Customer Reviews

Playground

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tony Bennett, at this point in his legendary career, is nearly incapable of making a poor album. Here, singing about, to, and for children, his work is especially elegant and empathetic. The title song, written by the Bergmans, is a jazzy piece of childhood nostalgia. His versions of "All God's Chillen' Got Rhythm," (featuring a killer brush drum solo!) "Paper Moon," and his versions of the Disney songs swing sweetly with help from the Ralph Sharon Trio. The final, unlisted track on my copy of the CD is "Christmas in Herald Square," a New York sequel of sorts to "The Christmas Song." Bennett sings it beautifully. "The Playground" is a wonderful place for children and adults to spend time. It's an album Frank Sinatra never got the chance to do and Dean Martin, well....

Tony Bennett, the Muppets, the children and Rosie make a wonderful combination for this cd. My 18 month old daughter loves to listen to this cd in the car or just when we are at home. She is learning some great oldies but goodies.

I love this cd! It is wonderful for for infants (my 10mth old bounces along with the songs), and adults (my husband and I never tire of listening to it on our trips from GA to OH). The cd's smooth melodies keep us all entranced and I really like the guest singers (Elmo, Kermit, and Rosie).

I'm not referring to the album as a whole because, even though it's very good, it's filled with up-tempo numbers that are often unimaginatively arranged; but this album deserves 5 stars because of 2 songs that demonstrate what a master of ballads Tony is. "My Mom" is a wonderful song by Walter Donaldson and performed perfectly by Bennett; his voice really is in great shape. This song is a heartfelt and sincere tribute to all good mothers. Even better, indeed, one of the very best Bennett recordings of all time, in my view, is the other ballad on the album - "Make the World your Own", by Michel Legrand and the Bergmans. Sung by Bennett, with just Ralph Sharon accompanying him with his usual sensitivity, this song becomes a priceless piece of grandfatherly advice. It's difficult to imagine the song being sung any better. Tony demonstrates his interpretive genius at its very best in some of the song's more telling passages. This recording truly is a late masterpiece in the Bennett discography. If you like great ballads beautifully sung, then you shouldn't be without this album. These two songs alone are worth the full price.

All in all, this is an excellent album. What Tony Bennett lacks in vocal range (he is getting up there in age), he more than makes up for with his warm and charming delivery. For kids, this should be a delight. For adult jazz fans, this is simply a very good concept album. I agree that the duets are a bit of a stretch in some cases. However, they fit the child album concept and are few and far between. Songs that I especially enjoy are Dat Dere and The Playground. (Dat Dere alone may be worth the price of the disc.) This is an essential release for the Tony Bennett fan, and a very nice addition for jazz fans and children alike.

We played this CD from Jersey to North Carolina, kids loved it, and we never got bored. It is simply wonderful.

I just had a baby and received this CD. I absolutely love it and so does my son. It has a great mix of relaxing and upbeat songs, many of which the average person is familiar with, which makes sing-a-longs easy! We really enjoy listening to this (and the duets with Rosie, Elmo, and Kermit) with the first bottle of the morning. Most important, the songs are so good that I won't tire of them (even after 1,000 repitions).

I've never heard of this TB album, and wouldn't have found it if it weren't for Amazon...Yes, the songs are cute, but also VERY well done. Great arrangements, and TB's voice is impeccable as always. HIGHLY Recommended

This isn't quite the "sleeper" that "On Holiday" is (as good as any Bennett album I've heard), but it's awfully appealing, with the vocalist's execution of Jon Hendricks' tricky lyrics to "Dat Dere" standing out as an album highlight. This kind of material seems ideally suited to Bennett's timbre (raspy and muted in the middle, penetrating and full on top) more than the pop-Wagnerian "romantic" arrangements and productions that he's so frequently saddled with. (There's no more apt metaphor for the language of music than "playground.")

I've learned not to place bets on what kids will take to (my 3-year-old granddaughter can handle many more hours of classical ballet at a sitting than I). A number of these songs are about an adult's remembrance of "childhood" but not necessarily "for" children. Nevertheless, it's very possible a younger listener will respond favorably to "visceral" musical elements that the nostalgic adult misses. From my perspective, the insertion, on several tracks, of funny voices (Sesame Street characters and Rosie O'Donnell) is a blot on the proceedings, but if they work to get the little player's attention, great. (Otherwise, double the shame.) The final Christmas song feels like a gratuitous, unthematic intrusion (even as a postlude). But this is a 17-song performance, 12 of which leave virtually nothing to be desired. For this session to be out of print a mere ten years after its release--and with the singer riding a renewed surge of high-profile popularity--simply defies comprehension. What a fickle marketplace (kids have longer attention spans than today's consumer).

It's so rare to have an established performer make a recording of music other musicians wouldn't dare touch. This cd is happy, it's fun, and it's done with a lot of love - you can hear it in his voice. It's a cd grownups can listen to (over and over again as kids request it, and it still sounds good)!