Bloggerhythms

The passing of the legendary Tony Bennett at age 96 was announced this morning. Most websites will post a traditional tribute to him with a detailed biography. Instead - in order to contribute something a little different - I'm simply re-posting a concert review that first ran here on my wife's birthday, December 2, 2013. It was a very big one for her and going to this concert at the Borgata in Atlantic City was how we celebrated. I believe Bennett was the last of the great jazz and pop vocalists that began their careers in the pre-rock era. I'm unable to think of another one who is still living. ________________________________ You should always think twice if someone asks you to spend your hard earned cash to see an 87 year old singer in concert – unless, of course, that singer is Tony Bennett. The famous jazz legend performed a very good set Saturday evening, entertaining an Atlantic City casino crowd of over 3,000 for an hour and fifteen minutes. It's true that B...

The music world has had a few unlikely pairings over the years. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss immediately come to mind with their 2007 collaboration, Raising Sand . Years earlier, an even more unlikely duo, Bing Crosby and David Bowie, created a Christmas classic from Crosby's last TV special, their adaptation of a "Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth." Tony Bennett and k. d. lang may seem like another odd couple to you but one listen to A Wonderful World will tell you that they belong together. Ms. lang proved that she can also be a talented torch singer after she broadened her repertoire beyond traditional country music. Bennett and lang first sang together on his  MTV Unplugged session and this 2002 album is a result of that very enjoyable program. Bennett is one of the most talented and revered progenitors of the Great American Songbook. We all know his work and what he does has never changed in over 60 years. On the other hand, the much younger lang has evolve...

Shortly after Dave Brubeck died in 2012 a tape of an impromptu concert he gave with Tony Bennett in 1962 for the Kennedy administration was discovered in the vaults at Sony. "That Old Black Magic" was the only song from the sessions that had been previously released but the whole concert became available the following year. Whoever found the mislabeled show should be given a medal. Bennett and Brubeck were asked to perform at the "White House Seminar American Jazz Concert" for college students who'd been serving as interns in Washington. The concert was held on August 28, 1962 and was scheduled for the Rose Garden but later moved to a theater near the Washington Monument because the large crowd could not be accommodated on the grounds of the President's residence. Both men were at the height of their popularity. Brubeck's fame was mostly due to Paul Desmond's "Take Five," a smash hit for the band several years earlier, and Bennett...