The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Regress a Mi

The song of the day for Tuesday, February 17, 2015 is “Regress a Mi.”

About This Song

Regresa a Mi, titled “Return To Me” in its original English version, was written in 1957 by Carmen Lombardo (brother of Guy) and Danny DiMinno. This song was first recorded by Dean Martin, in January, 1958 and to this day, the song remains strongly identified with Martin.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Regresa a Mi” in 2012 with Vicente Fernández for his album of duets with Latin American and Spanish artists, Viva Duets. This recording was made at the home of Fernández in Guadalajara, Mexico and featured his own traditional ranchera band.

About Today

Vicente “Chente” Fernández Gómez was born on February 17, 1940. He is revered in Mexico as its greatest living singer and enjoys enormous popularity throughout the world. “Regresa a Mi” was my favorite song from Viva Duets and so I am quite honored to wish Chente a very happy 65th birthday. Feliz cumpleaños, señor.

Return To Me (Regresa a Mí) (with Vicente Fernández)

Listen to Return To Me (Regresa a Mí) (with Vicente Fernández) on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Vicente Fernández · 2012


“Regress a Mi,” as well as Viva Duets, is available from iTunes.

And, even though it’s not Saturday, here’s the lovely video of Bennett’s visit to Guadalajara to record today’s song.

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Congratulations to Tony Bennett

The Year of Tony Bennett congratulates Tony Bennett on the nomination of Viva Duets for Best Traditional Pop Album.

Billboard has the complete list of Grammy nominations here.

Here’s one of our favorite duets from this album:

Cold, Cold Heart (with Vicentico)

Listen to Cold, Cold Heart (with Vicentico) on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Vicentico · 2012

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Song of the Day: Return To Me (Regresa a Mi)

The song of the day for Saturday, November 9, 2013 is “Return To Me (Regresa a Mi).”

About This Song

“Return to Me” was written in 1957 by Carmen Lombardo (brother of bandleader Guy Lombardo) and Danny DiMinno. In January 1958, Dean Martin did the first recording of the song and the song still remains associated with Dean Martin. In fact, the second box set of Dean Martin was entitled Return to Me.

About This Version

This recording is my favorite song on Tony Bennett’s Viva Duets album, released in 2012. When I first heard this recording, I was not familiar with the song and was so taken by the arrangement and use of the traditional instruments, I convinced myself that it was a song written by and for a Latin American artist. I love hearing these two wonderful singers, both at the very top of their game, meeting as equals on this song. I think this duet is very special.

http://open.spotify.com/track/5dT3dcmsoLKhu0V3GjAR7F
“Return To Me (Regresa a Mi),” as well as the album Viva Duets, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

It’s YouTube Saturday … so here you go; this lovely video captures the recording of this song at Señor Fernadez’s ranch in Guadalajara, Mexico.

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Song of the Day: Return To Me (Regresa a Mi)

Happy Birthday to Vicente Fernández, born on February 17, 1940. In honor of his birthday, we feature his wonderful duet with Tony Bennett, Return To Me (Regresa A Mi), as the song of the day for Sunday, February 17, 2013.

About Return To Me

When I first heard the recording of this song, I thought to myself how nice it was to include a traditional ranchero song on Viva Duets. I was completely in error, however. Return to Me was written in 1957 by Carmen Lombardo (brother of bandleader Guy Lombardo) and Danny DiMinno. In January 1958, Dean Martin did the first recording of the song and the song still remains associated with Dean Martin. In fact, the second box set of Dean Martin was entitled Return to Me.

About This Version

This is perhaps my favorite song from the Viva Duets album. The arrangement is so traditionally Mexican and music beautifully performed. There is also something quite extraordinary about these two great singers working together. Both are legends, not only in their own countries, but all over the world. It is a privilege to hear these two great men sing this beautiful song  together.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4z9KlYXoe4lucmV8O6BwoV
Regresa A Mi, as well as the full Viva Duets album, is available from iTunes.

Tony traveled to the Fernández ranch Guadalajara to make this recording. This charming video recounts the session and the visit to this very beautiful place.
 

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How The Magic Happens

I came across an article today about the recording techniques used for Duets and Duets II that I wanted to share with you.

This article is from the Sound on Sound website and discusses, in some detail, the techniques that Dae Bennett, Tony’s son and recording engineer and co-producer, used to record the duets. Click here to read the article.

Typically, Tony and his duet artist record in a studio with Tony Bennett’s Quartet (Lee Musiker, Gray Sargent, Marshall Wood and Harold Jones). Others, such as the Duets II session with Andrea Boccelli, were recorded in home studios. Once the editing had been done on these sessions, additional recording sessions were held for the big band and orchestral tracks for the songs.

The results, as we know, are several outstanding albums: Duets, Duets II and Viva Duets, all recorded using these techniques.

The article also includes a nice visual slide show with photographs of the artists as well as “backstage” shots of the recording process.