Tony Sale

EU-only four CD set containing eight albums from the legendary crooner: Because of You, Cloud 7, Alone at Last with Tony Bennett, Tony, the Beat of My Heart, Long Ago Far Away, Strike Up the Band and Hometown My Town.

Recorded for his own Improv label, Tony Bennett's Life Is Beautiful appeared the same year as his impressive jazz collaboration with Bill Evans, and represents a return to full orchestration after the quiet majesty of The Tony Bennett Bill Evans Album. Anchored by the Torrie Zito Trio but also including frequent strings and brass, Bennett makes ten intriguing selections for his material; while the composers are hardly unfamiliar names (including Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, Kurt Weill, and even Fred Astaire), many of Bennett's choices are fresh ones, reflecting his 25 years of investigation into the American songbook. Ellington's obscure "Reflections" is the best, given a sweetly remembered, world-weary, yet majestic performance by the incomparable Bennett…

For those new to the music of Tony Bennett, Improv was a label started by Tony Bennett and businessman Bill Hassett. Bennett was fed up with the suits at Columbia Records, who were trying to make him sing rock & roll. When his contract expired at the beginning of the 1970s, he and Hassett formed a label to help him realize his aesthetic ambitions, and Improv was born. Bennett recorded five albums for the label between 1975 and 1977 before it went bankrupt.

The unreleased material has many entries, an example, such as a demo, take and rehearsal recorded 1960-1969. Some records were not published in the official album and bootlegs.