Mark Blackburn

ANA CAROLINA / TONY BENNETT -- The Very Thought of You

Tony Bennett's Facebook page is alive and well and just shared this:

On this day in 2012, Tony Bennett graced us with "Viva Duets", showcasing duets with many talented Latin American musicians .... Which track from "Viva Duets" tops your list?

[ I answered: ]

This one -- which, coincidentally (or not) Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio played today (10/25/2023). ANA CAROLINA -- a wonderful singer --  a contralto, I believe, like Sarah Vaughn.  I see my namesake reviewed this one at YouTube "four years ago." [I concur with his every word:]

"Frank's 1962 version -- for Great Songs From Great Britain -- remains my all-time favorite. But this is my new favorite RECENT rendition!

"I was heading back to bed (up early, couldn't sleep, wouldn't sleep) and made the mistake of 'just checking' to see what's up next in the random-shuffle-that-is-YouTube. Sure enough -- my new favorite most recent incarnation of my favorite song by English band leader Ray Noble. Tony and yet another musical gift from Brazil. (One of the comments below kindly provided her name)

"Ana Carolina! Linda, e cantando em português.. adorei!"

(I think I get that last word and totally agree!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlrZ9D2V08Q

MONICA MANCINI – Two For The Road

“What a lovely man Henry Mancini was,” said John Pizzarelli on his latest live stream “5 o'clock Somewhere” show after performing MOON RIVER: “As was Henry's wife Ginny – a lovely woman!” This by way of alerting anyone lucky enough to be "in Miami on the night of November 3" that John will be a guest performer with Hank's daughter Monica at the “Mancini 100^th Anniversary Concert.”

“Check local listings” quipped John. Google for it and first offering from “The Biscayne Times” – an informed article which interviewed Monica (whose own recording of her Dad and Mom's “favorite Mancini song” TWO FOR THE ROAD happens to be my own favorite). Monica recalled a a magic moment on a night 60 years ago ….

“It was 1962. My sister and brother and I were with our grandfather watching the Oscars. Dad picked up two Oscars that night. That was the moment we realized he was a big deal.

“I also realized It when he started doing more high-profile movies and we moved from San Fernando Valley to Beverly Hills,” Mancini added. “It was a whole different lifestyle. We referred to it as ‘moving over the hill’ … from the valley to the big time.”

Her father ultimately picked up four Academy Awards in his lifetime and 72 Grammy nominations, winning 20. This vast repertoire is the foundation of the Nov. 3 tribute concert.

Ginny Mancini, who was an accomplished big-band singer herself, died in 2021 at age 97.

“My mother was my biggest fan and would travel all over to hear me sing,” her daughter shared. “She loved supporting me and hearing Dad’s music … It’s going to be different without her presence. I’ll be singing for her as well. I’ll be thinking of her a lot.”

Growing up a Mancini had its perks. Ginny loved to entertain, so it was not uncommon to see the starlets of the day coming and going.

“My mother was quite the hostess,” shared Mancini. “There was James Cagney, Sean Connery, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant … lots of old Hollywood legends. Quincy Jones and my dad were besties, so he was over all the time. It was an active house and [my parents] loved filling it with love and warmth.”

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It’s this level of warmth and nostalgia that is likely to fill the concert hall. As of this writing, Mancini, her award-winning music producer husband, Greg Field, and arranger Shelly Berg were still hammering out the concert’s song list, but guest stars include John Pizzarelli on guitar . . .

The theme song from the 1967 film “Two for the Road” starring Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney is on the song list.

“That was his favorite and it became my parents’ song … I’ll definitely be performing that,” said Mancini.

Just one version of Monica's recording at YouTube posted “8 years ago” to 50K 'views' – alas with “comments turned off” -- so we won't “learn more” will we?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCMX_MJHPwM

JOHN PIZZARELLI – I Thought About You

Actually . . . my favorite moment in his latest “It's 5 o'clock Somewhere” live-stream 'tips jar' show was  just for me (I'd like to say):  My favorite Sinatra song. Period. I told him so in a two-page letter (Christmas '92) to which Mr. Sinatra responded immediately.

I'd closed with the words “My absolute favorite song of yours for reasons I can't really explain ….” (then proceeded to list a few of its virtues) from Johnny Mercer's words, my favorite Jimmy Van Heusen melody and Nelson Riddle's brilliant arrangement “with all those train sounds that have you swinging down the track …. ”

[Hope this photo 'takes' – thanks to a dear friend who took it for me in my kitchen today. It otherwise resides in an envelope in my sock drawer with letters from Robert Farnon and other heroes.]

The link to John Pizzarelli's latest show with I THOUGHT ABOUT YOU at around the 10:10 mark -- followed here by my “other favorite version.”

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/339036048795734

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6EZ-JIeTXc

CHRIS BOTTI - PAULA COLE – What'll I Do?

It's quarter to three, and there's no one in the place except you and me – and Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing my all-time favorite recording (most haunting arrangement) of WHAT'LL I DO. Coincidentally with my wife in hospital for tests I'd been singing this song composed (words & tune) by Irving Berlin . . . maybe my favorite of his songs, for words like these:

What'll I do

with just a photograph

to tell my troubles to?

When I'm alone, with

only dreams of you

that won't come true

What'll I do?

I used to know the name of the orchestrator who came up with this distinctive and haunting arrangement – and still need to hear just the first four notes to remember that “this is Chris Botti” and “yet another fine singer named 'Cole'" – Paula. Yes, best ever version of a Berlin song that turned 100 this year (2023).

Posted with an arresting slide show “11 years ago” – to 300K “views.” Thanks for sharing “KateCat1” [Celebrated elsewhere this 3 a.m. (search) “ Great Melody, Great Lyric, Great Rendition, Songwriting Workshop, Harmony Central ”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJT1u_760vg

JOHN PIZZARELLI – Moon River, Here's That Rainy Day

I can't believe it! (If I didn't know better I'd say 'What a coincidence!'). My favorite living jazz singer / guitar virtuoso opened his latest “5 o'clock Somewhere” live-stream show with two songs I most wanted to hear him play:  Johnny Burke & Jimmy Van Heusen's 1953 masterpiece HERE'S THAT RAINY DAY (starting around the 2:07 mark) followed by one of Johnny Mercer & Hank Mancini's back-to-back Best Song Oscar-winners, MOON RIVER.

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/339036048795734/

Each time John Pizzarelli performs such classics, his on-the-spot arrangement is different – from beginning to end – but especially his brilliant endings; each time it seems he does it “better than ever before!” This “Moon River” (at around the 5:12 mark) is nothing like his Grammy-winning “arrangement for two guitars” with James Taylor (see below).

Yes, this take on “Rainy Day” (which includes tips of the hat to Kenny Rankin's definitive guitar arrangement) is especially moving; and on "Moon River" at the instrumental bridge John shares something really precious for us musicians that we would seldom get to see: his spontaneous searching for new chords – with the courage to find some fresh new sequences to share with us.

'Courage' is the word really; there will be inevitable mistakes which bring us a smile and chuckle as we're reminded that even this “one in a million musician” (as James Taylor calls him) must flub the occasional note!

Yes, merely the first two songs in an hour full of highlights. Which is to say deepest thanks Mr. Pizzarelli.

P.S. John said at the start of the show that he's here to play us some songs because, “It's been a terrible [week] “with lots of things going on …. just heartbreaking!” And perhaps only my imagining, but just 8 seconds into the show, he plays the first three or four notes of EXODUS (1958).

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The 2021 Grammy winner for best "arrangement for two guitars" on James Taylor's AMERICAN STANDARD.  [I see my namesake has reviewed this one twice already at YouTube.]

KEITH JARRETT – Danny Boy

It's coming up to that time of year when my kid brother Ron died – in his sleep, at home, age 68. He loved DANNY BOY, with its poignant “when all the leaves are dying” lyric. Not long before his passing I shared with my brother this, “my favorite instrumental” version – Keith Jarrett in a live performance before an appreciative audience. You just know that Keith is the sort of musician who “never forgets the lyric.”

[Reminded again of something “Nelms123” wrote below this video:]

"It is really amazing... but I'm going to wager that you know the lyrics... those who do not, don't yet know the depth of this tune. I like to phrase everything to flow through the words of the song, and i think Keith is doing that here. Especially when it comes to the final verse, i like to play it as if the mother is singing to her son from her grave. Brilliant tune."

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I think of something the great, English-born jazz pianist Marian McPartland said to her good friend Oscar Peterson – about witnessing a live performance by a great jazz saxophonist, who came down from the stage looking disconsolate. "What's wrong?" Marian asked him. The reply: "I forgot the words . . . "

The composer of that ancient Irish melody is unknown, but an Englishman (!) wrote those memorable words: “Fred Weatherly” who also wrote ROSES OF PICARDY (Find Sinatra's 'Great Songs From Great Britain' album with arranger Robert Farnon for the retire-the-trophy version of that one.)

[Love the back story on DANNY BOY's lyric shared at Wikipedia:]

'Initially written to a tune other than "Londonderry Air", English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly wrote the words to "Danny Boy" in Bath, Somerset in 1910.

After his Irish-born sister-in-law Margaret (known as Jess) in the United States sent him a copy of "Londonderry Air" in 1913, Weatherly modified the lyrics of "Danny Boy" to fit the rhyme and meter of "Londonderry Air".

The first recording was in 1915, so DANNY BOY is barely a century old. Poignant thought! And yes, "Don't forget the words" when you're playing the tune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6tIzxmPCQE

SO MANY STARS – Lanni Hall and Natalie Cole

“Such a lovely song, by Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66,” says Natalie Cole at the close of my favorite 'live' concert performance of SO MANY STARS – maybe my favorite song by “The Bergmans” whose lyric provided “a perfect match to a perfect tune” by “Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66” who made it famous half a century ago.

This week Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is featuring Lanni Hall and her husband Herb Alpert – their pleasurable “Playing Favorites” show, and a moment ago channel 71 was playing the original hit version of this song with Lanni's lovely lead vocal. [According to Wiki (note below) “American singer, composer, lyricist and author” Lanni turns 78 in November. ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXZpFOq0JOc

If you can find the time, please enjoy both versions featuring as they do, hauntingly beautiful arrangements: Never sure which one I enjoy more!

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Natalie's gem of a performance is from a live show with superb big band and strings orchestra (which featured Diana Krall as special guest) promoting Natalie's then- latest “Ask a Woman Who Knows” album – maybe my favorite of her jazz CDs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_anpKesgZE

WIKIPEDIA

About

Description

Lani Hall is an American singer, lyricist, and author. From 1966 to 1971 she performed as lead vocalist for Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66. In 1972 Hall released her first solo album, Sun Down Lady. Wikipedia

Born: November 6, 1945 (age 77 years), Chicago, Illinois, United States

Spouse: Herb Alpert (m. 1974)

Children: Aria Alpert

Also known as: Lani Hall Alpert

Instrument(s): Vocals; guitar; percussion

FAMILY PIZZARELLI DOES JONI MITCHELL

James Taylor calls him a "one in a million" musician (they won a 2021 Grammy together for the '2-guitar' arrangements on James' AMERICAN STANDARD album; Just left him a note). Just imagining Joni Mitchell herself getting a heads-up to tune in this week in time to hear The Family Pizzarelli sing a beautifully-balanced 3-part harmony sequencing of two of Joni's best-loved tunes – 'HELP ME' (I Think I'm Falling) and 'BIG YELLOW TAXI' – show closers, for yet another terrific “It's 5 o'clock Somewhere” 'Tips Jar' live stream: In an hour's worth of highlights, this may have been 'saving the best till last.' At around the 56:11 mark: my favorite moments this week – yours too? 

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/285490461037560/

JIMMY BUFFETT – Pre-you

My wife was the big Jimmy Buffett fan in our family – acquiring all his albums and most every one of his books. This was of course "pre-CDs" and I had to purchase all those albums first as black vinyl LPs, then cassettes.

I remember I had two early favorite Jimmy Buffett songs – neither of them hits:  PRE – YOU and CARNIVAL WORLD (see below). Oh, yes - plus one song he co-wrote with James Taylor – SUGAR TRADE a New England perspective on the Caribbean slave trade and the role sugar played in that grim history.

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We were the same age: Jimmy was three months older than me – born Christmas Day 1946. Early on, I detected Jimmy's love for the music of Gordon Lightfoot – “the reason I became a song writer” he said [to emulate Gordon]: “So if you think you hear a little (or a lot) of Lightfoot influence in my song-writing? You are correct!” – a Jimmy quote after Gordon died a year ago.

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I remember sharing with James Taylor an opinion: I could imagine in my mind's ear, James doing “the best cover version of PRE YOU. A song Jimmy said “composed itself” after a beautiful couple – a Navy man and his wife – got on an elevator with Jimmy Buffett at a hotel near the San Diego Naval Air station. Just in time for Jimmy to hear the fellow say the words: “Oh her? She was so . . . pre-you!”

I see my namesake reviewed this one “3 years ago”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph1-eBG-Rp0

Favorite latter-day photo of Jimmy: with Paul and Burt who I said at Burt's recent passing, “may have sold hundreds of millions of records” but the way Jimmy is beaming at Paul's hand on his shoulder is “like he'd waited a lifetime for this moment.”

SINATRA – That's What God Looks Like To Me

A Sinatra song not played before 'right this minute' on Sirius XM Siriusly Sinatra:  THAT'S WHAT GOD LOOKS LIKE TO ME. Is it at YouTube? But of course.

… His heart like a mountain so vast and so strong
That's why all his children have room to belong
His smile is the morning we waken to see
But you, my son, you are what God really looks like to me…

Since Frank's first daughter Nancy terminated her online “Sinatra Family Forum” after its 24 year run, there is nothing left in the way of a Sinatra 'legacy' being shared online with millions of us kindred spirits – nothing apart from “Channel 70 Sirius/XM.” Thanks, Jersey Lou Simon, for including on your playlist this day!

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About a hundred of us “Sinatra Family Forum Alumni” have kept in touch on Facebook (a private 'members' page) where I can still get a quick answer about “Who wrote that song?”

A gentle string arrangement by Gordon Jenkins (I think) that opens with solo electric piano accompaniment (emulating the chimes of an old-fashioned 'celeste'): Never the sort of song destined to get any airplay in this world! But for someone like me (76, with eight grand kids) it hits all the right notes with my heart.

[Favorite lines:]

“He looks like a baby, when Mother is near . . .

His smile is the morning we awaken to see

But you, my son – YOU are what God really looks like to me!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYZBSk8J7Tc

Our foremost Sinatra expert "Bob in Boston" responded immediately:

Bob Freed

DOYLE DYKES – Go Rita! (Forever)

“That's a song I wrote for Rita, my wife – a long time ago,” says Doyle Dykes after performing a lovely ballad (I could tell he had composed) with some heavenly chord progressions, and a blending of memorable, melodic simplicity (a tune that stays with you) and a complexity of technique that Doyle, as usual, manages to make look oh-so-easy. (Starting around the 6:00 minute mark.)

He plays into a mic his favorite acoustic instrument – an OLSON (James Taylor's weapon-of-choice) crafted from “Brazilian [Rosewood] back & sides, and Cedar top.”

The song's title, “GO RITA (Forever)” has long been a family catch phrase: “We're 50 years together this week,” said Doyle, adding at song's end: “I'm not all that smart but I think I was pretty smart to marry her.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWYm_uF5K8k

DOLLY & PAUL & RINGO – Let It Be

“When I find myself in times of trouble

Mother Mary comes to me

Singing words of wisdom . . . ”

I awoke today humming those words from the refrain of our family's favorite Beatles song – composed words & tune by Paul McCartney. And thinking of my Mom's favorite adage: “There ARE no coincidences!” (You know what she meant.)

Our family's favorite living singer/songwriter Dolly Parton just had the thrill (of a lifetime that's included 100 million records sold) -- her recording of LET IT BE with Paul “on piano”– and Ringo on drums. Shared with fans on her Facebook page this morning, followed minutes later by Paul's appreciation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXW-p4nKdDA

Does it get any better than singing “Let It Be” with Paul McCartney who wrote the song? Not only that, he played piano! Well, it did get even better when Ringo Starr joined in on drums, Peter Frampton on guitar and Mick Fleetwood playing percussion. I mean, seriously, how much better does it get? Thanks guys! Go give it a listen https://dolly.lnk.to/LetItBe

MY VALENTINE - an (almost) lost JOHNNY MANDEL arrangement

Two years after Paul McCartney's album of standards “Kisses on the Bottom” was released, someone shared a unique YouTube video as a “tribute to Johnny Mandel's great arrangement” of MY VALENTINE -- one of two original  compositions Paul included on the album. Within the first 15 seconds, those of us who called Johnny “the dean of living arrangers” (he left us two years ago at age 96] can spot chords and voicings that are "pure Johnny Mandel" – sounds that were uniquely his. [The poster “Aitzol” included a note:]

I made this video for Paul, the greatest musician, and My Valentine, one of his greatest songs. This version is not included on the original "Kisses On The Bottom" (2012) album, just on the iTunes edition "Kisses On The Bottom: Complete Kisses", and it sounds great!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAUXAhYOlm4

TONY BENNETT / LADY GAGA – Dream Dancing

At this moment Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing Tony's last great duet – with Lady Gaga on one of Cole Porter's most beautiful melodies – DREAM DANCING: Posted to YouTube “1 year ago” and my favorite of their videos for reasons I can't put into words. But I see my namesake 'reviewed' this one, noting that “it's a lesser-known Cole Porter tune which ….

“ …. Tony performed definitively 44 years ago, for his second 'alone-together' album with jazz piano giant Bill Evans. (A bonus track on their “Together Again” album of 1977 but not released on any CD until 2009.) It's a rangy song. And apart from Sinatra, no male singer has ever had as great a vocal range as Tony. Incredibly, he's still got the range, together with perfect intonation!

A musical video so good it gives me those 'tears of joy.' You too? Barely two minutes, including Lady Gaga's entry to the studio and a loving greeting for her musical hero. Thanks for sharing Lady Gaga.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZu1ZBIsaQw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LIW7q_cFeA

TONY BENNETT – I'll Be Seeing You

I have two favorite versions of this great old song – maybe the most poignant ever written about the loss of a loved one – I'LL BE SEEING YOU. Best rendition with a full orchestra? Sinatra's --  recorded in 1962 for his very last album for Capitol Records “Point of No Return.” But then there's this one -- more simple and even more affecting: Tony Bennett, alone together with his great piano accompanist Ralph Sharon on Tony's “Perfectly Frank” Sinatra tribute album of 31 years ago;  joined by bass player Paul Langosh and drummer Joe LaBarbera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHL8LApVRe0

If like me you were wondering . . . “Where is Tony Bennett buried?”

Google to learn (finally) from this note of “2 days ago”:

Tony Bennett is buried under his true name, Anthony Benedetto, with his family, in Calvary Cemetery in Woodside. A recent burial was evident when the Queens Chronicle visited the Benedetto family gravesite on Aug. 9 .... ”

Wikipedia

Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery in Maspeth and Woodside, Queens, in New York City, New York, United States. With about three million burials, it has the largest number of interments of any cemetery in the United States. Wikipedia

Address: 49-02 Laurel Hill Blvd, Queens, NY 11377, United States

Hours: 

Open ⋅ Closes 4:30 p.m.

Phone: +1 718-786-8000

Find a Grave: 64107

No. of interments: ≈ 3 million

JOHN PIZZARELLI / GEORGE BENSON – Love Dance

“When morning finds us caught in Life's most sensible trance: Turn up the quiet.  Love wants to dance ....”

In a '5 o'clock Somewhere' live-stream show – with more than a few highlights – at around the 42:00 mark John Pizzarelli included a great love song you may never have heard before: “Love Dance – by Ivan Lins,” said John, at song's end; I wanted to shout aloud, 'Don't forget who wrote the brilliant lyric!'

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/303938885331117/

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial?comment_id=Y29tbWVudDozMDM5Mzg4ODUzMzExMTdfMjU0MDU1OTQ3NDE0MDEy

Permit an aside please. Four years ago at YouTube I wrote an appreciation for a George Benson video of what I called “my favorite love song of the 80's.” I had noted elsewhere that Quincy Jones asked Oscar-winning lyricist Paul Williams to mate “some perfect English words” with that hauntingly beautiful melody from Quincy's friend – Brazilian composer Ivan Lins (still with us at age 78).

George Benson included the resulting gem on his 'Give Me The Night' black vinyl LP – the first album anyone had recorded for Quincy's then-new “Quest” record label. The title track was the album's hit song getting lots of airplay; “Love Dance” not so much.

Just recently I'd been hoping my favorite jazz singer / guitarist would sing and play this one on his show – given that John previously performed Paul Williams' Oscar-nominated “Rainbow Connection” – for Kermit the Frog and The Muppets. Paul Williams' words for Barbra Streisand's “Evergreen” picked up both the “Best Original Song” Academy Award, and “Song of the Year” Grammy.

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P.S. On his original 1980 recording of 'Love Dance' Benson stuck to singing; the lovely acoustic guitar accompaniment was provided by George's good friend Lee Ritenour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-t8LqL1q-A

WILLIE NELSON – All the Things You Are

My Mom and Dad's favorite song (mine too) is Kern & Hammerstein's masterpiece ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE – new versions of which (meaning ones I've never seen) keep reaching my appreciative ears in YouTube postings by 'artists various' including, just a month ago, Willie Nelson's performance (with a full orchestra yet!) on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, circa “mid-to-late 90's” according to the informed comments below from kindred spirits.

Tux Guys (1 year ago)

(Going by Leno's hair, this must have been in the mid-late '90's.) Knockout. Being a great songwriter himself, Willie knows what goes into a great song, and knows how to handle one by someone else, in this case Jerome Kern's compositional masterpiece. His declamatory style, with its conversational phrasing, is absolutely perfect for Oscar Hammerstein's lyrics, and the tune itself, modulating, as it does, through three different, distant keys? With Willie Nelson's ears... No problem.

Jazz4Ashahel

Not a trick to be found here. The man stands there and honors the tune. Solid musicianship, straightforward rendition of a beautifully crafted tune. This one makes a tear fall, because it is so true and right. The crowd goes wild, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qhlmheb4ak&lc=Ugx_8KlmGFdCfdeNHj54AaABAg.8bLSmxXk9hm9qsjUnjNzcA

TONY BENNETT / STEVIE WONDER – For Once in My Life

Tony's all-time favorite duet with another male singer? He never allowed himself any intimations of   preferences, but my personal guess would be his Grammy-winning 'live' performance with Stevie Wonder – someone with vocal power to match his own, and who can sing 'chromatic display' chords as effortlessly as he plays the same notes on harmonica. Breathtaking is the word for his solo (at around the 2:01 mark). Love those spoken words of 'mutual appreciation' at song's end.

TONY: Stevie …. wonderful!

STEVIE: The great Tony Bennett! Happy Birthday.

The only such video I can find of this 'live' performance is this one – uploaded to Vimeo “five years ago” with “subtitulos” by “Bossa Nova Clube”.

Thanks for sharing. Celebrated elsewhere this 97^th birthday [search] “ Great Melody, Great Lyric, Great Rendition, Songwriting Workshop, Harmony Central ”

https://vimeo.com/266302839

TONY BENNETT / Robert Farnon w. London Symphony

My father had a life-long friendship with Robert Farnon, the Canadian-born arranger who spent most of his life in London – in recording studios, conducting London Philharmonic / Symphony musicians (which is to say among the very best). Every great arranger acknowledged Robert Farnon's influence. Tony Bennett said “Canadians should raise a statue" in his honor. Sinatra dubbed him “The Guv'nor” and Andre Previn told Johnny Mercer that “Robert Farnon is the greatest string arranger in the world.”

So. Imagine my delight at what Siriusly Sinatra is playing right this minute, in the middle of a day devoted (almost) entirely to Tony Bennett: COUNTRY GIRL – composed by Robert Farnon. Informed comments below the video include this one from EDC3743

Farnon was inspired to write *Country Girl* by William Wordsworth's poem of 1805, “The Solitary Reaper”. The verses of which are: 1 - Behold her, single in the field, Yon solitary Highland Lass! Reaping and singing by herself; Stop here, or gently pass! . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AusNBSX3WEw

SINATRA+ Quincy's "best-ever big band" – After You've Gone

After posting that solo guitar rendition of AFTER YOU'VE GONE by Doyle Dykes, the intuitive genius of YouTube sent me another video, as if to say 'Isn't THIS your all-time favorite version of that song?' Yes indeed. And this share is the best version at YouTube, featuring as it does, words of introduction from producer/engineer Phil Ramone and Frank's favorite big band arranger/conductor Quincy Jones – who credits arranger Frank Foster for this chart, and singles out a young George Benson for his contribution to this 'live' in-studio recording for Sinatra's (1984) L.A. IS MY LADY album. Says Quincy:

“George Benson is the culmination of probably every great guitarist we have ever had from Charlie Christian to Wes Montgomery …. plus his own personality: George reaches back and embraces the best of the tradition of all of the old guitar greats ”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvO76yjtkYY

DOYLE DYKES – After You've Gone

A song that filled Chet Atkins' heart with joy. You can hear it in Chet's latter-day 'duet' with Suzy Bogguss (one of my favorites of his recordings). If you can spare only two minutes, listen to what Doyle Dykes does with this great old standard, AFTER YOU'VE GONE.

Playing a brand new, Quebec-made, GODIN steel-string acoustic-electric (with his own pickup of preference) Doyle makes it look so easy! A deceptively simple arrangement that includes some devilishly difficult phrases to play – at least as cleanly as Doyle does it – at the most difficult clusters of notes -- when he urges his fingers to “Get in there!”

My new favorite arrangement of a century-old song whose Wiki entry reminds us

”It was first recorded by Marion Harris on July 22, 1918, and released by Victor Records. The song became so popular that the sheet music was later decorated with tiny photographs of the 45 men who made the song famous, including Paul Whiteman, Rudy Vallée, B.A. Rolfe, Guy Lombardo, and Louis Armstrong.”

TONY BENNETT – Wave

Until this minute, I'd never even heard-of Tony Bennett's 1971 black vinyl album titled “Get Happy – with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.” I have a fellow fan “Robin Hampton” (below) to thank for this informed comment at Tony's Facebook page:

For me, his rendition of "Wave" from the 1971 live album "Get Happy," with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, is the most soulful and deep interpretation ever. I melt when I listen to it. The entire album is stunning.

The simple truth!  Permit an aside: If I had to single out just one favorite Sinatra recording of a Brazilian jazz samba classic (composed words & tune by Antonio Carlos Jobim) it would be WAVE: For 25 years Frank's version, arranged by Brazil's Eumir Deodato, has been my definitive favorite: not least for Sinatra hitting the lowest note of his career – an E-flat at the end of each stanza of the chorus. But again, I have “Robin Hampton” to thank for his guidance to my new, “all-time favorite” rendition.

Tony slows it right down, so the wave is of another 'type' – more luxuriant – and you can almost feel it flowing sensually over your feet as it retreats across the sand of a wide beach. Great jazz singer that he is, Tony's final notes – to the delight of his audience – comprise a complex jazz chord – delivered as a quick chromatic display. And you realize Tony is the only singer who could conceive it, spontaneously and deliver it in 'live' performance.

Really, isn't this wonderful?

[Best version at YouTube:]

TONY BENNETT / BILL EVANS – Lucky to be Me / Some Other Time

In 1977 Tony Bennett and Bill Evans had just recorded their second 'alone together' album TOGETHER AGAIN when a Canadian television station (CBC Vancouver) offered them an opportunity to promote their latest work: They jumped at the chance, and had a blast doing it – recording seven songs in the space of 28 minutes. No second takes required!

If you've never seen this before, you're in for a treat. If you only have time to watch one or two right now, please start at the 1:28 mark – LUCKY TO BE ME. One of two songs they did here from a WWII (1944) Broadway show, “On The Town” – with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Betty Comden & Adolph Green. Tony and Bill perform the other great song from that same WWII show – (We'll Catch Up) Some Other Time --  at around the 11:16 mark. Jazz singing on television never got better than this, you may agree!

Shared by someone who may have been 'present at the creation' (with access to the original video tapes). Posted to YouTube seven years ago, nearing 200K “views” and dozens of informed comments including this one:

@ThomasEDavis (8 months ago)

“This is sublime: two brilliant musical masters in exquisitely intimate and deeply moving conversation. But these seven songs are just a sampling of an endlessly delightful collection entitled 'The Complete Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Recordings' – a two-CDset that all lovers of jazz, piano, and the Great American Songbook should own: It contains 21 songs and 20 additional alternate takes.”

Thanks for sharing James Kauffman. Celebrated elsewhere [search] “Great Melody, Great Lyric, Great Rendition, Songwriting Workshop, Harmony Central ”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LIW7q_cFeA

TONY BENNETT / BILL CHARLAP – The Way You Look Tonight

On an August night in 2015 Tony Bennett and my favorite living jazz pianist Bill Charlap – alone together on a New York stage – delivered my favorite 'live' performance of this great old love song.

Sent my way by the intuitive genius that is YouTube circa 2023: As if to say, “Your other favorite version, right?” Just so.

Bill Charlap has a unique style that I love, and manages to be true to his own tasteful self, even as he 'channels' Bill Evans – the way his life-long piano hero might have played this solo had Tony included this one on their landmark “Bennett/Evans” recordings of half a century ago.

Which is to say: I don't think you can improve on this – do you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb9awS1RRL4

SINATRA / PIZZARELLI – The Way You Look Tonight

On his latest live-streamed “It's 5 o'clock Somewhere” show John Pizzarelli included (at the 45:30 mark) JUST THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT – a gorgeous guitar arrangement uniquely his, that references the classic Nelson Riddle chart for Frank Sinatra's definitive recording: same one Frank employed decades later on Michelob beer commercials – contributing no doubt to this now being the most visited Sinatra offering at YouTube (the video below just turned 70 million “views”).

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/226724719827365

A 'Best Original Song' Oscar-winner (1936) for Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields – the lady whose perfect lyric included instructions on the original sheet music – the notes that are to be hummed near the close:

“Mm-mm, Mm-mm . . .  

Just the way you look tonight.”

The key of D sounds wonderful on guitar – more reflective than any other (to my ears) and it's a delight to hear John opening in D – then after a host of beautiful chord progressions – which as always he manages to make look easy! – a final, upward modulation into E-flat – the song's original key. That closing flurry of chords is simply perfect, you may agree!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9ZGKALMMuc

Thanks for sharing Swingstar Records. Celebrated elsewhere at [search] “ Great Melody, Great Lyric, Great Rendition, Songwriting Workshop, Harmony Central ”