Is It Just Me, Or Is This Just A Wee Bit Morbid?

[JSngry]

 

[mikeweil]

At that tempo ....... probably not the mood Jobim had in mind. Too slow, for sure.

Whose mind made up that arragement? An idea they should have reconsidered.

Edited September 20, 2022 by mikeweil

[JSngry]

It's a Shirley Horn/Jimmy Scott tempo, but Tony Bennett is neither one of them. He can do those slow tempos, but on this song?

Loving the arrangement itself, but the vocal itself sounds like Tony Bennet is Death Coming To Call. That low note in particular is kinda creey for me, just reinforces the feeling of Death.

The arranger was Peter Matz, who was certainly capable (and then some).

The producer was Teo Macero!

 

[mikeweil]

Not the tempo for Bennett, that's true. And not for that song, with those lyrics. Were this written for the US version?

[Teasing the Korean]

Something that bugs me about both Tony Bennett and Mel Torme is they will often take a generally mid-tempo tune at an unusually slow tempo.  That works every so often, but for me, it usually doesn't.  The activity within the melody often dictates the ideal tempo range, IMO.

15 minutes ago, mikeweil said:

Not the tempo for Bennett, that's true. And not for that song, with those lyrics. Were this written for the US version?

Those English lyrics are on the Brasil '66 version from their 1967 album Equinox.

[JSngry]

11 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Something that bugs me about both Tony Bennett and Mel Torme is they will often take a generally mid-tempo tune at an unusually slow tempo.  

Shirley Horn & Jimmy Scott are the only ones who can get that type of thing consistently right, imo. When it works, hey, great!

https://discography.bloggingtonybennett.com/session/february-1966/

arranged by Johnny Keating, coronet by Bobby Hackett! Just like a Jackie Gleason record!

There' no sound of death here!

[jazzbo]

I'd add Sathima Bea Benjamin as one who can get this right.

[Mark Stryker]

Just using this thread to post this performance with Tony and Bags. The tempo is way down but there's a lot of movement and momentum. Great performance. 

[gmonahan]

"Wave" is a tough song for any singer. Sinatra also struggled with that low note: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIrNtAq-t8w

But he did sing it at a better tempo!

Edited September 20, 2022 by gmonahan

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, Mark Stryker said:

Just using this thread to post this performance with Tony and Bags. The tempo is way down but there's a lot of movement and momentum. Great performance. 

I had to watch that entire show...amazing in so many ways...

Richard Davis on bass.

And Singer will sell you their record, a record player to play it on, a TV to watch their next TV show on, and TWO vacuum cleaners to clean up after yourself.

Freaking amazing. The opening credits alone are enough, but there's more. SO much more. 

[Mark Stryker]

5 minutes ago, JSngry said:

I had to watch that entire show...amazing in so many ways...

Richard Davis on bass.

And Singer will sell you their record, a record player to play it on, a TV to watch their next TV show on, and TWO vacuum cleaners to clean up after yourself.

Freaking amazing. The opening credits alone are enough, but there's more. SO much more. 

Also Tommy Flanagan on piano.

Beyond the music, there's that killer midcentury modern set with Saarinen Tulip Chairs -- so timelessly modern that they stood in for the 23rd Century on the original "Star Trek."

[JSngry]

13 hours ago, gmonahan said:

"Wave" is a tough song for any singer. Sinatra also struggled with that low note: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIrNtAq-t8w

But he did sing it at a better tempo!

Just change the key. It's not a crime nor is it a sin. Save us a all a bit of unnecessary pain. 

Listening to Bennett's version more than once, the opening line, "So close your eyes..." yeah, this dude DOES sound like Death coming to get you.

Too bad about that 

12 hours ago, Mark Stryker said:

Also Tommy Flanagan on piano.

Beyond the music, there's that killer midcentury modern set with Saarinen Tulip Chairs -- so timelessly modern that they stood in for the 23rd Century on the original "Star Trek."

Does anybody know if Bennett's live act was as...goofy as it is here? Did he really jerk back and forth like that and go all Jack Ruby into the audience to shake hands and give us all a c'mon gang let's go back into here for an instrumetal interlude? I mean, he does not seem comfortable with any of it, but I want to know that it's ok to laugh with him instead of at him, because, Milt Jackson? Candido? A gratuitous Buddy Rich? An uncredited Richard Davis? They all got paid, so if Tony is just taking one for the team, good for him.

And my mom, God bless her, sewmed damn near every day. We never had to buy pajamas for our kids, she cranked em out as quick as they outgrew them. And she did it all on a Singer. So that buttonhole ad, I know what that is, my mom lived that.

Singers! 

[Teasing the Korean]

Two examples of what I'm talking about with Tony and Mel:

Tony - On Green Dolphin Street

Mel - How High the Moon

[Mark Stryker]

12 hours ago, JSngry said:

Just change the key. It's not a crime nor is it a sin. Save us a all a bit of unnecessary pain. 

Listening to Bennett's version more than once, the opening line, "So close your eyes..." yeah, this dude DOES sound like Death coming to get you.

Too bad about that 

Does anybody know if Bennett's live act was as...goofy as it is here? Did he really jerk back and forth like that and go all Jack Ruby into the audience to shake hands and give us all a c'mon gang let's go back into here for an instrumetal interlude? I mean, he does not seem comfortable with any of it, but I want to know that it's ok to laugh with him instead of at him, because, Milt Jackson? Candido? A gratuitous Buddy Rich? An uncredited Richard Davis? They all got paid, so if Tony is just taking one for the team, good for him.

And my mom, God bless her, sewmed damn near every day. We never had to buy pajamas for our kids, she cranked em out as quick as they outgrew them. And she did it all on a Singer. So that buttonhole ad, I know what that is, my mom lived that.

Singers! 

Obviously, I was too young to see Bennett live in those days but I have seen three or four times since 1992 and there was often something just slightly stilted or pre-programmed about his presence and patter (but never his singing, which was as natural as breathing, save a few choreographed big crescendo arrangements on certain tunes). I think the herky-jerky movements on the TV show are exaggerated for the mass medium and you would not have seen them in a cabaret or club. But they were still in part of his showbiz DNA in those days and gradually fell away as he aged.

On another front, here’s Tony with Harold Land, James Moody, and Jimmy Mulidore, Kenny Clare. Has to be in Las Vegas in the first half of the 70s.

Clare talks about it in this fascinating 1975 interview.

 

http://www.jazzprofessional.com/interviews/Kenny%20Clare%20Jake%20Hanna_2.htm

 

Everyone know this, right? All the A-list cats were booked so Tony had to settle for a group of journeymen — Stan, Herbie, Ron, Elvin. 1964. 

 

 

Edited September 21, 2022 by Mark Stryker