Misplaced Pages

I Wanna Be Around...
Studio album by Tony Bennett
Released	February 18, 1963
Recorded	March 16, 1962–April 26, 1963
Studio	CBS 30th Street (New York City)
Genre	Traditional pop, vocal jazz
Length	27:21 original LP 44:39 CD reissue
Label	Columbia CL 2000 CS 8800
Producer	Ernie Altschuler
Tony Bennett chronology
Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall (1962) I Wanna Be Around... (1963) This Is All I Ask (1963)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

I Wanna Be Around... is a 1963 album by singer Tony Bennett.

The album debuted on the Billboard Top LPs chart in the issue dated April 6, 1963, and remained on the album chart for 44 weeks, peaking at No. 5 it also debuted on the Cashbox albums chart in the issue dated March 16, 1963, and remained on the chart for in a total of 63 weeks, peaking at 2

The album was released on compact disc by Columbia Records in 1995 as tracks 13 through 24 on a pairing of two albums on one CD with tracks 1 through 12 consisting of Bennett's breakthrough studio album from June 1962, I Left My Heart in San Francisco.

Sony Music Distribution included this CD in a box set entitled The Complete Collection, which contains fifty-eight of his studio albums, 4 compilation, three DVDs, six volumes of Bennett’s non-album singles, a previously unreleased CD of his Las Vegas debut from 1964, and two discs of rarities, including Bennett’s first recording, an Army V-Disc of “St. James Infirmary Blues, and was released on November 8, 2011.

Reception

William Ruhlmann of AllMusic said "there were also some excellent arrangements, including a percussion-and-flute reading of "Let's Face the Music and Dance" that echoed the Beat of My Heart album and a nod to the South American trend with Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Quiet Nights (Corcovado)."

Billboard gave the album a postive reviews, saying "He sings 'em all with the great heart ad warmth"

Variety gave a postive reviews, saying "Bennett gives each song substance with his dramtic balladerring help occasion by The Ralph Sharon Trio and always by the orch and arranging supplied by Mark Manning"

Track listing

1. "The Good Life" (Sacha Distel, Jack Reardon) – 2:15
2. "If I Love Again" (Jack Murray, Ben Oakland) – 3:19
3. "I Wanna Be Around" (Johnny Mercer, Sadie Vimmerstadt) – 2:11
4. "I've Got Your Number" (Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh) – 1:45
5. "Until I Met You" (Freddie Green, Don Wolf) – 2:57
6. "Let's Face the Music and Dance" (Irving Berlin) – 2:52 (omitted on CD reissue)
7. "Once Upon a Summertime" (Eddie Barclay, Michel Legrand, Eddy Marnay, Mercer) – 2:00
8. "If You Were Mine" (Matty Malneck, Mercer) – 2:15
9. "I Will Live My Life for You" (Henri Salvador, Marcel Stellman) – 2:26
10. "Someone to Love" (Harry Warren) – 1:58
11. "It Was Me" (Gilbert Becaud, Norman Gimbel) – 3:04
12. "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)" (Antônio Carlos Jobim, Gene Lees) – 3:16

Bonus tracks on CD reissue (all taken from the album "This Is All I Ask"):

12. "Autumn in Rome" (Sammy Cahn, Alessandro Cicognini, Paul Weston) – 2:15
13. "The Way That I Feel" (Harry Brooks) – 2:55
14. "The Moment of Truth" (Tex Satterwhite, Frank Scott) – 2:14
15. "Got Her Off My Hands (But Can't Get Her Off My Mind)" (Sam M. Lewis, Flip Phillips, Joe Young) – 2:00
16. "Long About Now" (Fred Hellerman, Fran Minkoff) – 2:44
17. "Young and Foolish" (Albert Hague, Arnold B. Horwitt) – 3:22
18. "Tricks" (Alan Brandt, Bob Haymes) – 1:48

Recorded March 16, 1962 (#5), October 19, 1962 (#2–4, 6–9), December 19, 1962 (#1, 10–11), April 22, 1963 (#12, 17), April 24, 1963 (#14–15), April 26, 1963 (#13, 16, 18)

Personnel

• Tony Bennett – vocals
• Ralph Sharon – piano
• Ralph Burns – arranger
• Marty Manning – arranger, conductor
• Carlos Lyra - guitar (#11)

References

1. Tony Bennett.com
2. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "Tony Bennett - I Wanna Be Around: Rating & Reviews". AllMusic. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
3. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. p. 148. ISBN 9781846098567. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
4. Whitburn, Joel (1996). Joel Whitburn's top pop albums : 1955-1996 : compiled from Billboard magazine's pop album charts, 1955-1996. Menomonee Falls, Wis.: Record Research. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-8982-0117-8.
5. Hoffmann, Frank W (1988). The Cash box album charts, 1955-1974. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-8108-2005-6.
6. "I Left My Heart in San Francisco/I Wanna Be Around". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
7. "The Complete Collection - Tony Bennett". allmusic.com. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
8. "Pop Spotlight: I Wanna Be Around". Billboard. Vol. 75, no. 12. March 23, 1963. p. 31.
9. "Variety Album Reviews Francis Boys, U.N's All Star, Bennett's Around Top New LPs: I Wanna Be Around". Variety. Vol. 230, no. 3. March 13, 1963. p. 54.

This 1960s jazz album-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• 1963 albums
• Tony Bennett albums
• Columbia Records albums
• Albums arranged by Ralph Burns
• 1960s jazz album stubs