Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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This expansive Box Set contains all 63 of Tony Bennett’s albums in separate facsimile LP jackets, three DVDs, six volumes of Bennett’s non-album singles, a previously unreleased CD of his Las Vegas debut from 1964, and two discs of rarities, including Bennett’s first recording, an Army V-Disc of “St. James Infirmary Blues,” making it an absolute treasure trove for Bennett fans and collectors.

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Bennett, whose recorded legacy has been gathered in a 76-disc boxed set titled The Compete Collection, has been doing that for over 60 years: saving our souls with the greatest songs ever written. The Complete box is an absolute necessity, first because it contains several previously unreleased albums, like On the Glory Road and From This Moment On, a live concert taped in Las Vegas that collectors have been salivating over since 1964. But more important, the new box is essential because up to now, Bennett has been the one singer of his stature to have such a large part of his canon unavailable in the digital era. Over the last 25 years, it has been possible to obtain virtually everything ever done by such Bennett peers as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, and Sarah Vaughan, yet somehow many absolutely classic Tony Bennett albums have never seen the light of day on CD: Hometown My Town, Love Story, Get Happy with the London Philharmonic, Summer of '42, Yesterday I Heard the Rain, Tony Makes It Happen, and many others. Bennett's career has been a long one: the box covers a span of 65 years, starting with that 1946 aircheck (originating from occupied Germany), when PFC Bennett was probably not yet 20, and goes up to Duets II, the last tracks of which (including duets with Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga) were recorded as he was gearing up for his 85th birthday. (In fact, producer Didier Deutsch and engineer Dae Bennett, the singer's son, were already working on this box when Tony had yet to record some of the tracks for Duets II.) The overall effect of the package, 73 CDs and three DVDs, is overwhelming. (The videos include his Grammy-winning MTV Unplugged special from 1994; An American Classic, a documentary produced by Clint Eastwood around the time of Mr. Bennett's 80th; and a very rare filmed concert from 1970 with the London Philharmonic.)

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett's two duet sessions with brilliant jazz pianist Bill Evans have long ago earned classic status, but this beautiful piano-and-voice-only set is an equally rewarding, if less-heralded experience. The reason for this album's lack of a reputation probably lies in the fact that longtime Bennett accompanist Ralph Sharon doesn't have the name recognition with jazz fans that someone like Bill Evans has. Sharon is a supple jazz pianist and he has a special knack for bringing out the best in singers, having worked with Carmen McRae, Chris Connor, and Johnny Hartman before finding the ultimate steady gig playing with Bennett. Sharon's light touch has an effect on Bennett, who turns in a low-key performance that wasn't in keeping with his orchestral sessions from the same era. While the young Tony Bennett sometimes had a tendency to over-sing for dramatic effect, this 1959 set finds him at his most relaxed, subtle, and rewarding. Instead of showing you how much he feels every second (à la Judy Garland), on Tony Sings for Two Bennett allows quick flashes of emotion to appear on an otherwise calm surface (very much like Frank Sinatra in ballad mode). This approach is especially winning on the exquisite, heartbreaking readings of "I'm Thru With Love" and "Street of Dreams"; both can be considered definitive and both Bennett and Sharon deserve equal credit for the album's success. Most of Bennett's original albums during this era have a decided jazz slant, while his pop singles were aimed at kids, and the separate approaches merged in the 1960s. Unfortunately, jazz fans largely ignored his excellent 1950s albums, while teens only bought the singles or compilation albums. Tony Sings for Two is ripe for rediscovery and the Columbia reissue includes one bonus track.

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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"My Heart Sings" is an album by American singer Tony Bennett. It was recorded in 1961 and released the same year on Columbia as CL 1658.

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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In the search for new, non-rock material in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Tony Bennett had turned increasingly to Broadway shows. His second greatest hits collection, for example, found him singing songs from The Sound Of Music, Gypsy, Bye Bye Birdie, and Flower Drum Song. On this compilation, subtitled "Tony's Greatest Broadway Hits," Columbia Records culled those tracks, plus others taken from shows like Bells Are Ringing and Kismet that had been chart singles for Bennett. It's a fair idea, but doesn't make for an essential Bennett release.

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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On The Glory Road was recorded in 1962 and due to be released on June 18, 1962, but the release was canceled. The album was finally released in 2011 in The Tony Bennett Complete Collection.

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Along with his producer, Ernest Altschuler, and his arranger/pianist, Ralph Sharon, Tony Bennett had been searching for a repertoire and a musical approach beyond his long-gone pop work with Mitch Miller of the early '50s and his artistically pleasing but commercially dicey jazz work of the mid- to late '50s. It seemed to be a combination of Broadway songs and other contemporary material, carefully selected and arranged to show off Bennett's now-burnished vocals, which, as he approached the end of his thirties, were starting to be located in a more comfortable range closer to a baritone than a tenor. With this album, they found the key, not only by happening across a signature song in the title track, but also in the approach to songs like "Once Upon a Time," a gem from the flop musical All American, and Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's "The Best Is Yet to Come," which Bennett helped make a standard. (Frank Sinatra didn't do it until two years later.) From here on until the world changed again toward the late '60s, Bennett would not have to feel that he had to compromise his art for popularity, making up-tempo singles in an attempt to meet the marketplace while longing to do ballads and swing material instead. I Left My Heart In San Francisco, a gold-selling Top Ten hit that stayed in the charts almost three years, demonstrated that he could have it all. (Tony Bennett won two 1962 Grammy Awards for the title song: Record of the Year and Best Solo Vocal Performance, Male.)

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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Tony Bennett - The Complete Collection [73CD Box Set] (2011) {Discs 19-23}

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