• 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 8, 2016 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Long Ago and Far Away

The song of the day for Friday, January 8, 2015 is “Long Ago and Far Away.”

About This Song

Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin wrote “Long Ago and Far Away” for the 1944 film Cover Girl, which starred Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelley. Miss Hayworth, voiced by Martha Mears, introduced the song in the film. Early recordings include those by Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest, Bing Crosby, Jo Stafford and Perry Como. Both the Stafford and Como recordings were hits on the Billboard charts.

“Long Ago and Far Away” is included in the American Film Institute Top 100 Songs listing.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap recorded “Long Ago and Far Away” for their wonderful 2015 album The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern. It’s an exquisite recording.

Long Ago and Far Away

Listen to Long Ago and Far Away on Spotify. Tony Bennett · Song · 2015.


“Long Ago and Far Away,” 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, Cover Girl, Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Rita Hayworth, The Silver Lining

October 11, 2015 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

The Songs Never Die

The NPR Weekend Edition Saturday interview with Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap, conducted by Scott Simon on October 10, 2015.

Filed Under: Interviews Tagged With: Bill Charlap, NPR interview, The Silver Lining

September 24, 2015 By Suzanne 2 Comments

The Silver Lining Reviews

The reviews of The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern are starting to come in.

First, an interview with Tony from Marc Myers of The Wall Street Journal and jazzwax.com, my favorite new website.

The New York Times by Nate Chinen Here’s an excerpt:

It does convey a trademark commitment to the American songbook; a proud constancy, undaunted by notions of obsolescence; and a spirit of conversation, with the album’s premise and personnel, and with Mr. Bennett’s own career continuum. The album is jointly credited to the jazz pianist Bill Charlap, and its voice-and-piano intimacy recalls “The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album” of 40 years ago.

The Buffalo News by Jeff Simon. Here’s an excerpt:

it seems to me this disc is damn near perfect

AllMusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Here’s an excerpt:

Often, The Silver Lining features little more than just the singer and the pianist — when they’re augmented by other musicians, it’s just bass and drums, offering a bit of rhythm and color — and this sparseness never seems austere due to the inherent warmth of the musicians’ easy interplay, not to mention their individual voices.

The Milwaukie Journal Sentinel by Piet Levy.

Review from Renowned For Sound website. Excerpt:

Once again Tony Bennett releases an album worthy of jumping in a time machine for: Jerome Kern would be proud.

Amazon.com Editorial Review. Here’s the full review:

The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, is the new album from American musical legend Tony Bennett and acclaimed jazz pianist Bill Charlap. This new release continues the classic series of Tony Bennett album releases celebrating the essentials of the Great American Songbook. The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern is an appreciation of the genius of Jerome David Kern, one of the 20th century’s most important American composers of musical theater and popular music. Jerome Kern was a major force on Broadway and in Hollywood musicals in a career that spanned more than four decades. He expanded on earlier musical theater traditions, from vaudeville to operetta, to embrace new dance rhythms, syncopation and jazz progressions and helped invent the modern musical template. While many of his Broadway musicals and Hollywood musical films were contemporary smash hits, Kern is perhaps best remembered today through revivals of “Show Boat,” one of his signature achievements.

Tony Bennett is the only artist to successfully bridge the worlds of pop music and jazz on an international scale for over 60 years. The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern become parts of a timeless legacy of recordings that Bennett has done throughout his career that have embraced both genres, in particular the revered piano jazz albums that he recorded with the late Bill Evans in 1975 and 1977. Tony has become synonymous with the pop/jazz connection and in recent years has been a mentor to contemporary artists such as Lady Gaga and the late Amy Winehouse in encouraging them to embrace jazz music. The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern defines what makes Tony Bennett unique in the pantheon of great singers and is a testament to the legacy that he continues to create as a recording artist and influence in the music industry.

Playing alongside Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap on The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern are pianist Renee Rosnes (on the piano duet pieces), Peter Washington (bass) and Kenny Washington (drums). Unrelated, though sharing the same last name, Peter and Kenny have been performing with Bill Charlap for nearly two decades and pianist Renee Rosnes has been Charlap’s life partner for close to 10 years.

With more than 700 Jerome Kern compositions to choose from, the set list for The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern is a distillation of essential highlights from a boundless catalog. With these interpretations of some of Jerome Kern’s finest songs, Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap offer a definitive introduction to Kern’s music while providing a deep understanding of the abiding and universal qualities of these songs.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: AllMusic, Amazon, Jeff Simon, Nate Chinen, New York Times review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, The Buffalo News, The Silver Lining

September 20, 2015 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Tony Bennett Drawing of Jerome Kern

What a great drawing! I am so excited to get my copy of The Silver Lining on Friday.

Here's a sketch I did of the great American composer Jerome Kern. My new album's a collection of the songs he created pic.twitter.com/LXjeHPqAf5

— Tony Bennett (@itstonybennett) September 18, 2015

Filed Under: Albums, News Tagged With: Jerome Kern, The Silver Lining

September 7, 2015 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Have You Preordered The Silver Lining?

Just reminding everyone that Tony Bennett’s new album with Bill Charlap will be released on September 25, 2015. The album can be preordered from Amazon, iTunes, and Barnes & Noble.

The album is currently ranked #1 on Amazon for Vocal Jazz.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to listening to Bennett and Charlap doing these wonderful Jerome Kern songs.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Bill Charlap, The Silver Lining

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: The Good Life
  • Embrace Me
  • Song of the Day: Yesterday I Heard The Rain
  • Song of the Day: Where Do You Start
  • Song of the Day: The Right To Love
  • 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