Maps of Music

The Art of Excellence (1986)

Where the lyrics of The Art of Excellence take you, and where it was really made.

Ray Charles plays piano and sings on track 6 of this Tony Bennett album, yet the record stayed on the Billboard album chart for only eight weeks.

Key places

Olympic Studios, London (1986)

Recording site Olympic Studios — The source lists Olympic Studios in London as a recording location for this album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Larrabee West, Los Angeles (1986)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — The source also lists Larrabee West in Los Angeles as a recording location. The point is placed at city-center level only. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The Art of Excellence: album by the American musician Tony Bennett
• Released May 3, 1986
• Italian Wikipedia describes it as a studio album released in 1986
• Twelve tracks, with Ralph Sharon, Paul Langosch and Joe LaBarbera on the core backing

Background

• Debuted on The Billboard Top Pop Albums chart in the issue dated June 21, 1986
• Stayed on the album chart for eight weeks, peaking at No. 160
• Sony Music Distribution included the album in the 2011 box set The Complete Collection

Recording

• Tony Bennett sings lead vocals on all tracks
• Ralph Sharon plays piano
• Paul Langosch plays bass
• Joe LaBarbera plays drums
• Ray Charles plays piano and sings on track 6, Everybody Has the Blues
• Track list: Why Do People Fall in Love?/People, Moments Like This, What Are You Afraid Of?, When Love Was All We Had, So Many Stars, Everybody Has the Blues, How Do You Keep the Music Playing?, City of the Angels, Forget the Woman, A Rainy Day, I Got Lost in Her Arms, The Day You Leave Me
• Recording location listed in the source as Olympic Studios, London
• A second recording location listed as Larrabee West, Los Angeles
• Songs are mostly older standards by writers such as Irving Berlin, Frank Loesser and Cy Coleman

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Artist

Early life

• Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto on August 3, 1926, in Long Island City, Queens, New York City.
• Grew up in poverty after his father, a grocer, became unable to work and died when Tony was ten.
• Sang for money from age 13 as a singing waiter in Italian restaurants in Queens.
• Attended New York's School of Industrial Art but dropped out at 16 to help support his family.

Military service

• Drafted into the U.S. Army in November 1944 and fought as an infantryman in the final stages of World War II.
• Stayed in Germany with the occupying force and sang with an Army Special Services band under the name Joe Bari.

Career

• Studied bel canto at the American Theatre Wing on the GI Bill; Pearl Bailey and Bob Hope helped launch him, and Hope shortened his name to Tony Bennett.
• Signed with Columbia Records in 1950; first number-one hit "Because of You" in 1951.
• Shifted toward jazz singing in the late 1950s; "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" (1962) became his signature song.
• Declined commercially during the rock era and struggled with addiction and debt until a comeback in the late 1980s, managed by his son Danny.
• The 1994 MTV Unplugged album won the Grammy for Album of the Year.

Later career

• Collaborated with Lady Gaga from Cheek to Cheek (2014) through Love for Sale (2021).
• Won 20 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, and sold more than 50 million records worldwide.
• Received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2005 and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• Co-founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens with Susan Crow.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Billboard: Bennett is pensive and persuasive on a collection of lesser-known songs by writers including Irving Berlin, Frank Loesser and Cy Coleman
• People: ranked the album among the 10 best of 1986

Reappraisal

• William Ruhlmann of AllMusic: Bennett used his time away from recording to gather good songs and refine his singing
• Ruhlmann: older songs such as A Rainy Day and I Got Lost in Her Arms were better than the newer discoveries

Records

• Debuted on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart in the issue dated June 21, 1986
• Remained on the album chart for eight weeks, peaking at No. 160
• Included in the 2011 box set The Complete Collection by Sony Music Distribution

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Ray Charles is credited on piano and vocals for track 6, Everybody Has the Blues, a James Taylor song.
• Billboard's review praised the album's lesser-known songs, while People placed it among the year's ten best.
• The album reached only No. 160 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart during its eight weeks there.
• Sony Music Distribution brought the album into a retrospective box set in 2011.
• Italian Wikipedia describes the album as a studio album by the American singer Tony Bennett, released in 1986.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

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