Tribute: Tony Bennett and Bill Evans, The Legendary Recordings

The legendary recordings of Tony Bennett and Bill Evans are performed by pianist Joel Zelnik with vocalist Tony Corrao during this Jazz Appreciation Month concert. Bill Evans, with 31 Grammy nominations and seven awards, is regarded as one of the most important and influential jazz pianists of all time. But Evans rarely accompanied singers so when he and Tony Bennett teamed up to record “The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album” in 1975, it received a lot of attention and has been hailed as one of the greatest jazz duets of all time. Few listeners in 1975 realized that Tony Bennett was as much of a jazz singer as almost anybody; he had already made a handful of albums in a small jazz combo format, but these were far lesser known than his big chart hits. Then he made what would be his supreme statement in the jazz field, the first of two albums with the remarkable pianist Bill Evans. In recent years the Concord Music Group has repackaged and rereleased the recordings much to the delight of jazz fans and music critics.

Joel Zelnik and Tony Corrao reprise the 49th anniversary of this remarkable collaboration of American Art Song at its finest, by recapturing the virility and expressiveness in these performances. It is a surprising repertoire – no Gershwin, no Ellington, no blues. They’re mostly songs associated with great female singers: Mabel Mercer and Billie Holiday, as well as Bill Evans’ own “Waltz For Debby” with Gene Lees’ lyrics.