Tony Bennett's Master Class In The Great American Songbook

Tony Bennett's Master Class In The Great American Songbook

Tony Bennett Sings The Ultimate American Songbook Vol. 1, Selections Hand-Picked By The Artist

15 recordings from 1950s, '60s and '90s, of songs dating from 1920s, '30s, '40s - 'Anything Goes,' 'That Old Black Magic,' 'A Foggy Day,' 'I'll Be Seeing You,' 'Ain't Misbehavin,' 'Moonglow' (with k.d. lang), 'You Go To My Head,' 'They Can't Take That Away From Me,' 'Taking A Chance On Love,' and more!

Arrives in stores September 25th on RPM Records/Columbia/Legacy

NEW YORK, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Tony Bennett's artistry will be celebrated this season when TONY BENNETT SINGS THE ULTIMATE AMERICAN SONGBOOK VOL. 1 arrives in stores September 25th on RPM Records/Columbia/Legacy, a division of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.

(LOGO: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070905/NYW015

)

Last year at this time, a gala worldwide commemoration began in recognition of Tony Bennett's 80th birthday (on August 3, 2006) and the 20th year anniversary since his return to Columbia Records in 1986. The year was capped with the release of Duets: An American Classic, which quickly topped the charts and became Bennett's best selling CD to date, earning platinum status within weeks of its release. Tony's NBC special, which aired last November, Tony Bennett: An American Classic, recently received eight Emmy nominations, including noms for Tony and his two sons, Danny and Dae, both of whom were involved with the production.

Earlier this year on February 11, 2007, at the 49th annual Grammy Awards, Tony Bennett's most recent studio album, Duets: An American Classic, generated awards for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), the latter two for his duet with Stevie Wonder on "For Once In My Life." Two days later, Netflix, Inc., in association with its Red Envelope Entertainment division, announced it had acquired worldwide rights to produce and distribute a new documentary exploring and celebrating the singer's life and career.

Titled Clint Eastwood Presents: Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends, the film is by produced by the Oscar winning director. Bruce Ricker (credits: The Last of the Blue Devils, Thelonious Monk Straight No Chaser, Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows), serves as the films director. The documentary project was brought to Netflix and Red Envelope by Danny Bennett, president of RPM Productions, on behalf of Tony Bennett and Clint Eastwood. The film was already in production at locations around the country, including Astoria, Queens in New York City, where Bennett was born, as well as Hollywood, California. It will have its broadcast premiere on PBS American Masters series on September 12th. It will be available for rental on Netflix and DVD purchase exclusively at Target on September 25th.

In addition, a new book of Tony's artwork will be released by Sterling Publishing in October. Titled Tony Bennett In The Studio: A Life Of Art And Music, it features over 200 images of Bennett's paintings. Author Mitch Albom contributed the foreword and Mario Cuomo wrote the book's preface.

The two new Legacy releases are both landmarks in the Tony Bennett catalog. ULTIMATE AMERICAN SONGBOOK VOL. 1 is a dream project for Tony Bennett, who personally chose the 15-song program from his Columbia repertoire. Literally hundreds of singers have recorded versions of these songs over the years, but Tony Bennett is in the rare class of artists who actually took part in many of the original presentations. The songs on this definitive collection of popular standards cover three distinct decades of recording by Tony Bennett on Columbia:

The 1950s: 1958's "Ev'ry Time We Say Good­bye" originally from the 1944 Cole Porter Broadway musical, Seven Lively Arts; and 1959's "Taking A Chance On Love" from the 1940 Vernon Duke Broadway musical, Cabin In The Sky.

The 1960s: 1962's Live At Carnegie Hall version of the 1934 Cole Porter gem, "Anything Goes"; 1962's "You'll Never Get Away From Me" from Stephen Sondheim's 1959 Broadway musical, Gypsy; then a pair from Tony's 1964 album When Lights Are Low -- Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin'" which dates to 1929, and the Gus Kahn/Isham Jones chestnut, "It Had To Be You" from the 1932 RKO film, Show Business; the 1966 recording of Ray Noble's "The Very Thought Of You" from 1934; 1967's "They Can't Take That Away From Me" which dates back to the 1937 Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers RKO film, Shall We Dance; and an undated '60s session with the Dave Brubeck Quartet on Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer's "That Old Black Magic," from the 1942 Paramount film, Star Spangled Rhythm.

The 1990s: Three tracks from 1992's Sinatra tribute Perfectly Frank, which brought Tony his first Grammy Award in 30 years, starting with the Gershwins' "A Foggy Day" from the 1937 RKO film, A Damsel In Distress, and 1938's "I'll Be Seeing You" and "You Go To My Head," all three of which are associated with the Columbia recordings of Billie Holiday, the primal vocal influence on Sinatra and Bennett; 1997's "She's Funny That Way" from the tribute album to Billie, Tony Bennett On Holiday; and from that same year, Tony's contribution to the My Best Friend's Wedding movie soundtrack album, Jerome Kern's "The Way You Look Tonight," yet another song associated with Billie; and from 1994's RIAA platinum two-time Grammy Award-winning MTV Unplugged comes the duet with k.d. lang on "Moonglow," the sixth song in this series associated with Billie Holiday.

TONY BENNETT SINGS THE ULTIMATE AMERICAN SONGBOOK VOL. 1

(RPM Records/Columbia/Legacy 88697 15320 2 9)

From
Tony
Bennett
Title Song source album Rel.

1. Anything B'way mus.: Live At Carnegie Hall 8/24/62
Goes Anything Goes
(C. Porter)

2. The Very (R. Noble) - [1966]
Thought
Of You

3. The Way RKO film, [My Best Friend's
You Look Swing Time Wedding o.s.] 6/17/97
Tonight (J. Kern/D. Fields)

4. Ev'ry Time B'way mus.: Long Ago...
We Say Seven Lively Arts And Far Away 7/28/58
Goodbye (C. Porter)

5. That Old Paramount film,
Black Magic Star Spangled [Dave Brubeck-
Rhythm Summit Sessions] c. 1960s
(H.Arlen/J. Mercer)

6. A Foggy Day RKO film, Perfectly Frank 9/92
A Damsel In
Distress
(G. & I. Gershwin)

7. I'll Be (I. Kahal) Perfectly Frank 9/92
Seeing You

8. Ain't B'way revue, When Lights Are Low 4/20/64
Misbehavin' Hot Chocolate
(T. Waller/A. Razaf
/H. Brooks)

9. It Had RKO film, When Lights Are Low 4/20/64
To Be You Show Business
(G. Kahn/I. Jones)

10. Moonglow (W.Hudson/E.DeLange MTV Unplugged 7/94
(w/k.d. lang) /I.Mills)

11. She's Funny (N. Moret/R. Whiting) Tony Bennett On 1997
That Way Holiday

12. You Go To (J.F. Coots Perfectly Frank 9/92
My Head /A. Gillespie)

13. They Can't RKO film, Shall For Once In My Life 12/6/67
Take That We Dance
Away From Me

14. You'll Never B'way mus.: Gypsy Mr. Broadway 3/19/62
Get Away (J. Styne/S. Sondheim)
From Me

15. Taking A B'way mus.: Cabin In Person! 4/27/59
Chance On In The Sky
Love
(V.Duke/J.Latouche/T.Fetter)

First Call Analyst:

Photo: NewsCom:

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070905/NYW015
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Legacy Recordings

CONTACT: Tom Cording, Legacy Media Relations, +1-212-833-4448

Web site:

http://www.legacyrecordings.com/
http://tonybennett.net/

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