Maps of Music

This Is All I Ask (1963)

Where the lyrics of This Is All I Ask take you, and where it was really made.

Its title song was one Bennett had already recorded two years earlier on Alone Together, and this album carried a new version of it.

Key places

Recording sessions in New York City (1963)

Recording site Record Plant Studios — The album's tracks were recorded in April 1963 at this studio in New York City. The point is set at city-center level. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• This Is All I Ask: studio album by American singer Tony Bennett
• Released July 23, 1963 by Columbia Records
• Produced by Ernie Altschuler
• Mix of original songs and covers of standards
• Includes a new version of the song This Is All I Ask
• Recorded in three sessions, 22, 24, and 26 April 1963

Background

• The title song was first recorded by Bennett on Alone Together in 1961
• The album reworks it in a new version, two years after the earlier take
• Songs from the Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh show Little Me are included

Recording

• Recording location listed as Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City
• Ralph Sharon on piano
• Ralph Burns arranged and conducted
• Chico Hamilton on drums for the track Tricks
• Unidentified chorus and orchestra on the record

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

• AllMusic: William Ruhlmann said the album showed Bennett turning to old standbys Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh
• Billboard: praised Bennett's best work on True Blue Lou, On the Other Side of the Tracks, Sandy's Smile, and Young and Foolish
• Cashbox: described an easy-listening set of ballads and rhythm tunes with Bennett-styled delivery
• Variety: noted the vocal mood was enhanced by Ralph Burns' downbeat arrangements
• American Record Guide: Ralph Vaughan Williams called it another typical Tony Bennett album
• Record Mirror: described it as an outstanding album
• Disc: Nigel Hunter said Bennett turned in a superb set of vocal artistry

Records

• Billboard Top LPs: debuted in the August 24, 1963 issue, stayed 30 weeks, peaked at number 24
• Cashbox albums chart: debuted in the August 17, 1963 issue, stayed 30 weeks, peaked at number 14
• This Is All I Ask single: Billboard Hot 100 peak 70 over seven weeks; Cashbox singles peak 55 over eight weeks
• True Blue Lou single: Billboard Hot 100 peak 99 over two weeks
• The Moment of Truth single: Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 peak 104, one week in December 1963
• 2011: CD included in the box set The Complete Collection by Sony Music Distribution

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title song is a new version of a track Bennett had recorded on Alone Together in 1961.
• Chico Hamilton played drums on the track Tricks.
• Recording took place over three sessions in April 1963.
• Sony Music Distribution later placed the album's CD in a box set called The Complete Collection in 2011.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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