Tony Bennett's Master Class In The Great American Songbook

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:

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SOURCE: Legacy Recordings

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

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