RPM/Columbia Records is proud to announce the
release of The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, a new album from
American musical legend Tony Bennett and acclaimed jazz pianist Bill Charlap, arriving
Friday, September 25, 2015. The album is available for pre-order beginning
today at Amazon.com at http://smarturl.it/silverlining_amazon and iTunes at
http://smarturl.it/silverlining_itunes.
Following
the enormous success of his #1, Grammy-Award winning album with Lady Gaga,
Cheek To Cheek, this new release continues the classic series of Tony Bennett
album releases celebrating the essentials of the Great American Songbook. The
Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern is an appreciation of the genius of
Jerome David Kern (1885-1945), one of the 20th century's most important
American composers of musical theater and popular music.
Tony Bennett
is the only artist to successfully bridge the worlds of pop music and jazz on
an international scale for over 60 years. The Silver Lining: The Songs of
Jerome Kern become parts of a timeless legacy of recordings that Bennett has
done throughout his career that have embraced both genres, in particular the
revered piano jazz albums that he recorded with the late Bill Evans in 1975 and
1977. Tony has become synonymous with the pop/jazz connection and in recent
years has been a mentor to contemporary artists such as Lady Gaga and the late
Amy Winehouse in encouraging them to embrace jazz music. With his 90th birthday
less than a year away, The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern defines what
makes Tony Bennett unique in the pantheon of great singers and is a testament
to the legacy that he continues to create as a recording artist and influence
in the music industry.
Over the
course of his career, Kern composed more than 700 songs, creating musical
elements used in more than 100 stage works, collaborating with the greatest
lyricists and librettists of the era including P.G. Wodehouse, Oscar
Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin, E.Y. Harburg and
many others on a seemingly limitless repertoire of classic songs including
"Ol' Man River," "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," "Smoke
Gets in Your Eyes," "The Way You Look Tonight," "Long Ago
and Far Away" and many more.
New York
native Jerome Kern was a major force on Broadway and in Hollywood musicals in a
career that spanned more than four decades. He expanded on earlier musical
theater traditions, from vaudeville to operetta, to embrace new dance rhythms,
syncopation and jazz progressions and helped invent the modern musical
template. While many of his Broadway musicals and Hollywood musical films were
contemporary smash hits, Kern is perhaps best remembered today through revivals
of "Show Boat," one of his signature achievements.
In his liner
notes for The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern, music historian Will
Friedwald describes Kern as "...the key link between the great music of
historical and contemporary classics, a direct connection between Brahms and
Charlie Parker....a key architect of a uniquely American art form that would
eventually take shape as musical theater....one of the founding fathers of a
term that Tony Bennett later coined himself, 'the Great American
Songbook.'" Friedwald writes about music and popular culture for The Wall
Street Journal, worked with Tony Bennett on Tony's "The Good Life"
memoir, and is author of eight books including the award-winning "A
Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers," "Sinatra! The
Song Is You," "Stardust Melodies," and "Jazz Singing."
"The
idea of a Kern Songbook project was Tony's," writes Will Friedwald,
"thereby placing Kern on the very short list of canonical composers
(Rodgers & Hart, Harold Arlen, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, and Cy
Coleman) who have been the beneficiaries of an entire album by Bennett. It was
also Bennett's idea to create the album in collaboration with the remarkable
Bill Charlap....who can also take a great song we all know by heart and make us
feel like we've never heard it before."
Playing
alongside Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap on The Silver Lining: The Songs of
Jerome Kern are pianist Renee Rosnes (on the piano duet pieces), Peter
Washington (bass) and Kenny Washington (drums). Unrelated, though sharing the
same last name, Peter and Kenny have been performing with Bill Charlap for
nearly two decades and pianist Renee Rosnes has been Charlap's life partner for
close to 10 years.
With more
than 700 Jerome Kern compositions to choose from, the set list for The Silver
Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern is a distillation of essential highlights from
a boundless catalog. With these interpretations of some of Jerome Kern's finest
songs, Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap offer a definitive introduction to Kern's
music while providing a deep understanding of the abiding and universal
qualities of these songs.
TONY BENNETT
& BILL CHARLAP
THE SILVER
LINING: THE SONGS OF JEROME KERN
Musicians:
Vocals: Tony
Bennett
Pianos: Bill
Charlap & Renee Rosnes
Bass: Peter
Washington
Drums: Kenny
Washington
Arranged by
Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap
Tracks in
Alphabetical Order (14 total)
ALL THE
THINGS YOU ARE (single piano)
DEARLY
BELOVED (trio)
I WON'T
DANCE (trio)
I'M OLD
FASHIONED (trio)
LOOK FOR THE
SILVER LINING (piano duet)
LONG AGO AND
FAR AWAY (piano duet)
MAKE BELIEVE
(single piano)
NOBODY ELSE
BUT ME (trio)
PICK
YOURSELF UP (trio)
THE LAST
TIME I SAW PARIS (piano duet)
THE SONG IS
YOU (piano duet)
THE WAY YOU
LOOK TONIGHT (single piano)
THEY DIDN'T
BELIEVE ME (trio)
YESTERDAYS
(trio)
*Single
piano is Bill Charlap
*Piano duet
is Bill Charlap & Renee Rosnes
Tony Bennett
is an artist who moves the hearts and touches the souls of audiences. He's not
just the singer's singer but also an international treasure honored by the
United Nations with its Citizen of the World award, which aptly describes the
scope of his accomplishments.
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 Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole
were big influences on Bennett's easy, natural singing style. Tony 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.
With
worldwide record sales in the millions, Tony has received eighteen Grammy
Awards including the prestigious Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The MTV
generation took to Tony Bennett during his appearance with the Red Hot Chili
Peppers on the 1993 MTV Video Awards. He appeared on MTV Unplugged and the
recording of the same name earned him the 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 connected with a younger
crowd weaned on rock. And there have been no compromises."
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." One of only a few
artists to have albums chart in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, and the new
millennium, he's introduced multitudes of songs into the Great American
Songbook that have become pop music standards. Upon the release of his boxed
set collection, TONY BENNETT: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION, the New York Times
commented, "we aren't likely to see a recording career like this
again." Bennett made music history when he became the oldest artist at the
age of 86 to achieve a #1 record on the Billboard charts with his DUETS II CD.
He broke that record at the age of 88 when his collaborative album with Lady
Gaga, CHEEK TO CHEEK, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Album charts. The album
went on to win a Grammy Award and fostered a sold-out and critically acclaim
world-wide concert tour. Tony Bennett is a Kennedy Center Honoree and an NEA
Jazz Master, and a 18-time Grammy Winner. Tony has authored four books, his
official biography, two books devoted to his artwork, and the latest New York
Times Bestseller, Life Is A Gift.
Tony is a
dedicated painter whose interest in art began as a child. He continues to paint
daily, even while touring. He has exhibited work around the world, and three of
his original paintings are part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington, DC.
Throughout
his career, Tony Bennett has always put his heart and time into humanitarian
concerns. He's raised millions for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. His
original paintings each year grace the cover of the American Cancer Society's
holiday greeting card. He received Martin Luther King Center's "Salute to Greatness Award" for his
efforts to fight discrimination, having marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in
1965. The United Nations presented him with their 2007 Humanitarian Award.
In honor of
his great friend and staunchest supporter, Tony established the Frank Sinatra
School for the Arts, which opened as a New York City public high school,
offering an extensive arts curriculum, in September of 2001. In 2009, a
permanent site for the school opened in Bennett's hometown of Astoria, Queens.
With his wife Susan, they founded Exploring the Arts, which supports the Frank
Sinatra School of the Arts and provides support to arts education in public
schools.
One of the
world's premier jazz pianists, Bill Charlap has performed with many leading
artists of our time, ranging from Phil Woods and Tony Bennett to Gerry Mulligan
and Wynton Marsalis. He is known for his interpretations of American popular
songs and has recorded albums featuring the music of Hoagy Carmichael, Leonard
Bernstein, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and
Duke Ellington.
The Bill
Charlap Trio was formed in 1997 with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny
Washington, and is now recognized as one of the leading groups in jazz. The
trio has received two Grammy Award nominations: for Somewhere: The Songs of
Leonard Bernstein, and for The Bill Charlap Trio: Live at the Village Vanguard,
both on the Blue Note label. Mr. Charlap now records for the Impulse! record label,
and his new trio recording, Notes From New York, will be released in March of
2016. The Bill Charlap Trio tours all
over the world, and their New York engagements include regular appearances at
Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Village Vanguard.
This summer
Bill Charlap celebrated his 11th year as Artistic Director of 92nd Street Y's
Jazz in July summer festival. He has also produced concerts for Jazz at Lincoln
Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), the JVC Jazz Festival and
the Hollywood Bowl.
Mr. Charlap
has been newly appointed Director of Jazz Studies at William Paterson
University, in Wayne, New Jersey. Founded in 1973, the program is one of the
longest running and most respected jazz programs in the country, and Mr.
Charlap will be the fifth director of the program, following distinguished
musicians Thad Jones, Rufus Reid, James Williams and Mulgrew Miller.
Born in New
York City, Mr. Charlap began playing the piano at age three. His father was
Broadway composer Moose Charlap, whose credits include Peter Pan, and his
mother is singer Sandy Stewart, who toured with Benny Goodman, appeared on the
Ed Sullivan and Perry Como shows and earned a Grammy Award nomination for her
recording of "My Coloring Book."
Mr. Charlap
is married to renowned jazz pianist Renee Rosnes, The couple released their
highly acclaimed two-piano album Double Portrait on Blue Note in 2010. Mr.
Charlap's website is billcharlap.com
Photo
Credit: Kelsey Bennett Music Legend Tony Bennett and Jazz Pianist Bill Charlap
Record The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern
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