Having completed his relatively brief sojourn with
MGM/
Verve with 1973's
Listen Easy,
Tony Bennett was in the midst of forming his own label,
Improv Records, when he made a deal with
jazz pianist
Bill Evans to cut two LPs:
The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album and
Together Again. (The first would be for
Evans' label,
Fantasy Records, the second to follow on
Improv.) The singer and his collaborator -- "accompanist" does not adequately describe
Evans' contribution, and in any case he received co-billing -- got together in a recording studio over four days in June 1975 with no one other than the producer,
Helen Keane and an engineer present, and quickly recorded two of the best albums of either's career. For
Bennett, it was a dream project; for years (decades, actually), he had been balancing the demands of commerciality with his own inclinations toward
jazz and affection for the songs of Broadway masters and of the Great American Songbook. Left to himself with a
jazz partner, he naturally gravitated toward both interests. There were songs here that he had already recorded, but never in so unadorned and yet fully realized a fashion.
Evans was an excellent accompanist, using his steady left hand to keep his singer centered, but ready, whenever the vocals were finished, to go off into his characteristically lyrical playing.
Bennett could seem a bit earthbound when he came back in (he still wasn't really a
jazz singer), but his obvious enthusiasm for the project, coupled with his mastery of phrasing in songs he understood perfectly made him an equal in the partnership. As far as the major-label record business was concerned, the 46-year-old singer might have been over the hill and indulging himself, but in fact he was in his prime and finally able to pursue his ambitions unfettered, and that would prove itself a major boost to his career over time. For the moment, he'd made an excellent
jazz-pop hybrid in which both musicians were shown off to advantage. [Of the 20 alternate takes and two bonus tracks included in this complete package, nine are previously unreleased except on the
Bennett box set,
The Complete Improv Recordings. Not surprisingly, they are more interesting for
Evans' different improvisations than for anything else. But they also demonstrate that he and
Bennett tried different approaches to the tunes.
"Young and Foolish," the lead-off track on their first album, begins with both
Bennett and
Evans on the refrain, but the alternate take starts with
Evans alone, followed by
Bennett singing the song's introductory verse instead; the version runs a minute longer. The alternate take of
"The Touch of Your Lips," on the other hand, is at a faster tempo and a minute shorter. None of the alternate takes actually improves on the originally released ones, but they show how well considered the album was.] ~ William Ruhlmann
![Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0190759943526_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]")
![Smokin' at the Half Note [Bonus Tracks]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0075021034761_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Smokin' at the Half Note [Bonus Tracks]")
![Ella and Louis [Master Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0731454330428_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Ella and Louis [Master Edition]")
