Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Tony: Something Special

Not much surprises me on TV anymore. Production values for television shows are so high these days that we sort of take quality for granted. However NBC premiered "Tony Bennett: An American Classic" to my great astonishment. Although it is not hard to make Tony sound good, I mean come on, Tony is something special, but the visual impact of this show blew me away. Directed by Rob Marshall, of Chicago fame, this Target sponsored show was soft when it needed to be and sophisticated at all times, the epitome of class. I was happy with the narratives and learned that Percy Faith, a closet idol of mine, was Tony's arranger. Tony represents my favorite time in jazz, the time when melodies ruled and creativity abounded. With concentration on pure instrumentalists and less on electronics, how can one not get up and swing around to Tony's syncopated voice sounding as fantastic as ever? If you missed this one, you missed out.

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