| I Wanna Be Around... | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Tony Bennett |
| Cover: | I Wanna Be Around.jpg |
| Released: | February 18, 1963[1] |
| 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 |
| Prev Title: | Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall |
| Prev Year: | 1962 |
| Next Title: | This Is All I Ask |
| Next Year: | 1963 |
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[2] 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[3]
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 breakthough studio album from June 1962, I Left My Heart in San Francisco.[4]
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.[5]
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)."[6]
Billboard gave the album a postive reviews, saying "He sings 'em all with the great heart ad warmth"[7]
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"[8]
Bonus tracks on CD reissue (all taken from the album "This Is All I Ask"):
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)