Be Sure to Catch This Living Legend (actually, two legends)
The other Jonathan Schwartz would be delighted to know that I took in a Tony Bennett concert in Denver on Friday night. It ranks with The Who, Fall Out Boy/Taking Back Sunday, and Rose Hill Drive's tribute to Led Zeppelin I, and Earl Scruggs' E-Town Concert as the warmest events I've attended here in the Denver area.
A highlight of the show was when the legendary singer turned off all the microphones, faced the audience, and filled the entire cavernous Temple Buell Theater with his amazing unamplified voice, singing Fly Me to the Moon.
But of course there were many highlights: Tony Bennett's story about recording For Once in My Life even before Stevie Wonder turned it into a smash hit for Motown... And then re-recording it as a duet with Stevie Wonder lo these many years later, and the two of them winning a Grammy last year. (And of course he sang it, beautifully); his wonderful renditions of Smile (by Charlie Chaplan), You Can't Take That Away from Me (George and Ira Gershwin); The Way You Look Tonight (Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields).
Of course Tony Bennett sang his signature song, I Left My Heart in San Francisco (George Cory, Douglas Cross), and therein lives a local Colorado story:
Tony Bennett's pianist for 30+ years, Ralph Sharon, first 'discovered' I Left My Heart in San Francisco for Bennett. Sharon is retired in Colorado now, and plays piano in local Boulder and Denver night clubs. Bennett paid him a delightful tribute at the concert, telling how the two of them traveled around the world for more than 30 years, and how Sharon first brought the song I Left My Heart in San Francisco to their repertoire: It happened when the two of them were due to travel out west for California concerts and were casting about for new material. Sharon was shuffling around in a drawer packing for the trip, and rediscovered the sheet music to the then somewhat obscure song. He suggested to Tony Bennett that 'they might like this one there in San Francisco.' As Bennett tells it, they tried the song in the foggy city,
brought down the house, and the rest is history.
It is Sharon who is often credited by fellow pianists with giving Tony Bennett's many recordings their distinctive sound. He is still a delight to listen to if you ever get to the Denver area (e.g. Dazzle); I like to request obscure American Songbook standards and stump him, but of course Ralph Sharon knows them all.
You probably won't hear Tony Bennett's tribute to Ralph Sharon in you town, since it's a local story, but I highly recommend catching Bennett -- truly a living legend -- when he comes to your city on his 80th birthday tour!
(P.S. He'll be on American Idol April 4th -- no kidding.)
Technorati Tags: Tony Bennett
Tunes: Tony Bennett: If I Ruled The World
A highlight of the show was when the legendary singer turned off all the microphones, faced the audience, and filled the entire cavernous Temple Buell Theater with his amazing unamplified voice, singing Fly Me to the Moon.
But of course there were many highlights: Tony Bennett's story about recording For Once in My Life even before Stevie Wonder turned it into a smash hit for Motown... And then re-recording it as a duet with Stevie Wonder lo these many years later, and the two of them winning a Grammy last year. (And of course he sang it, beautifully); his wonderful renditions of Smile (by Charlie Chaplan), You Can't Take That Away from Me (George and Ira Gershwin); The Way You Look Tonight (Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields).
Of course Tony Bennett sang his signature song, I Left My Heart in San Francisco (George Cory, Douglas Cross), and therein lives a local Colorado story:
Tony Bennett's pianist for 30+ years, Ralph Sharon, first 'discovered' I Left My Heart in San Francisco for Bennett. Sharon is retired in Colorado now, and plays piano in local Boulder and Denver night clubs. Bennett paid him a delightful tribute at the concert, telling how the two of them traveled around the world for more than 30 years, and how Sharon first brought the song I Left My Heart in San Francisco to their repertoire: It happened when the two of them were due to travel out west for California concerts and were casting about for new material. Sharon was shuffling around in a drawer packing for the trip, and rediscovered the sheet music to the then somewhat obscure song. He suggested to Tony Bennett that 'they might like this one there in San Francisco.' As Bennett tells it, they tried the song in the foggy city,
brought down the house, and the rest is history.
It is Sharon who is often credited by fellow pianists with giving Tony Bennett's many recordings their distinctive sound. He is still a delight to listen to if you ever get to the Denver area (e.g. Dazzle); I like to request obscure American Songbook standards and stump him, but of course Ralph Sharon knows them all.
You probably won't hear Tony Bennett's tribute to Ralph Sharon in you town, since it's a local story, but I highly recommend catching Bennett -- truly a living legend -- when he comes to your city on his 80th birthday tour!
(P.S. He'll be on American Idol April 4th -- no kidding.)
Technorati Tags: Tony Bennett
Tunes: Tony Bennett: If I Ruled The World
Posted by andrew on March 21, 2007 at 01:57 PM PDT #