I Left My Heart in San Francisco

by Tony Bennett

Overview

Along with his producer, Ernest Altschuler, and his arranger/pianist, Ralph Sharon, Tony Bennett had been searching for a repertoire and a musical approach beyond his long-gone pop work with Mitch Miller of the early '50s and his artistically pleasing but commercially dicey jazz work of the mid- to late '50s. It seemed to be a combination of Broadway songs and other contemporary material, carefully selected and arranged to show off Bennett's now-burnished vocals, which, as he approached the end of his thirties, were starting to be located in a more comfortable range closer to a baritone than a tenor. With this album, they found the key, not only by happening across a signature song in the title track, but also in the approach to songs like "Once Upon a Time," a gem from the flop musical All American, and Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's "The Best Is Yet to Come," which Bennett helped make a standard. (Frank Sinatra didn't do it until two years later.) From here on until the world changed again toward the late '60s, Bennett would not have to feel that he had to compromise his art for popularity, making up-tempo singles in an attempt to meet the marketplace while longing to do ballads and swing material instead. I Left My Heart In San Francisco, a gold-selling Top Ten hit that stayed in the charts almost three years, demonstrated that he could have it all. (Tony Bennett won two 1962 Grammy Awards for the title song: Record of the Year and Best Solo Vocal Performance, Male.) ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	08/29/2006
Label:	Bmg / Columbia / Legacy / Rpm Records / Sony Music Entertainment
UPC:	0886977392429

Tracks

1. I Left My Heart in San Francisco
2. Once Upon a Time [From the Broadway Production All American]
3. Tender Is the Night [From the 20th Century-Fox Film Tender Is the Night]
4. Smile [From the United Artists Film Modern Times]
5. Love for Sale [From the Broadway Production the New Yorkers]
6. Taking a Chance on Love [From the Broadway Production Cabin in the Sky]
7. Candy Kisses
8. Have I Told You Lately? [From the Broadway Production, I Can Get It for You Wholesale]
9. Rules of the Road
10. Marry Young
11. I'm Always Chasing Rainbows [From the Broadway Production Oh, Look!]
12. The Best Is Yet to Come

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Tony Bennett   Primary Artist,Vocals,Lead Vocals
Candido   Primary Artist
Billy Exner   Primary Artist
Count Basie Orchestra   Primary Artist,Multi Instruments
Count Basie & His Orchestra   Featured Artist
Cy Coleman   Conductor
Sabu Martinez   Percussion
Marty Manning   Conductor
Ralph Burns   Conductor
Candido Camero   Percussion
Billy Exiner   Percussion
Ralph Sharon   Conductor
Frank DeVol   Conductor

Technical Credits

Al Ham   Audio Production
Mitch Miller   Audio Production
Ernie Altschuler   Audio Production,Producer
Vernon Duke   Composer
Cole Porter   Composer
Cy Coleman   Arranger,Composer
John Turner   Composer
Charlie Chaplin   Composer
Joseph McCarthy   Composer,Composer
Marty Manning   Arranger
Ralph Burns   Arranger
George Cory   Composer
Harold Rome   Composer
George Morgan   Composer
Harry Carroll   Composer
Ted Fetter   Composer
Paul Francis Webster   Composer
Frank DeVol   Arranger
Ralph Sharon   Arranger
Sammy Fain   Composer
June Carroll   Composer
Count Basie Orchestra   Arranger
Joe Norton   Photography
Geoffrey Parsons   Composer
John Latouche   Composer
Lee Adams   Composer
Benny Carter   Composer
Carolyn Leigh   Composer
Charles Strouse   Composer
Douglass Cross   Composer