The Art Of Excellence
''The Art of Excellence'' is an album by the American musician Tony Bennett, released in 1986. It peaked at No. 160 on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200. Critical reception ''People (magazine), People'' deemed the album one of the 10 best of 1986. Track listing # "Why Do People Fall in Love?/People" (Dennis Lambert, Brian Potter (musician), Brian Potter, Bob Merrill, Jule Styne) – 4:05 # "Moments Like This" (Burton Lane, Frank Loesser) – 2:47 # "What Are You Afraid Of?" (Jack Segal, Robert Wells (songwriter), Robert Wells) – 3:01 # "When Love Was All We Had" (Jorge Calandrelli, Sergio Mihanovich) – 5:08 # "So Many Stars" (Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Sérgio Mendes) – 3:44 # "Everybody Has the Blues" (James Taylor) – 3:37 # "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" (Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand) – 4:20 # "City of the Angels" (Fred Astaire, Tommy Wolf) – 2:24 # "Forget the Woman" (Ettore Stratta) – 3:16 # "A Rainy Day" (Howard Dietz, Arthur Schwartz) � ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birth name that are on permanent public display in several institutions. He is the founder of the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens, New York. Bennett began singing at an early age. He fought in the final stages of World War II as a U.S. Army infantryman in the European Theater. Afterward, he developed his singing technique, signed with Columbia Records and had his first number-one popular song with " Because of You" in 1951. Several tracks such as " Rags to Riches" followed in early 1953. He then refined his approach to encompass jazz singing. He reached an artistic peak in the late 1950s with albums such as '' The Beat of My Heart'' and '' Basie Swings, Bennett Sings''. In 1962, Bennett recorded his signature song, " ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alan Bergman
Alan Bergman (born September 11, 1925) and Marilyn Keith Bergman (November 10, 1928 – January 8, 2022) were an American songwriting duo. Married from 1958 until Marilyn's death, together they wrote music and lyrics for numerous celebrated television, film, and stage productions. The Bergmans enjoyed a successful career, honored with four Emmys, three Oscars, two Grammys (including Song of the Year), and were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Biography and career Alan Bergman was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1925, the son of Ruth (Margulies), a homemaker and community volunteer, and Samuel Bergman, who worked in children's clothing sales. He studied at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned his master's degree in music at UCLA. Marilyn Bergman was born in 1928, coincidentally at the same Brooklyn hospital where Alan had been born three years earlier, and was the daughter of Edith (Arkin) and Albert A. Katz. Both Alan and Marilyn are from Jewish familie ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ralph Sharon
Ralph Simon Sharon (September 17, 1923 – March 31, 2015) was a British-American jazz pianist and arranger. He is best known for working with Tony Bennett as his pianist on numerous recordings and live performances. Biography Ralph Sharon was born in London, England, to a British mother and Latvian-born father. He emigrated to the United States in early 1954, becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States five years later. By 1958, Ralph Sharon was recording with Tony Bennett as accompanist. That was the start of a more than 50 year working relationship as Bennett's "man behind the music" on many Grammy Award-winning studio recordings, and touring with Bennett for many years. Sharon found the song " I Left My Heart in San Francisco" for Bennett, a year after placing the sheet music in a bureau and forgetting about it. Sharon discovered the manuscript while packing for a tour that included San Francisco. While Bennett and Sharon liked the song, they were convinced ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cy Coleman
Cy Coleman (born Seymour Kaufman; June 14, 1929 – November 18, 2004) was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist. Life and career Coleman was born Seymour Kaufman in New York City, United States, to Eastern European Jewish parents, and was raised in the Bronx. His mother, Ida (née Prizent) was an apartment landlady and his father was a brickmason.Berkvist, Rober"Cy Coleman, Composer Whose Jazz-Fired Musicals Blazed on Broadway, Dies at 75" ''The New York Times'', November 20, 2004. He was a child prodigy who gave piano recitals at venues such as Steinway Hall, Town Hall, and Carnegie Hall between the ages of six and nine.Jones, Kennet"Cy Coleman, a Master of the Show Tune, Is Dead at 75", Playbill.com, November 19, 2004. Before beginning his fabled Broadway career, he led the Cy Coleman Trio, which made many recordings and was a much-in-demand club attraction. Despite the early classical and jazz success, Coleman decided to build a career in popular music. His f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russia, Berlin arrived in the United States at the age of five. He published his first song, "Marie from Sunny Italy", in 1907, receiving 33 cents for the publishing rights,Starr, Larry and Waterman, Christopher, American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3, Oxford University Press, 2009, pg. 64 and had his first major international hit, " Alexander's Ragtime Band", in 1911. He also was an owner of the Music Box Theatre on Broadway. For much of his career Berlin could not read sheet music, and was such a limited piano player that he could only play in the key of F-sharp; he used his custom piano equipped with a transposing lever when he needed to play in keys other than F-sharp. "Alexander's Ragtime Band" sparked an international dance c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arthur Schwartz
Arthur Schwartz (November 25, 1900 – September 3, 1984) was an American composer and film producer, widely noted for his songwriting collaborations with Howard Dietz. Biography Early life Schwartz was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on November 25, 1900. He taught himself to play the harmonica and piano as a child, and began playing for silent films at age 14. He earned a B.A. in English at New York University and an M.A. in Architecture at Columbia. Forced by his father, an attorney, to study law, Schwartz graduated from NYU Law School with a Doctorate in Jurisprudence and was admitted to the bar in 1924. Career While studying law, he supported himself by teaching English in the New York school system. He also worked on songwriting concurrently with his studies and published his first song ("Baltimore, Md., You're the Only Doctor for Me", with lyrics by Eli Dawson) by 1923. Acquaintances such as Lorenz Hart and George Gershwin encouraged him to stick with composing. He ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Howard Dietz
Howard Dietz (September 8, 1896 – July 30, 1983) was an American publicist, lyricist, and librettist, best remembered for his songwriting collaboration with Arthur Schwartz. Biography Dietz was born in New York City. He attended Columbia College and then studied journalism at Columbia University. He also served as publicist/director of advertising for Goldwyn Pictures and later MGM and is often credited with creating Leo the Lion, its lion mascot, and choosing their slogan ''Ars Gratia Artis''. In 1942, he was made MGM's Vice President in Charge of Publicity. He held that position until his retirement in 1957. He began a long association with composer Arthur Schwartz, when they teamed up for the Broadway revue '' The Little Show'' in 1929. They would continue to work on and off over the next 30 or so years. Dietz served in the US Navy in World War I and became editor of their magazine, ''Navy Life''. During World War II, he assisted the U.S. Treasury Department with th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tommy Wolf
Thomas Joseph Wolf Jr. (1925 – 1979) was an American composer and piano player. He was best known for his songwriting collaboration with Fran Landesman. Life Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Wolf met Fran Landesman while playing piano at the Jefferson Hotel there. She showed him a poem which he set to music. The resulting song "This Little Love of Ours" began a collaboration that continued for more than a decade. Wolf's albums include "Wolf at Your Door," and " Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most", both recorded for Fraternity Records. After moving to California, he was a rehearsal pianist, working on the Andy Williams and Red Skelton television shows, and numerous musical specials, most memorably the award-winning Fred Astaire show "Evenings." Several of Wolf's songs, including " Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most", have become jazz Jazz standards, and have been recorded by artists such as Kurt Elling, Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Barbra Streisand, and Ella Fitzgerald. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He starred in more than 10 Broadway and West End musicals, made 31 musical films, four television specials, and numerous recordings. As a dancer, he was known for his uncanny sense of rhythm, creativity, and tireless perfectionism. Astaire's most memorable dancing partnership was with Ginger Rogers, whom he co-starred with in 10 Hollywood musicals during the classic age of Hollywood cinema. Astaire and Rogers starred together in '' Top Hat'' (1935), '' Swing Time'' (1936), and ''Shall We Dance'' (1937). Astaire's fame grew in films like '' Holiday Inn'' (1942), '' Easter Parade'' (1948), '' The Band Wagon'' (1953), '' Funny Face'' (1957), and ''Silk Stockings'' (1957). The American Film Institute named Astaire th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Michel Legrand
Michel Jean Legrand (; 24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many songs. His scores for two of the films of French New Wave director Jacques Demy, '' The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'' (1964) and '' The Young Girls of Rochefort'' (1967), earned Legrand his first Academy Award nominations. Legrand won his first Oscar for the song " The Windmills of Your Mind" from '' The Thomas Crown Affair'' (1968), and additional Oscars for '' Summer of '42'' (1971) and Barbra Streisand's '' Yentl'' (1983). Life and career Legrand was born in Paris to his father, Raymond Legrand, who was himself a conductor and composer, and his mother, Marcelle Ter-Mikaëlian, who was the sister of conductor Jacques Hélian. Raymond and Marcelle were married in 1929. His maternal grandfather was Armenian. Legrand composed more than two h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alan And Marilyn Bergman
Alan Bergman (born September 11, 1925) and Marilyn Keith Bergman (November 10, 1928 – January 8, 2022) were an American songwriting duo. Married from 1958 until Marilyn's death, together they wrote music and lyrics for numerous celebrated television, film, and stage productions. The Bergmans enjoyed a successful career, honored with four Emmys, three Oscars, two Grammys (including Song of the Year), and were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Biography and career Alan Bergman was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1925, the son of Ruth (Margulies), a homemaker and community volunteer, and Samuel Bergman, who worked in children's clothing sales. He studied at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned his master's degree in music at UCLA. Marilyn Bergman was born in 1928, coincidentally at the same Brooklyn hospital where Alan had been born three years earlier, and was the daughter of Edith (Arkin) and Albert A. Katz. Both Alan and Marilyn are from Jewish ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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How Do You Keep The Music Playing?
"How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" is a song composed by Michel Legrand, with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman for the 1982 film ''Best Friends'', where it was introduced by James Ingram and Patti Austin. The Austin/Ingram version became a single in 1983 and reached #45 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #5 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. It was one of three songs with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 55th Academy Awards. Notable versions * Susannah McCorkle — ''How Do You Keep the Music Playing'' (1985) * Frankie Laine — ''Place in Time'' (1985) and ''Wheels of a Dream'' (1998) * Andy Williams — '' Close Enough for Love'' (1986) * Tony Bennett — ''The Art of Excellence'' (1986), '' Duets: An American Classic'' (with George Michael) (2006) and '' Duets II'' (with Aretha Franklin) (2011) * George Benson with the Count Basie Orchestra (with Carmen Bradford) — '' Big Boss Band'' ( ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |