Rich Shadrin

From the Great American Songbook one of the great American voices of all time. Tony kicks off I Wanna Be Around with no vamp, just a straight take off into the lyric. He swings the tune that essentially is about a spurned lover waiting to see his ex get dropped by the next guy she's with. There is no release or chorus, just Mr. B. taking us through the story with supreme confidence in his emotional delivery, tone and dynamics fronting a perfectly matched band that ends just after the vocal on a blues riff that is naturally placed to punctuate the character of the song. One of my favorite tunesof the era and perfectly evocative of time and place. Contrast this with another tune by a fellow vocal craftsman, Dean Martin, who weaves a tune of another color but also in perfect sync with his musicians. And remember their 'competition for premier singer of the time was the Chairman of the Board himself. A male vocalist needed the chops and stones to find his audience in a time when Frank was enjoying his ownership of the strongest pull in Vegas and a comeback in film. All of these swingers doing their thing against a backdrop of R&B, rock and the beginnings of the British Invasion. What a musical panorama to choose from.