Today's Fresh Catch is the Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall 2-LP reissue set that was mastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound from the original 3-track master tapes, and pressed at Quality Record Pressings.

I've been away for four day road trip to Boise, Idaho, getting my parents' house prepped for sale after they moved into assisted living where I live. It sure is nice having my parents close by again to visit with, but it sure has been rough for all of us getting things situated back in Boise!

Just before I left, a box with the LPs I ordered from Acoustic Sounds arrived. I reported on Duke Ellington's Live at Newport just before I left, and I've been really looking forward to listening to the rest of the albums in the box.

So this morning while cooking a little pseudo Eggs Benedict ... grilled fresh sourdough bread topped with thick cut bacon, scrambled eggs, and Hollandaise sauce, while sipping some incredibly good Costa Rican Montes de Oro coffee from Stumptown Coffee Roasters (my new favorite coffee roaster) ...

I fired up Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall and settled in for a little listening while munching breakfast and drinking coffee - now that's a way to start a morning!

The performance was recorded live at Carnegie Hall in 1962.

By the way, let me say "Thank you!" to fellow Scottish-American, Andrew Carnegie, for his abundant philanthropic support to the arts & culture around the world during his life. At the time of his death, Mr. Carnegie had given almost 90 percent of his wealth to support charities and foundations, a contribution that endures to the betterment of society to this day. Mr. Carnegie wrote an article in 1889 encouraging the wealthy to use their wealth to improve society, which you can read about here, and which continues to be a guiding light in the philanthropy of the wealthy today.

 

I think most Tony Bennett fans will be really pleased with the results. The performance is classic Tony Bennett (great!), and the sound is really good (although I'm probably not quite as enthusiastic about its sound quality as Michael Fremer, it is good, and you should definitely read Michael's superb review of the album).

I really enjoy live recordings, because I think 'live vs. studio' brings the best out of the musicians, which tend to respond to an enthusiastic audience by singing & playing their hearts out, and that is the case here in spades!

If you enjoy Tony Bennett you'll definitely want to pick up this reissue. I'm glad I spent the $50 USD on Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall, and I think you would be too - recommended.

A caveat: Most of you know that these reissues are done in fairly small numbers, so if you're interested you'd better act sooner rather than later, because good reissues like this tend to sell out fairly quickly.

Thank you for stopping by, and from my home to yours, may the music light up your life!