New York, NY (Top40 Charts / Verve Label Group) Tony
Bennett and
Diana Krall celebrate their shared love of the music of
George and Ira Gershwin on their new collaborative album, LOVE IS HERE TO STAY, set for a
September 14th release on
Verve Records/Columbia Records. Tony Bennett, who celebrates his 92nd birthday today, has been friends with
Diana Krall for over 20 years. The two toured together in 2000 and recorded duets for two of Bennett's albums ("Duets" and "Playin' With My Friends"), but this marks their first full album project together. LOVE IS HERE TO STAY is out just in time for the 120th Anniversary of
George Gershwin's birthday which takes place on
September 26th. Both multi-Grammy winning and platinum-selling artists,
Bennett is the only artist at the ages of 85 and 88, respectively, to have an album debut at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 and Krall is the only jazz artist to have eight albums debut at #1 on Billboard's Jazz Albums chart.
Danny Bennett, President and CEO of
Verve Label Group commented, "When Tony
Bennett and
Diana Krall sing the music of the Gershwins, it's truly the consummate artistic pairing of singers and songwriting. It's one of those recordings that when you listen to it, you recognize instantly that it had to happen - it was just a matter of getting these two extraordinary performers into a studio and putting the Gershwin songbook in front of them."
"No one expected me to compose music. I just did. What I have done is what was in me; the combination of New York, where I was born, and the rising, exhilarating rhythm of it, with centuries of hereditary feeling back of me." -
George Gershwin, 1926
Listen to "Fascinating Rhythm" released today on all digital platforms: https://Verve.lnk.to/FascinatingRhythmPR
LOVE IS HERE TO STAY was recorded with the Grammy award winning
Bill Charlap Trio and the stunning result is a subtle, sophisticated and beautifully rendered love letter to The Gershwins' music and their status as one of the premiere songwriters of the American popular standard. It is a masterclass in vocal delivery and phrasing and the command that
Bennett and Krall display of the material in both their duets and solo tracks makes it appear effortless, belying the honed skill of the vocalists. The duet tracks include "Love Is Here to Stay", "S'Wonderful," "They Can't
Take That Away from Me" and "Fascinating Rhythm," among them. "Fascinating Rhythm" was Tony Bennett's first physical recording, made under his then stage name, Joe Bari, which he revisits as a duet with Krall for this project. Two of the duet tracks were never recorded by either artist prior in their career: "My One and Only," and "I've Got A Crush on You."
Tony Bennett's album, "Tony
Bennett Celebrates 90: The Best Is Yet To Come" won a Grammy award this past February and
Diana Krall recently won two Juno awards for her last recording, "Turn Up the Quiet," including the prestigious Producer of The Year award. This Fall, the two will appear on several national television shows performing songs from LOVE IS HERE TO STAY including The
Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning America, and Live With
Kelly and Ryan.
LOVE IS HERE TO STAY was produced by Grammy Award winner Dae
Bennett and
Bill Charlap with
Danny Bennett as Executive Producer. It will be released on CD, vinyl, digital and streaming platforms. The
Bill Charlap Trio features
Bill Charlap on piano,
Peter Washington on bass and Kenny Washington on drums.
LOVE IS HERE TO STAY: TRACK LISTING
1. 'S Wonderful
2. My One And Only
3. But Not For Me (Diana Krall solo)
4. Nice Work If You Can Get It
5. Love Is Here To Stay
6. I Got Rhythm
7. Somebody Loves Me
8. Do It Again
9. I've Got A Crush On You
10. Fascinating Rhythm
11. They Can't
Take That Away From Me
12. Who Cares? (Tony
Bennett solo)
About Tony Bennett:
No one in popular American music has recorded for so long and at such a high level of excellence than Tony Bennett. In the last ten years alone he has sold ten million records. The essence of his longevity and high artistic achievement was imbued in him in his loving childhood home in the Astoria section of Queens where he was born on August 3, 1926. As a teenager Tony sang while waiting on tables and then enlisted in the Army during World War II and while in
Europe he performed with military bands. Bennett's big break came in 1949 when comedian Bob Hope noticed him working with
Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village in New York City. Tony
Bennett is one of a handful of artists to have new albums charting in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, and now in the first two decades of the 21st century. He has introduced a multitude of songs into the Great American Songbook that have since become standards for popular music. With millions of records sold world-wide and platinum and gold albums to his credit,
Bennett has received nineteen Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Tony
Bennett is also an Emmy Award Winner, a Kennedy Center Honoree NEA Jazz Master and the first interpretive singer to receive The Gershwin Prize from the Library of Congress. An accomplished painter, three of his works are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian
Institute and he has authored four books.
About Diana Krall:
Diana Krall is the only jazz singer to have eight albums debut at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. To date, her albums have garnered five Grammy® Awards, ten Juno® Awards and have also earned nine gold, three platinum and seven multi-platinum albums. Krall's unique artistry transcends any single musical style and has made her one of the most recognizable artists of our time. As The New York Times recently noted Krall possesses, "A voice at once cool and sultry, wielded with a rhythmic sophistication." Born in Nanaimo, British Columbia which is outside of Vancouver, Krall grew up in the western part of Canada and began studying the piano when she was four years old. Krall was still a teenager when she was awarded a scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of
Music in Boston. In 1994, she signed with GRP Records and recorded Only
Trust Your Heart, which marked the beginning of her association with Tommy LiPuma, a collaboration that would continue until LiPuma's untimely passing in 2017. Krall's success continued with her subsequent releases All for You, and Love Scenes but her watershed moment came in 1999 with the release of When I Look in Your Eyes, her first release for the historic
Verve record label. The recording spent an unprecedented 52 weeks in the #1 position on Billboard's Jazz chart, won two Grammy Awards and went platinum in the U.S. and Canada. Krall's next album, The Look of Love, continued her international success and became a top ten seller on Billboard's Top 200 Album charts. Since then she has released a string of recordings that have created an impressive body of work, including recordings featured in several film soundtracks. Krall has expanded upon her role as a performer to include songwriting, producing and arranging and has brought her talents to collaborate with many other artists including Paul McCartney,
Barbra Streisand and Tony Bennett. She tours extensively around the globe to sold out audiences, appearing at premiere jazz festivals and concert halls throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
About The Gershwins:
The Gershwin Brothers,
George (1898-1937) and his older brother, Ira (1896-1983), are often considered the greatest of the songwriting teams to make a permanent and indelible contribution to the art form known as "The Great and American Songbook" - and to world musical culture in general. The brothers were the children of Russian Jewish immigrants, both born in Brooklyn (and except for the occasional job in Hollywood, were lifelong New Yorkers) in 1898 and 1896, respectively.
George was originally a piano prodigy and Ira showed an early gift for poetry, rhymes, and wordplay. Writing mostly for Broadway shows and Hollywood musicals (and for top stars like Fred Astaire and Ethel Merman) the two brothers created dozens and dozens of the most beloved songs ever written, like "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "Embraceable You," "The Man I Love," and "But Not For Me." The apogee of their working relationship was Porgy and Bess, the 1935 masterpiece that is virtually unchallenged as the greatest of all American operas (which features such iconic songs as "It Ain't Necessarily So" and "Summertime).
George wrote several important songs before he began working with Ira, and consequently, Ira kept on writing for decades after his younger brother's tragically early death from a brain tumor at age 38, but the classic songs that they wrote together, from 1924 to 1937, are beloved by the world entire. For more information please visit: www.gershwin.com
About
Verve Records
Verve Records, founded in 1956, holds the world's most respected jazz catalogue and features seminal recordings from legendary artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Stan Getz and Billie Holiday among others.
Verve also served as the original home of pioneering acts The
Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa. The revitalized
Verve Records falls under the
Verve Label Group, which is home to historic imprints including
Verve Forecast (Richie Havens,
Laura Nyro,
Captain Beefheart), Impulse! (John Coltrane, Charles Mingus), Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, and more.
About Columbia Records
One of the most respected and successful record labels in the world, Columbia Records is home to established superstars and exciting new talent. Columbia Records is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony
Music Entertainment.
