The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

By 3 Comments

Song of the Day: What Makes It Happen?

The Song of the Day for Tuesday, November 26, 2013 is “What Makes It Happen?”

About This Song

“What Makes It Happen?” was written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn for the 1966 musical Walking Happy. Van Heusen and Cahn were nominated for the Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist, but lost to Kander and Ebb for Cabaret.

About This Version

Forty-seven years ago today, November 26, 1966, Tony Bennett recorded three songs, all arranged by Marion Evans: My Inamorta, Country Girl and today’s song of the day, What Makes It Happen. Today’s song is the question that the name of the album it appears on answers: Tony Makes It Happens! Ernie Altschuler produced the album, which was released in 1967.

What Makes It Happen

Listen to What Makes It Happen on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1967

“What Makes It Happen?,” as well as the album Tony Makes It Happen!, is available from iTunes.

By Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart

The song of the day for Thursday, October 31, 2013 is “I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart.”

About This Song

“I Let a Song Go Out Of My Heart” was written by Duke Ellington in 1938. The lyrics were written by Irving Mills, Henry Nemo and John Redmond. The Ellington recording charted at #1 in 1938 and was followed by a successful Benny Goodman recording. It has also be recorded by Dinah Washington, Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Eckstine and Stan Getz, among many others.

In 1952, Ellington named “I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart” as one of his favorite of 11 recordings. The website jazzstandards.com ranks this song at 152.

About This Version

Today’s version is from the 1967 album Tony Makes It Happen! This song, as well of all of the songs on this album, was arranged and conducted by Marion Evans. Mr. Evans did the arrangements for Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s upcoming jazz album that will be released in January, 2014. As we get closer to January, we’ll be featuring more information about the great Marion Evans. He does big band arrangements are really fantastic and this song is an excellent example.

http://open.spotify.com/track/72GRwENAjiE7aY8FD5ORwy
“I Let a Song Go Out Of My Heart,” as well as the album Tony Makes It Happen!, is available from iTunes and Amazonc

By Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart

The song of the day for Wednesday, September 11, 2013 is “I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart.”

About This Song

Duke Ellington wrote “I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart” in 1938, with lyrics by Irving Mills, Henry Nemo and John Redmond added later (as is not uncommon for many of Duke Ellington’s songs).

Ellington recorded the song that same year and soon thereafter it was recorded by Benny Goodman and Mildred Bailey. Dinah Washington recorded the song in 1954 as well.

About This Version

Today’s version is from Bennett’s 1967 album Tony Makes It Happen! This song, as well as the entire album was arranged by Marion Evans and has a great, swingy big band sound.

http://open.spotify.com/track/72GRwENAjiE7aY8FD5ORwy
“I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart,” as well as the album Tony Makes It Happen! is available from iTunes and Amazon.com.

By Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: On The Sunny Side of the Street

The song of the day for Monday, September 2, 2013 is “On the Sunny Side of the Street.”

About This Song

“On the Sunny Side of the Street” was written in 1930 for Lew Leslie’s International Revue, with music by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. The song quickly became a jazz standard and was recorded by Billy Holiday, Frank Sinatra, and Willie Nelson. In addition to this recording, Tony Bennett also recorded it as a duet with Willie Nelson on Duets II.

About This Version

Today’s version is from one my favorite of Tony’s albums from the late 1960s: the 1967 Tony Makes It Happen! The entire album was arranged and conducted by Marion Evans and was produced by Howard Roberts. The entire album is really terrific, but other standouts include “The Lady’s In Love With You,” “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” and “Old Devil Moon.” Highly recommended by the opinionated author at The Year of Tony Bennett.

http://open.spotify.com/track/6hINWgC3EgCfjis27zY9Gq
“On The Sunny Side of the Street,” as well as the album Tony Makes It Happen!, is available from iTunes and Amazon.com.

By Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Don’t Get Around Much Anymore

The song of the day for Wednesday, August 14, 2013, is “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.”

About This Song

“Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” was written in 1940 by Duke Ellington. Like many Ellington songs, it was originally an instrumental and was originally known as “Never No Lament”; Bob Russell added the lyrics in 1942 and gave the song its new name. The song is noted for having the common Mondegreen: Mister Saturday Night. Ellington’s first recording with vocals was made in 1943 and featured Al Hibbler.

About This Version

Today’s song is from the 1967 album Tony Makes It Happen! (The title of the album is answer to the fourth song on the first side of the album: “What Makes It Happen.”)

If you’ve seen the film The Zen of Bennett (and if you haven’t, why not?), you might remember that it has a scene where Tony and Michael Bublé record this song for Duets II. Daegal Bennett asks his Dad to sing the last line kind of all on one note and high like he used to sing it. His Dad replies that he never sang anything that high. I think Daegal was thinking of this recording. And it was almost that high.

http://open.spotify.com/track/491ebIOXElVbEqQgzVILO2
“Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” as well as the album Tony Makes It Happen!, is available from iTunes.