just great. It was also quite effective on the Cheek To Cheek television special. [I don’t care what the Television Academy thinks. As far as I’m concerned, it earned the Emmy Award for Best Variety Special hands down.]

The second recording was just released in September 2015 on Bennett’s album with Bill Charlap–The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern. Bennett and Charlap arranged this version 3/4 waltz time. It’s quiet and sweet; Bennett dances lightly over the piano.

“I Won’t Dance” is a perfect example of why I started this Sunday feature of presenting different versions of the same song sung by Tony Bennett. Whether separated by decades, as in last week’s song, or a matter of months, as for today’s song, it is telling on many levels how this master treats the material. Just brilliant, Tony Bennett is.

2014

I Won’t Dance

I Won’t Dance, a song by Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga on Spotify


“I Won’t Dance,” as well as Cheek To Cheek, is available from iTunes.

2015

I Won’t Dance

I Won’t Dance, a song by Tony Bennett, Bill Charlap on Spotify


“I Won’t Dance,” as well as The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, is available from iTunes.

Because I’m in a great mood today, here’s a video of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers from Roberta. This film is the first time they worked together. I don’t know if Astaire actually played the piano or not. If he didn’t, it’s the best fake piano playing I’ve ever seen on film. And if he did play piano, he plays great! And Ginger’s gown is fantastic!

Your author is off to the Newport, Oregon Jazz Festival for concert by Bill Charlap and his Trio, also joined by his wife and pianist, Renee Rosnes. I’ll report in a few days.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Bill Charlap, Cheek to Cheek, Dorothy Fields, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Jerome Kern, Jimmy McHugh, Lady Gaga, Marion Evans, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern

September 26, 2015 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Look For The Silver Lining

The song of the day for Saturday, September 26, 2015 is “Look For The Silver Lining.”

About This Song

Today’s song, “Look For The Silver Lining,” was written in 1919 by Jerome Kern (music) and Buddy DeSylva (lyrics) for the musical Zip, Goes a Million and used again the following year for another musical called Sally. This song has been widely recorded over the years and is one of those songs that many know and can even sing a bit of, though may know the composer.

About This Version

Today marked the release of The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern with Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap. I’m with the Buffalo News: this album is damn near perfect. And, as luck would have it, Bill Charlap will be appearing at the Newport, Oregon Jazz Festival next weekend with his wife, the pianist Renee Rosnes, Peter Washington on bass and Kenny Washington on drums. We can hardly wait!

I love how this song ends the album, where Bennett and Charlap have explored great emotional depth–“The Way You Look Tonight” and Make Believe” for example–with this sweet and positive song. It carries this writer to a lovely place after a complete listen to the album.

Look For the Silver Lining

Look For the Silver Lining, a song by Tony Bennett, Bill Charlap on Spotify


“Look For The Silver Lining,” as well as Look For The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, is available from iTunes.

About Today

Today is Saturday and I’m happy to present this video of Tony Bennett singing today’s song, with Bill Charlap.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Bill Charlap, Buddy DeSylva, Jerome Kern, Sally, The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, Zip Goes A Million

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