Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Legendary Duet: Sunny Side of the Street, feat. Tony Bennett and Willie Nelson



I don't know if any of you have had time to listen to Tony Bennett's new album Duets II. Quite frankly it is amazing. It marries classic Tony Bennett lounge music jazz with masters of the their current genre. Each song is basically amazing in its own right and requires a level of talent from each vocalist and musician. No slouch could possibly participate. This is possibly why the record was number one on the charts for a time in 2011.

I chose this particular song because two masters of their craft collide head on for almost three minutes of true perfection. For those of you that don't know Willie Nelson all that well, in another life he would have sang and performed strictly jazz. Alas fate and fame would only allow he conquer the world of country first. So he ponytailed up and he is now arguably the king of outlaw country and he now sings whatever he damn well pleases. In the past he has released several jazz albums and they did become a mild success, but never quite the success that I believe this duet with Tony Bennett has established. This version of On The Sunny Side Of The Street is truly the work of Two Living Legends.

A few years ago I worked on a show where Tony Bennett was the talent and daily I regret that I had to miss it to "put out a fire" on another part of the project, but because he was a part of it he had donated one of his paintings and one of my jobs was to ensure its safety and to have it framed. It was pretty fun walking the street of Manhattan with an original Tony Bennett painting to the framer of his recommendation in midtown. Possibly my best midtown memory to date. I'm glad to see that after 60 some years in the music business he finally got his number one album. Go Tony Go. We want a duets 3 asap.

Cheers!
Clint.

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