The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Happiness Is Just A Thing Called Joe

The song of the day for Sunday, April 21, 2013 is Happiness Is Just A Thing Called Joe.

About This Song

This song, written by Harold Arlen with lyrics by E.Y. “Yip” Harburg, was included in the film version of Cabin In The Sky, starring Ethel Waters, Eddie Anderson and a very young and very lovely Lena Horne. The Broadway production of Cabin In The Sky opened in 1940 starring Miss Waters and Dooley Wilson, and had a spectacular score by Vernon Duke and John LaTouche, which included a Tony Bennett favorite Taking A Chance on Love.

The film version was released in 1943. In addition to the Duke-LaTouche score, additional songs were added, including the Arlen-Harburg masterpiece, Happiness Is Just A Thing Called Joe, which was nominated for an Academy award for the Best Original Song, losing to the Harry Warren-Mack Gordon song You’ll Never Know from Hello Frisco, Hello.  Arlen was nominated for two songs that year; the other was That Old Black Magic written with Johnny Mercer. Also nominated were songs by Cole Porter, Jule Styne, Jimmy McHugh and Arthur Schwartz. Pretty tough company. The film, directed by Vincent Minnelli (his first solo film directing credit), included a brief scene with Louis Armstrong as The Trumpeter (complete with little devil horns) and the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

About This Version

I had never seen this film until this weekend; I recorded it just to check it out (thanks Turner Classic Movies) and found it delightful. Great performances, Ethel Waters, and a production number by Busby Berkeley. What more do you want in a movie? It was pure joy and the music was wonderful. The full score is available from iTunes.

Tony Bennett recorded this song only once, to the best of my knowledge, for his 1962 album with Ralph Sharon, Tony Sings For Two.

http://open.spotify.com/track/2wkWjp5DhCqTkGuw2Fi9a0
Happiness Is Just A Thing Called Joe, as well as the remastered Tony Sings For Two album, is available from iTunes.

And here’s Ethel Waters singing our song of the day from the film Cabin in the Sky:

 

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Song of the Day: Just Friends

The Song of the Day for October 20, 2012 is Just Friends.

About Just Friends

Just Friends was written in 1931 by John Klenner with lyrics by Sam Lewis.  The song became popular in 1932 after it was recorded by Russ Columbo  with Leonard Joy’s Orchestra. It has been recorded by Chet Baker, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, and Frank Sinatra.

About This Version

Today’s version is from  his 1961 album Tony Sings For Two.

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Song of the Day: Street of Dreams

The Song of the Day for September 22, 2012 is Street of Dreams.

About Street of Dreams

This song was written by Victor Young in 1932, with lyrics by Sam M. Lewis

About This Version

We conclude Ralph Sharon Week at the Year of Tony Bennett with this beautiful song from the 1962 Tony Sings for Two. Their collaboration on this album was quite extraordinary and this album more than stands up to the so-called test of time. It features two extraordinary musicians taking a chance on an intimate album that went against all the common wisdom of the time.

In his autobiography, Tony Bennett says:

We booked time in the studio and pored over music books, trying one tune after another. The arrangements were spontaneous, and finished each song in one or two takes. In one afternoon we laid down sixteen tunes–which must be some kind of record–twelve of which made it into the album, which became 1961’s Tony Sings for Two. Mitch Miller showed up at the start of these sessions, furious that I was really going through with it. When he saw there was no dissauding me, he turned to Frank Laico and said,  “I’m leaving. I can’t support this.” Tony Sings For Two turned out to be one of my finest albums ever.

It has been an honor to recognize the work that Ralph Sharon did with Tony Bennett over the years. I do believe that they made each other better. And they made a lot of beautiful music.

And so, here’s the lovely Street of Dreams. Thanks, Ralph.

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Ralph Sharon Week

Starting today, we celebrate Ralph Sharon Week at the Year of Tony Bennett.

Ralph Sharon was born in London, England on September 17,1923 to an English father and an American mother, who was a professional pianist.

Mr.  Sharon found success quite early in life. By the age of 20, he was playing for Ted Heath in England, all the time playing additional jazz gigs and recording for the BBC. In the early 1950s, he emigrated to New York. He worked with prominent musicians, recording albums with noted jazz musicians, including Charles Mingus, Jo Jones, and others.

Ralph Sharon is seminal figure in the early recording history of Tony Bennett. A noted jazz pianist, he encouraged Tony to explore his love of jazz at the same time the studio was attempting to guide Mr. Bennett into the role of popular singer. Sharon auditioned for Tony Bennett in 1957, as described by Mr. Bennett in his autobiography, The Good Life:

The first guy that showed up was okay, but the second guy, Ralph Sharon, just had to hit a few notes for me to know that he was the piano player for me.

At about the same time that Ralph Sharon began to play for Bennett, Columbia began to phase Mitch Miller out and Bennett began to work with other producers. Due to his enormous success, Bennett was able to stand up to the producers who wanted to keep him solely in the popular music hit factory. Tony Bennett had already recorded his first jazz album, Cloud 7, in 1955.  Working with Sharon, they began to plan his next jazz album,  Beat of My Heart.  They assembled great percussionists to play the great standards, with exceptional arrangements by Mr. Sharon. In addition to great American drummers (including Nat Adderley, Chico Hamilton, Jo Jones, and Eddie Costa) they also brought in two important Latin American percussionists: Sabu and Candido. The album was one Tony Bennett’s finest albums to date and was well-received by jazz fans.

In 1962, Bennett and Sharon released one of my favorite albums, Tony Sings For Two. At a time when so much popular music was over-produced with enormous string sections, this album with just Ralph Sharon on piano and Tony Bennett singing was quite revolutionary. (I must admit that I was exposed to way too many albums with the Melachrino Strings  during this formative period of my youth. I mean, who would make an album called Music To Help You Sleep? As they say on Saturday Night Live: Really?).  This album is quite exceptional and very beautiful. The Year of Tony Bennett will be featuring several songs from this album during the week.

In 1966, Ralph Sharon and Tony Bennett parted ways. Mr. Sharon lived on the West Coast and wanted to spend less time on the road. They reunited in 1979 and continued to play with Mr. Bennett until 2002. They did wonderful work together on  albums Mr. Bennett released in that period: Art of Excellence, Bennett/Berlin, Perfectly Frank, and the MTV Unplugged concert, among others.

Speaking strictly as fan of Tony Bennett, I am grateful for the collaboration between Ralph Sharon and Tony Bennett.

In addition to his work with Tony Bennett, the Ralph Sharon Trio recorded numerous albums, including songbook albums of the music of Harry Warren, Frank Loesser, George Gershwin, and Jerome Kern.

For More Information

The website jazzprofessional.com has two interviews with Mr. Sharon, one about his work with Tony Bennett and the other about the nuances of accompanying singers.

This You Tube video is an interview with Tony Bennett from 1991, in which he talks about his professional relationship with Mr. Sharon.