From the NYT obit.........................................
Frank Sinatra, whom Mr. Bennett counted as a mentor and friend, once put it another way.“For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business,” he told Life magazine in 1965. “He excites me when I watch him. He moves me. He’s the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more.”
Most simply, perhaps, the composer and critic Alec Wilder said about Mr. Bennett’s voice, “There is a quality about it that lets you in.”
Re: The Way You Look...
Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2023 4:47 pm
by iiipopes
Some years ago I played bass in a small dance band: 3 sax, two trumpets, bone & rhythm. My electric bass was, in spite of best efforts, driving the band too hard. This song is what motivated me to purchase a double bass so I could provide the proper foundation to the band. Our arrangement was not as rubato, more akin to the swing Sinatra/Riddle arrangement. Yes, the proper instrument does make all the difference in the foundation. And oh, what an instrument Tony Bennett had!
Re: The Way You Look...
Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2023 4:50 pm
by Jim Williams
Here's Tony Bennett and Bill Evans on a Canadian TV special.
28 minutes of bliss. IMHO Bill Evans was the most amazing musician. In deference to Bennett, Evans sticks pretty closely to the melody in his interludes. Evans had a way of reharmonizing standards that was profound yet subtle. Here he knows exactly when to be sparse or orchestral in his accompanying.
Re: The Way You Look...
Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2023 5:47 pm
by bloke
Tom Ferguson (Memphis State Director of Bands - back in the 1960's - 1970's, and the first pianist with the Matteson-Phillips Tubajazz Consort) used those pentatonic scales/chords (with as much frequency) as does Mr. Evans.
Tom had a trio (piano/bass/drums) that works most nights of most weeks at one particular club in Memphis (unless there was a game or a band concert).
I could only find these, the second being a better example of that to which I'm referring...