Tony Bennett – Playin’ With My Friends – Bennett Sings The Blues (2001)

Playin’ with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues is a 2001 album by Tony Bennett featuring duets with notable vocalists.

Tony Bennett’s latter-day albums tend to have themes, and this one has two, as indicated by its double-barreled title: It is both a duets album and a blues album. The duet partners include ten singers who range from his recent touring partners Diana Krall and k.d. lang to fellow veterans Ray Charles, B.B. King, and Kay Starr, and younger, but still mature pop stars Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, and Billy Joel. All sound happy to be sharing a mic with Bennett. Not surprisingly, the singer’s conception of the blues does not extend to the Mississippi Delta or the South Side of Chicago; rather, he is interested in the blues as filtered through the sound of the Swing Era, particularly from around Kansas City, and as interpreted by Tin Pan Alley and show tunes. For the former, his true mentor is Count Basie, whose overt influence is heard on six of the 15 tracks.

Bennett makes no attempt to hide this, leading off the album with two songs, “Alright, Okay, You Win” (a duet with Krall) and “Everyday (I Have the Blues)” (a duet with Wonder), closely associated with Basie singer Joe Williams. The Broadway and Hollywood blues style is introduced in three selections written by Harold Arlen. On about half the tracks, the Ralph Sharon Quartet is augmented by Harry Allen’s saxophone and Mike Melvoin’s Hammond organ, but this remains a small, intimate affair that emphasizes the singers. There are missteps — Sheryl Crow’s Billie Holiday impersonation on “Good Morning, Heartache” is unfortunate, and Natalie Cole, as usual, sounds out of her depth on “Stormy Weather.” But the trade-offs Bennett enjoys with King and Charles are priceless, and the Joel duet is surprisingly effective. On the whole, this is yet another entry in Bennett’s lengthening series of autumnal recorded triumphs. (by William Ruhlmann)

Personnel:
Harry Allen (saxophone)
Tony Bennett (vocals)
Clayton Cameron (drums)
Paul Langosch (bass)
Mike Melvoin (organ)
Gray Sargent (guitar)
Ralph Sharon (piano)
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Ray Charles – Natalie Cole – Sheryl Crow – Billy Joel – B.B. King – Diana Krall – K.D.Lang -Bonnie Raitt – Kay Starr – Stevie Wonder – Judy Garland

Tracklist:
01. Alright, Okay, You Win (with Diana Krall) (Watts/Wyche) 3.31
02. Everyday (I Have the Blues) (with Stevie Wonder) (Chatman) 3.39
03. Don’t Cry Baby (Bernie/Johnson/Unger) 2.43
04. Good Morning Heartache (with Sheryl Crow) (Drake/Fisher/Higginbotham) 4.56
05. Let The Good Times Roll (with B.B. King) (Moore/Theard) 3.14
06. Evenin’ (with Ray Charles) (Parish/White) 4.15
07. I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues (with Bonnie Raitt) (Arlen/Koehler) 3.55
08. Keep The Faith, Baby (with K.D. Lang) (de Jesus/Lerner/Watts) 3.52
09. Old Count Basie Is Gone (Old Piney Brown Is Gone) (Turner) 3.25
10. Blue And Sentimental (with Kay Starr) (Basie/David/Livingston) 3.21
11. New York State Of Mind (with Billy Joel) (Joel) 4.31
12. Undecided Blues (Rushing) 3.18
13. Blues In The Night (Arlen/Mercer) 3.34
14. Stormy Weather (with Natalie Cole) (Arlen/Koehler) 4.34
15. Playin’ With My Friends (Cray/Walker) 4.50
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16. I Left My Heart In San Francisco (with Judy Garland) (Cory/Cross) 3.08

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VA – Good Time Gold – Christmas (2002)

Okay, it´s christmas time again:

Christmas, a Christian holiday honoring the birth of Jesus, has evolved into a worldwide religious and secular celebration, incorporating many pre-Christian and pagan traditions into the festivities.

Christmas is a Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus. The English term Christmas (“mass on Christ’s day”) is of fairly recent origin. The earlier term Yule may have derived from the Germanic jōl or the Anglo-Saxon geōl, which referred to the feast of the winter solstice. The corresponding terms in other languages—Navidad in Spanish, Natale in Italian, Noël in French—all probably denote nativity. The German word Weihnachten denotes “hallowed night.” Since the early 20th century, Christmas has also been a secular family holiday, observed by Christians and non-Christians alike, devoid of Christian elements, and marked by an increasingly elaborate exchange of gifts. In this secular Christmas celebration, a mythical figure named Santa Claus plays the pivotal role.

And I will bring during December a lot of christmas music from all over the world.

And I beginn with a real nice Chritmas sampler from Time Life … with a lot of old fashioned christmas tunes … I guess you´ll know most of them.

And I hope you like it, like me.

Tracklist:
01. Bing Crosby: White Christmas (Berlin) 3.04
02. Frank Sinatra: Silent Night (Mohr/GRuber) 3.18
03. Perry Como: Jingle Bells (Pierpont) 3.00
04. Gene Autry: Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (Marks) 3.13
05. Judy Garland: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Martin/Blane) 2.39
06. Dick Haymes: Christmas Dreaming (Gordon/Lee) 2.41
07. Doris Day: The Christmas Song (Torme/Wells) 3.16
08. Bing Crosby: God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman (Traditional) 2.19
09. Dinah Shore: O Little Town Of Betlehem (Redner) 2.10
10. Frank Sinatra: Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful) (Traditional) 2.39
11. The Andrews Sisters: Christmas Island (Moraine) 2.39
12. Nelson Eddy: The First Noel (Traditional) 1.49
13. Vera Lynn: The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot (Corner/Carr/Leach) 2.54
14. Vaughn Monroe: Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (Cahn/Styne) 3.13
15. Judy Garland: Merry Christmas (Spielman/Torre) 2.46
16. Gene Autry: Here Comes Santa Claus (Autry/Haldeman) 2.33
17. Perry Como: I’ll Be Home For Christmas (Kent/Ram/Gannon) 2.56
18. Frank Sinatra: Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Gillespie/Coots) 2.35
19. Mel Tormé: What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve? (Loesser) 3.01
20. Bing Crosby: Let’s Start The New Year Right (Berlin) 2.37

 

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Judy Garland – That´s Entertainment ! (1960)

Five years into her tenure at Capitol Records, Judy Garland had slipped from the top rung of the label’s concerns. After her first three Capitol LPs all figured in the charts, her next three did not, and when she came to record her sixth studio album and seventh release overall, her sessions were no longer being overseen by heavyweight arranger/conductors Nelson Riddle or Gordon Jenkins, who had handled her last four; this time, the arrangements were farmed out and Jack Marshall conducted. Nevertheless, the results were engaging. Twelve songs Garland had never before recorded were chosen, including a good newly written tune by André Previn and Dory Langdon, “Yes.” The rest came from the treasure chest of pop standards written for Broadway and the movies in the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s (plus the 1953 title song), by such songwriters as Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Dietz & Schwartz, and Garland’s personal favorites, Arlen & Harburg. Marshall and his arrangers mixed up the styles, from full-scale orchestral settings to the bluesy small-band accompaniment to “How Long Has This Been Going On?” and Marshall’s own piano on Kurt Weill’s “It Never Was You.” Garland was in good voice and sang with assurance, resulting in another terrific collection. Unfortunately, she was touring in Europe when the album was released and, lacking any real promotion, it didn’t sell. The following year, however, Garland used the material as the basis of her stage show, singing five of the songs at the performance that produced her chart-topping, Grammy-winning comeback album Judy at Carnegie Hall, so That’s Entertainment! serves as something of a curtain raiser to that collection. (by William Ruhlmann)

 Personnel:
Judy Garland (vocals)
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Orchestra conducted by Jack Marshall

Tracklist:
01. That´s Entainment ! (Dietz/Schwartz) 2.31
02. Who Cares (I.Gershwin/G.Gershwin) 1.31
03. I´ve Confessed To The Breeze (I Love You) (Harbach/Youmans) 3.07
04. If I Love You Again (Murrray/Oakland) 2.42
05. Yes (Langdon/Previn) 3.14
06. Puttin´ On The Rith (Berlin) 1.59
07. Old Devil Moon (Harburg/Lane) 2.57
08. Down With Love (Alen/Harburg) 2.11
09. How Long Has This Been Going On ? (I.Gershwin/G.Gershwin) 2.53
10. It Never Was You (Anderson/Weill) 3.25
11. Just You, Just Me (Greer/Klages) 1.42
12. Alone Together (Dietz/Schwartz) 3.19

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