Product Description
Personnel: Tony Bennett (vocals); Ralph Sharon (piano).
Recorded in October, 1959. Previously released as CBS Records 8242.
Digitally remastered by Debra Parkinson.
This 1959 duet with pianist Ralph Sharon is one of the finest entries in the Bennett catalogue. Really just a short run-through of tunes with his trusted musical partner, Bennett rises above the casual nature of the session with studied, near-spiritual readings of beauties like "I'm Through With Love" and "My Funny Valentine." There is actually a preponderance of Rodgers and Hart here, including a short fillip of "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," as well as "Bewitched" and "Where Or When."
But Bennett's most stirring performances are reserved for three Harold Arlen songs, "The Man That Got Away," "A Sleepin' Bee" and "Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe," previously associated with Judy Garland, Pearl Bailey and Ethel Waters respectively. This man was able to draw on some freed-up and transformative well of feeling so as to challenge these great female singers on their own turf. Bennett later recorded A STRING OF HAROLD ARLEN with a full string section, but nothing on that fine album can match the soaring moments of pure, naked singing that characterize the Arlen tunes and everything else on this great album. Recommended.
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