Jazz vocalist Steve Tyrell returns to the famous Blue Note in New York

Steve Tyrell (ST photo)

Grammy award winning Jazz vocalist Steve Tyrell will return to the Blue Note in New York City from July 12 - 13 to perform material from his upcoming recording I'll Take Romance, to be released by Concord Records in the fall. I'll Take Romance will comprise of love songs from the Great American Songbook.




 WHEN: Tuesday, July 12 - Wednesday, July 13, 2011; Sets at 8:00pm & 10:30pm
WITH: Steve Tyrell, vocals; Other musicians, TBA
COST: $35 @ table / $20 @ bar
WHERE: The Blue Note; 131 W 3rd. St, New York, NY 10012
MORE: Doors open at 6pm. Set times are 8pm and 10:30pm

BIO: "Grammy Award-winning vocalist Steve Tyrell is truly a renaissance man. In his four-and-a-half decades in the music business, he has achieved great success as an artist, producer, songwriter, music supervisor, and performer.

With his breakthrough performances in Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride II, Tyrell reinvented and re-popularized classic pop standards for a modern-day audience. With the grit and soul of a lifetime of experiences, and in addition to producing hits for Grammy-winning artists ranging from Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville to Rod Stewart and Diana Ross, Tyrell himself has sold hundreds of thousands of albums and gained a passionate following all over the world. His hits "The Way You Look Tonight," "The Simple Life," "Crush On You," and "The Sunny Side of The Street" have launched thousands of weddings and millions of romances. He has held top positions at Standards, Swing, and Big Band outlets with a devoted following at Adult Contemporary Radio.

With sold-out shows across America and raves from around the world, his following increases day by day. Although Tyrell tours mainly with his band, he also enjoys playing with some of the most renowned orchestras in the land, and he has appeared with The Boston Pops, twice with The New York Pops, The Nashville Symphony, and The Houston Symphony on several occasions.

At the request of the Sinatra family and Quincy Jones, Tyrell was the featured performer with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at their season-opening concert in which Frank Sinatra was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. Also at the request of the Sinatra family, he reprised that performance this past May at Carnegie Hall. This is one of the rare times the family has reached into the vault of original Sinatra arrangements to share them with another artist.
In 2005, after the passing of the legendary Bobby Short, Tyrell was asked by New York City's Café Carlyle to take over their revered Holiday Season of November and December, which Mr. Short had not missed in 36 years. Now Tyrell has become a fixture in New York and has played the Café Carlyle to record crowds for the last six years.
As an artist, all seven of his American Standards albums have achieved top 5 status on Billboard's jazz charts, and his first album A New Standard was among the best-selling jazz albums for over five years.
Aside from being a Grammy Award winner, Tyrell has earned two Emmy nominations, three Ace Nominations, the 2004 American Society of Young Musicians All That Jazz Award, the 2004 The Wellness Community Human Spirit Award, the 2006 Society of Singers Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2008 Los Angeles Jazz Society's Jazz Vocalist of the Year."
Excerpted from ST's official bio.

'I Can't Get Started' a Bunny Berigan classic

Allposters.com

Q. I heard a great big band recording of a song titled "I Can't Get Started" by a bandleader, new to me, Bunny Berigan. What can you tell me about him and the recording?

A. We agree "I Can't Get Started" by Bunny Berigan and his orchestra is a big band classic. Bunny is the vocalist. Here is the sad tale of Berigan;

Musician/bandleader, Bunny Berigan had a short life...born in 1908 and died in 1942. His career hauntingly paralleled that of Bix Beiderbeck. Both Bunny Berigan's and Bix Beiderbeck's individualistic styles, compromising in playing with commercial bands, losing battle with alcoholism, and disintegration and death followed a similar pattern.

Bunny Berigan's first big hit records were with the Benny Goodman big band. For classic Bunny Berigan solos hear Goodman's version of King Porter Stomp and Sometimes I'm Happy both recorded in 1935. His solo on Tommy Dorsey's recording of Marie is a classic as well.

For up-tempo Bunny Berigan hear Gangbuster's Holiday also recorded with his own band or Blue Lou with the Metronome All Stars of 1939. Bunny Berigan won the Metronome Poll in both 1937 and 1939.

Bunny Berigan's biggest hit was a ballad, recorded under his own name, in which he played and sang was the now classic I Can't Get Started. Bunny Berigan’s recording of I Can’t Get Started was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974.


The song, surprisingly, was introduced by comedian Bob Hope. Hope sang it to Eve Arden in the Broadway revue Ziegfeld Follies of 1936. In a New York Times article, theater and film critic Vincent Canby said, “It was sung for laughs, with (Eve) Arden making caustic comments about Mr. Hope’s passion.”

Here are the Berigan lyrics to the great standard written by Vernon Duke (music) and Ira Gershwin (lyrics).
I've been around the world in a plane
I've settled revolutions in Spain
The North Pole I have charted
But man I can't get started with you
And at the golf course I'm under par
Metro-Goldwyn wants me to star
I've got a house and a show place
But can't get no place with you
You're so supreme
The lyrics I write of you
Dream, dream, day and night of you
Scheme just for the sight of you
But what good does it do
I've been consulted by Franklin D.
Greta Garbo has had me to tea
But now I'm broken hearted
Can't get started with you:

If you listen to more modern versions of the song....note that the lyrics change with each decade. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was Frank Sinatra ever arrested?

Q. Was Frank Sinatra ever arrested?

A. Yes....and here is the story....

A YouTube video of Frank Sinatra singing "September Song" contains pictures of  mostly album covers, however, there is also a now infamous picture of Frank. What's the story? Proof of Frank's 'Mob" ties? Not really, it was taken by the Bergen County, New Jersey police . The picture haunted Frank for his entire career. It certainly, didn't help having the poster version on the wall at  TV Tony Soprano's Bada Bing Club.

In I938, Frank was singing at his first real professional gig at the Rustic Cabin in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, just up the road from the George Washington Bridge.
Even at that young age, the other band members reported that Frank was a big attraction to the ladies. One night, so the story goes, Frank was invited out to the parking lot for a "personal encounter."

Unfortunately, a policeman tapped on the car window sending the woman into a panic....she started screaming "rape." Frank was arrested, and these photos were taken. The next day, the woman, who was married, dropped the charges. Case dismissed. But, the pictures never went away.

Who was first choice to play the singer in The Godfather?

Q. Was Al Martino first choice to play the singer in "The Godfather"?

A. The answer is no, according to Vic Damone in his book "Singing Was The Easy Part"? 
In it Vic Damone  talks about Frank Sinatra and the movie The Godfather.

According to Vic this is the now the legendary conversation with Frank Sinatra that led to Damone's refusal of the role of Johnny Fontaine in The Godfather.
He wrote: "Frank, you know this part. It's like your life story." "Yeah, yeah I know."
"What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know," he said. "It's up to you, pal. It could be good for your career, but it's a story about the mob and all that. You've got to make up your own mind. It's your career. I can't tell you what to do."

"So that didn't settle anything. In the back of my head I was still thinking. This is definitely the Sinatra story. Who's going to do that better than me? Besides which, the song Johnny Fontaine was supposed to sing at the wedding was I Have But One Heart, my song.

If I took the part I'd be singing my theme song in front of millions of people. On the other hand, the script made him out to be a kind of a weakling, a whiner. Of course, Sinatra had seen the script; there was no way he wasn't going to get hold of it. But he didn't say anything about the characterization to me, only that I had to make up my own mind. I can't imagine he cared much about the way the movie presented him. He was above that. But he was never, ever a whiner. So how could I do that?"

Damone turned it down.

"My excuse was that I wasn't able to cancel my bookings," he writes. "Afterward I got a call from one of the networks ... and they asked if Sinatra wanted me to decline it. I said no, it was my schedule. Of course, I would never ever discuss the fact that I had spoken to Frank at all."

Also Read http://www.examiner.com/frank-sinatra-in-national/the-godfather-and-from-here-to-eternity-true

To buy Vic's music or his book CLICK HERE

                                    "The More I See You" by Vic Damone

Kitty Margolis in San Francisco

"Margolis is an exhilarating and imaginative jazz vocalist of the highest order. Thrilling." - San Francisco Chronicle

Yoshi's San Francisco is pleased to announce an exclusive engagement June 24 by the award winning jazz vocalist Kitty Margolis. Critics have dubbed Ms. Margolis the inheritor of the great vocal jazz tradition passed down by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Betty Carter and Carmen McRae, noting her “sumptuous, heart-stopping ballads” and “scat so rare in this day and age you might think you’ve found the Holy Grail.”  Yet Margolis is very much an innovator within this tradition.  Her live shows have been heralded as “world-class jazz experiences” that take the listener on an exhilarating journey through a repertoire that ranges from Tom Waits to George Gershwin, with stops to visit Mose Allison, Truman Capote and John Coltrane along the way.

Ms. Margolis will be supported by her supremely swinging trio including Murray Low (piano), John Shifflett (bass) and very special guest Allison Miller (drums). One show only...don't miss it!

Get the skinny on Kitty and Allison here:
www.kittymargolis.com
www.allisonmiller.com

Four Freshmen headline New Jersey jazz series in July

The Four Freshmen

The season of swing returns with gusto to Hackettstown, New Jersey, this summer when the 2011 Jazz in July Series  comes to the Centenary Stage with a line-up of Big Band, Dixieland, Swing and incomparable harmonies of The Four Freshmen.  

The series kicks off on July 9^th with the Rob Stoneback Big Band.   Boasting  17 instrumentalists and two vocalists, the Rob Stoneback Big Band  has performed throughout the Mid Atlantic region, often appearing with such luminaries as The Manhattan Transfer, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Mathis, Natalie Cole and Rosemary Clooney, to name just a few.  Playing a program of great standards and current hits, this dynamic band celebrates thirty years in the business this season.   The Rob Stoneback Big Band will perform  on Saturday, July 9^th at 8 PM in the Sitnik Theater of the new David and Carol Lackland Center on the campus of Centenary College.  Tickets are $25 in advance and $30  on the day of performance.

Celebrating the music of the great two-tenor team,  Zoot Sims (‘Brother of Swing’) and Al Cohn, The Al and Zoot Tribute Band will perform on Saturday, July 16 at 8 PM.   It was the appearance of the Sims-Cohn Quintet that is reported to have changed the fortunes of the legendary Half Note jazz club in lower Manhattan.  Lines formed outside the club on Saturday nights to hear the two tenors’ free-wheeling, hard-booting,  joyous brand of music.    Tenors Lew DelGatto & Bob Keller breathe new life into the memory of the popular  group, backed by Jesse Green on piano, Tony Marino on bass, and Tom Whaley on drums.   Lew DelGatto has been a dynamic figure in the music scene for over 30 years, and colleague Bob Keller has been playing in the jazz scene for over 50 years, with such great big bands as The Buddy Rich Jazz Orchestra, and  Chuck Israel's National Jazz Ensemble.  Drummer Tony Marino’s notable performance career includes a musical stint with the late Al Cohn & Zoot Sims.    Tickets are $22.50 in advance and $27.50 on the day of performance.

Headlining the 2011 Series on July 23^rd will be the incomparable ensemble, The Four Freshmen, the group which pioneered a revolutionary new style of close-harmony vocals that set the stage for bands like the Beach Boys, Spanky & Our Gang, the Hi-Lo's, the Manhattan Transfer and countless others.   The Freshmen’s characteristic sound married tight harmonies with a lush improvisatory style, and while the names and faces have evolved along the way,  the legendary sound has continued, winning the group a ranking of #1 in both  the Downbeat Magazine and Jazz Times poll (2007)for “Best Vocal Group. ”  

With  smooth vocals and the musical mastery of nearly a dozen instruments between them, the contemporary group not only preserves the Freshmen sound, but enhances it with youth, vitality and talent,  giving a new treatment to the Great American Songbook.     The Four Freshman features Curtis Calderon (vocals and trumpet), Vince Johnson (vocals and bass), Bob Ferreira (vocals and drums), and Brian Eichenberger (vocals and guitar ).  At this performance, the group will also be backed by five swinging trombones.   Tickets for the 8 PM performance of The Four Freshman are $35 in advance and $42.50 at the door, on the day of performance. 

The high-energy, toe-tapping sound of New Orleans jazz will fill the Lackland Center when Clarinetist Dan Levinson leads a Dixieland Bash on Saturday, July 30 at 8 PM.    A specialist in traditional jazz and swing,  Levinson is one of the most prolific musicians on the contemporary scene, equally at home as a leader and sideman.   During a twenty-year career, he has appeared alongside such prominent artists as Dick Hyman, Mel Tormé and Wynton Marsalis.   The Dixieland Bash band includes Levinson on clarinet, Randy Reinhart on coronet, Jim Fryer on trombone, Mark Shane on piano, Brian Nalepka on bass and special guest Stephane Seva on washboard.    The band will perform on Saturday, July 30 at 8 PM.  Tickets are $22.50 in advance, and $27.00 at the door on the day of performance. 

A special subscription package, which includes all four concerts in the festival, is available for $95 and can be purchased through the Centenary Stage Company Box office at 908-979-0900, or online at www.centenarystageco.org.   Patrons may also purchase tickets directly at the Carol and David Lackland Center Box Office, located at 715 Grand Ave in Hackettstown.     Students under age 18 receive a special discounted ticket price for all jazz events.

Jazz in July is made possible through the leadership of Ed Coyne (Chair of the Centenary Stage Company Advisory Board) and Coyne Enterprises, with the additional support of Heath Village and Skylands Community Bank.   The Centenary Stage Company is a not-for-profit performing arts series, in residence at Centenary College, dedicated to serving as a cultural resource for audiences of the Skylands region with professional music, theatre and dance events and arts education programs throughout the year.   All programs at the Centenary Stage Company are made possible in part through the visionary support of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the NJ State Council on the Arts, as well as CSC sponsors Heath Village (platinum sponsor),  Panther Valley Pharmacy, Skylands Community Bank, and Hackettstown Regional Medical Center. 

NEW THEATRE:  Performances at the Centenary Stage Company enjoy their new residence in the state-of-the-art theatres of  the new Carol and David Lackland Center, opened just 9 months ago in Hackettstown.  Hailed as the most sophisticated performing arts venue in northwest New Jersey, the center includes the new 500-seat Sitnik Theater,  The Edith Bolte Kutz black box theater, a dance studio, as well as  WNTI, the College’s NPR affiliate station, and CCTV, Centenary’s Comcast-licensed television studio.   Named in honor of Carol Burgess Lackland, A Centenary graduate (Class of 1954), and her husband, David A. Lackland, a Centenary College Trustee, The David and Carol Lackland Center, has been designed to enrich student life and bring new cultural opportunities to northwest New Jersey.

LAWRENCE WELK'S BIG BAND SPLASH tv special on PBS

LAWRENCE WELK'S BIG BAND SPLASH, hosted by bandleader and trumpeter Doc Severinsen, is a celebration of the Big Band Era's classic hits, performed by the great Welk Band and the talented Musical Family on the popular “Lawrence Welk Show.” Broadcast on network television from 1955 to 1982, the Welk Show has been a popular weekly series on many public television stations since 1987.

Included in this special is Doc's guest appearance on “The Lawrence Welk Show” in 1972, playing the Oscar-winning song, “Love Story.” And the Welk Band salutes Doc — the conductor of “The Tonight Show” Band for Johnny Carson from 1967 to 1972 — with a performance of his signature song, “Johnny’s Theme.”
This brand-new PBS special, the 17th Lawrence Welk special to be produced for public television, pays tribute to 25 legendary bandleaders including Glenn Miller, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Les Brown, Count Basie, Ben Bernie, Artie Shaw, Clyde McCoy, Pete Fountain, Harry James, Bob Crosby, Sammy Kaye, Ted Lewis, Duke Ellington, Paul Whiteman, Ray Anthony, Doc Severinsen and many others.  
The complete song list:

• “In the Mood”
• “Let's Dance”
• “One O'Clock Jump”
• “Sentimental Journey”
• “I'm Getting Sentimental Over You”
• “Contrasts”
• “Sweet Georgia Brown”
• “St. Louis Blues”
• “Celery Stalks at Midnight”
• “South Rampart Street Parade”
• “Sugar Blues”
• “You Made Me Love You”
• “Big Noise From Winnetka”
• “Woodchopper's Ball”
• “Little Brown Jug”
• “When My Baby Smiles at Me”
• “Ring Them Bells”
• “Boo Hoo”
• “The Dipsy Doodle”
• “Boogie Woogie”
• “Love Story”  (featuring Doc Severinsen)
• “Panama”
• “Rhapsody in Blue”
• “Take the A Train””
• “Begin the Beguine”
• “Song of India”
• “Johnny's Theme”
• “American Patrol”
• “Toot, Toot, Tootsie”

Band soloists include Henry Cuesta, Bob Havens, Pete Fountain, Jo Ann Castle, Johnny Zell, Kenny Trimble, Jack Imel, Bob Ralston and Johnny Klein. Many of the Big Band numbers include the entire Welk Show cast. Vocal solos include Alice Lon, Mary Lou Metzger, Tanya Welk Roberts, Guy Hovis and Ralna English. Dance numbers feature Bobby Burgess, Cissy King, Elaine Balden, Jack Imel, Arthur Duncan and others. 
Doc's host segments were recorded at the Cicada Restaurant in Los Angeles, California, a beautiful Art Deco room, with its original décor of dark wood cabinetry and, appropriately, a large crystal chandelier.
PBS special programming invites viewers to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; hear diverse viewpoints; and take front-row seats to world-class drama and performances. Viewer contributions are an important source of funding, making PBS programs possible. PBS and public television stations offer all Americans from every walk of life the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content. To donate to your local PBS station, visit http://www.pbs.org/support.

Diana Krall Solo Concert disappointing

First, let me say that I've been a very enthusiastic fan of Diana Krall since the first time I saw the "Live in Paris" DVD. I've purchased all her CD's, watched her television appearances, and drove 350 miles to see her perform live at the Flynn Theater in Burlington, Vermont.

Sunday (June 5, 2011) I drove only 40 miles to the world class New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey to see Diana in her new Solo Concert. Normally she works with a jazz trio, but at the Victoria theater it was simply Diana at the piano, plus an antique horn phonograph. The concert was originally scheduled for 7pm, but on arrival the audience was informed of a thirty minute delay to 7:30pm. Diana actually appeared on stage about 15 minutes later remarking that she had a 'zipper' issue.

From our vantage point in the second row right, Diana appeared either tired or bored. She did indicate that she was short of breath after opening with Peel Me A Grape and Did You Ever See A Dream Walking, remarking that she may need to get back to the treadmill. Consequently, Diana was not in the best voice for the rest of the 90 minute program.
The real disappointment was in the program selection. Very light on classics from the time tested Great American Songbook (It's Just A Garden In The Rain, I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter, What'll I Do, and the Crosby novelty Don't Fence Me In)  and very heavy on a group of obscure tunes 'she found in her Dad's collection of 78's'...there is a reason why these songs never became classics...they are simply pleasant at best.

She did do a nice feature on Fats Waller including Your Feets Too Big. Diana also included a composition "Home" that she had composed with her husband Elvis Costello, it was also just pleasant. To close the program she moved to a stool and appeared very ill at ease strumming a ukulele that she clearly has not mastered.

The awkwardness of the evening may be that we were actually viewing a dress rehearsal for the Solo Concert she will do over several days at the Montreal Jazz Festival later this month. A call to her publicist for comment or clarification went unanswered.

Back to the point about song selection, we were friends with Rosemary Clooney who had a very successful jazz career during the last half of her marvelous career. Rosie said that the best advice she had ever received was from Ella Fitzgerald..."sing only the great time tested songs....they make a good singer sound great."   

Tony Bennett, who was in the same theater complex on Sunday night, is quoted as follows; " I sing in Asia and I sing in Europe, and I start singing a Cole Porter song or a Gershwin (George Gershwin) song and the whole audience starts singing it with me. They are America's greatest ambassadors. We have created the greatest popular music that has ever been written and will not be topped because it's not dated. It doesn't sound old fashioned, it's not old. The corporations will say, 'That's old music'. It's not old music, it's great music and it comes out of the United States." 

Glenn Miller SwingFest in hometown set for June 23-26

Join us in Fort Morgan, Colorado, the boyhood home of Glenn Miller for four days of music, sights and history from the big band era. The Viaero Glenn Miller SwingFest will be held June 23-26, 2011 and features the big band sounds of the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra and the Pied Pipers. Cathy Shull, event coordinator is excited to be on board: “I was part of the original team that developed this event 15 years ago and I am so excited to be back on board. With the support of Viaero and other sponsors and the dedication of the School for the Performing Arts (SPA) we will be able to continue to grow this event to be a premiere event in Colorado.”

Throughout the four day event there will be something of interest to all ages and many of
the events are at no charge. Starting Thursday, June 23rd we will be kicking off the City of
Fort Morgan’s Summer Concert series with the sounds of Platte Valley Community Band
and performers from SPA based in Fort Morgan. Friday continues with the first dance of the weekend to the tunes of Company B and a fun dance competition for the Golden Trombone award.

Saturday the 25th is a full day of activities starting with a Fly In at the Fort Morgan Airport
with breakfast cooked up by the Lion’s Club. From there head back downtown to the park
and enjoy an afternoon of music on stage, take a bus tour, Fort Morgan Museum and U. S.
Historical Military Museum tours and take in a movie featuring The Glenn Miller Story. Throw
in some WWII Reinactors and refreshments at the Sunrise Optimist booth to make the afternoon complete. On stage will be the Eastern Colorado Trombone Quartet, the Morgan Community College Jazz Band, the Timberline Brass Quintet and students from SPA. The evening culminates with a VIP Cocktail Reception to raise funds for the School for the Performing Arts as part of a challenge grant from Anschutz Foundation and then you can adjourn back to the airport for dancing to the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra and the Pied Pipers.

Sunday the 26th gives you a chance to get some outdoor exercise with the Little Brown Jug 5K Run/Walk to raise funds for S.A.R.A, Inc. (Sexual Assault Response Advocates) and end the weekend with a Champagne Brunch featuring a presentation by Alan Cass on Glenn Miller.

Fort Morgan, Colorado, is about 80 miles northeast of Denver along Interstate 76. An
agriculture community with scenic vistas, hidden treasures and friendly people, Fort Morgan and the surrounding communities will give you a warm welcome and a step back in time with their historic downtowns.

James Graff, committee chair and co-owner of the School for the Performing Arts, "We are so excited to host this event and continue to bring people to our area to enjoy the sights and sounds of the big band era." Further, James, said "I am excited that all proceeds from this event go to help kids. From the main focus of scholarships to the School for the Performing Arts to our partnerships with Lion’s, Optimist and S.A.R.A., Inc. you too can be a part of the fun while also supporting worthy causes."

Plans are already in the works for the 4th weekend in June, 2012, where our featured band will be The Glenn Miller Orchestra.

For more information and ticket purchases you can check out the website at

www.glennmillerswingfest.com or e mail glennmillerswingfest@gmail.com or call 970-768-
6106. Then follow us on Facebook @GlennMillerSwingFest or Twitter @GlennMillerSF to
keep up with the latest news.

Review: Diana Krall Solo Concert disappointing

First, let me say that I've been a very enthusiastic fan of Diana Krall since the first time I saw the "Live in Paris" DVD. I've purchased all her CD's, watched her television appearances, and drove 350 miles to see her perform live at the Flynn Theater in Burlington, Vermont. 

Sunday, I drove only 40 miles to the world class New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey to see Diana in her new Solo Concert. Normally she works with a jazz trio, but at the Victoria theater it was simply Diana at the piano, plus an antique horn phonograph. The concert was originally scheduled for 7pm, but on arrival the audience was informed of a thirty minute delay to 7:30pm. Diana actually appeared on stage about 15 minutes later remarking that she had a 'zipper' issue.

From our vantage point in the second row right, Diana appeared either tired or bored. She did indicate that she was short of breath after opening with Peel Me A Grape and Did You Ever See A Dream Walking, remarking that she may need to get back to the treadmill. Consequently, Diana was not in the best voice for the rest of the 90 minute program.

The real disappointment was in the program selection. Very light on classics from the time tested Great American Songbook (It's Just A Garden In The Rain, I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter, What'll I Do, and the Crosby novelty Don't Fence Me In)  and very heavy on a group of obscure tunes 'she found in her Dad's collection of 78's'...there is a reason why these songs never became classics...they are simply pleasant at best.

She did do a nice feature on Fats Waller including Your Feets Too Big. Diana also included a composition "Home" that she had composed with her husband Elvis Costello, it was also just pleasant. To close the program she moved to a stool and appeared very ill at ease strumming a ukulele that she clearly has not mastered.

The awkwardness of the evening maybe that we were actually viewing a dress rehearsal for the Solo Concert she will do over several days at the Montreal Jazz Festival later this month. A call to her publicist for comment or clarification went unanswered.

Back to the point about song selection, we were friends with Rosemary Clooney who had a very successful jazz career during the last half of her marvelous career. Rosie said that the best advice she had ever received was from Ella Fitzgerald..."sing only the great time tested songs....they make a good singer sound great."   

Tony Bennett, who was in the same theater complex on Sunday night, is quoted as follows; " I sing in Asia and I sing in Europe, and I start singing a Cole Porter song or a Gershwin (George Gershwin) song and the whole audience starts singing it with me. They are America's greatest ambassadors. We have created the greatest popular music that has ever been written and will not be topped because it's not dated. It doesn't sound old fashioned, it's not old. The corporations will say, 'That's old music'. It's not old music, it's great music and it comes out of the United States."  

Here Diana is singing a standard;

The Metropolitan Opera to present Tony Bennett in a special concert

The Metropolitan Opera will present Tony Bennett in a special concert, the legendary singer's first appearance on the Met stage, on Sunday, September 18, 2011 at 7 p.m.

The concert will be the first in a series of events celebrating Bennett's 85th birthday and leading up to the release of the 15-time Grammy winner's upcoming album, Duets II (RPM/Columbia Records), which is scheduled for a September 20th release. Tickets to the concert, which range from $50 to $350, will go on sale at metopera.org or (212) 362-6000 at 12 p.m. on Sunday, June 5th.

The concert will feature pop standards from the Great American Songbook, many of which Bennett has introduced and recorded to critical and popular acclaim that led to a string of greatest hits over his 60-year career. The quartet performing with Bennett is composed of pianist Lee Musiker, guitarist Gray Sargent, drummer Harold Jones, and bassist Marshall Wood.

"I've been practicing my whole life to perform on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House," Bennett said. "It's a dream come true."

The Met has previously presented a variety of popular artists in concert, including Barbara Cook (2006), Kristin Chenoweth (2007), Sting (2010), and Andrea Bocelli (2011).

Bennett's Duets II CD, one of the most highly anticipated releases of this year, will be available on September 20th. It is a follow up to his multi-Grammy Award winning Duets: An American Classic and will be available at a variety of retailers, including the Met Opera Shop. Please visit www.tonybennett.com for more information.

About Tony Bennett

The son of a grocer and Italian-born immigrant, Anthony Dominick Benedetto was born on August 3, 1926, in the Astoria section of Queens, New York. He attended the High School of Industrial Arts in Manhattan, where he nurtured his dual passions, singing and painting. His boyhood idols included Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, both big influences on Bennett's easy, natural singing style. Bennett sang while waiting tables as a teenager then performed with military bands throughout his overseas Army duty during World War II. After the war, the GI Bill enabled him to study vocal technique at the American Theatre Wing School. The first time he sang in a nightclub was 1946 when he sat in with trombonist Tyree Glenn at the Shangri-La in Astoria.

Bennett's big break came in 1949 when comedian Bob Hope noticed him working with Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village. As he recalls, "Bob Hope came down to check out my act. He liked my singing so much that after the show he came back to see me in my dressing room and said, 'Come on kid, you're going to come to the Paramount and sing with me.' But first he told me he didn't care for my stage name (Joe Bari) and asked me what my real name was. I told him, 'My name is Anthony Dominick Benedetto,' and he said, 'We'll call you Tony Bennett.' And that's how it happened. A new Americanized name, the start of a wonderful career and a glorious adventure that has continued for sixty years."

With worldwide record sales in the millions, and dozens of platinum and gold albums to his credit, Bennett has received fifteen Grammy Awards including the prestigious Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The MTV generation first took Tony Bennett to heart during his appearance with the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the 1993 MTV Video Awards. He appeared on MTV Unplugged and the resulting recording of the same name garnered him the top Grammy Award for Album of the Year. "Tony Bennett has not just bridged the generation gap," observed The New York Times, "he has demolished it. He has solidly connected with a younger crowd weaned on rock. And there have been no compromises." Bennett credits his eldest son and manager, Danny, for his success in capturing a whole new generation of listeners. His most recent CD release was the holiday recording Tony Bennett: A Swingin' Christmas Featuring the Count Basie Orchestra, which has become a yearly seasonal favorite. In 2009 he re-signed to Columbia Records, continuing his status as the artist signed for the greatest period of time in the label's history.

His initial fame came via a string of Columbia singles in the early 1950s, including such chart-toppers as "Because of You," "Rags To Riches" and a cover of Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart." He has placed two-dozen songs in the Top 40, including "I Wanna Be Around," "The Good Life," "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)" and his signature hit, "I Left My Heart In San Francisco," which earned him two Grammy Awards. Bennett is one of a handful of artists to have new albums chart in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, and into the new millennium. He introduced a multitude of songs into the Great American Songbook that have since become pop music standards. He has toured the world to sold out audiences, winning rave reviews whenever he performs. Bennett re-signed with Columbia Records in 1986 and released the critically acclaimed The Art Of Excellence. Since his show-stopping performance of "When Do the Bells Ring for Me," from his Astoria album, at the 1991 Grammy Awards, he has been awarded Grammys for Steppin' Out, Perfectly Frank, MTV Unplugged, Playin' with My Friends, The Art of Romance and Duets: An American Classic. In celebration of his unparalleled contributions to popular music, Columbia/Legacy assembled Forty Years: The Artistry Of Tony Bennett. The four-CD boxed set, released in 1991, chronicled the singer's stellar recording career and documents his growth as an artist inspiring Time magazine to call the collection "... the essence of why CD boxed sets are a blessing." Recently, thanks to Bennett's remarkable career longevity, the set has been updated and expanded, with the title changed from Forty Years to Fifty Years.

He became a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2005, and was named an NEA Jazz Master in January of 2006 and was also named the recipient of Billboard magazine's elite Century Award, in honor of his outstanding contributions to music. A supporter of charitable efforts throughout his career, Tony was honored by the United Nations receiving their Humanitarian Award in 2007 and has raised millions of dollars for the American Cancer Society and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. With his wife Susan, he established Exploring the Arts to support and fund arts education in NYC public schools and founded in 2001 the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, a NYC public arts high school with a state of the art facility in his hometown of Astoria, Queens.

Along with an extraordinary career in music, Bennett is a prolific and critically acclaimed artist and painter whose work has been seen all over the world, including three paintings that are currently in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.

Bennett has also authored three books: What My Heart Has Seen, a beautifully bound edition of his paintings published in 1996; The Good Life, his heartfelt autobiography released in 1998; and Tony Bennett In the Studio, a sumptuous salute to his dual career as singer and painter, published in 2007. He has been the subject of both a filmed biography produced by Clint Eastwood and a major television special, Tony Bennett: An American Classic, which aired on NBC in autumn 2006 and won seven Emmy Awards making it the most honored television program at the 2007 Emmy Awards ceremony.

SOURCE  RPM/Columbia Records