Tony Bennett: Duets II, a presentation of THIRTEEN’s Great Performances, features the singer’s greatest hits, performed by Bennett and today’s biggest stars, including John Mayer, Michael Bublé, k.d. lang, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Queen Latifah, Norah Jones, Josh Groban, Faith Hill, Alejandro Sanz, Carrie Underwood and more.

The sessions, filmed to capture the magic of these performers singing with the master of the Great American Songbook, airs on Friday, January 27, 2012, at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).

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Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers. For nearly 50 years, WNET has been producing and broadcasting national and local arts programming to the New York community.

The album took more than six months to record, with each track recorded face-to-face with his singer partners in studios around the world, from LA to Nashville to London.  Among the many highlights is Amy Winehouse’s last recorded track (“Body and Soul”), which was produced in London’s famous Abbey Road Studios in March.  Other tracks were recorded in New York in late July: the Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart classic, “The Lady Is a Tramp” with Lady Gaga, and the Alan and Marilyn Bergman classic, “How Do You Keep the Music Playing,” with Aretha Franklin, and “Stranger in Paradise” with Andrea Bocelli, recorded at the singer’s Italian home (see full track listing below).

The CD received kudos from all quarters. The Wall Street Journal noted that the singer was “…constantly reaffirming his position as pop music’s greatest living patriarch,” and Associated Press observed, “Tony Bennett is as timeless as the songs he sings on ‘Duets II.’”

The musical segments are highlighted by insights on the process from the performers, making for an up-close look at one of the year’s most celebrated recordings. The sessions were filmed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Dion Beebe (“Chicago,” “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Collateral”), providing a personal, behind-the-scenes look at Bennett’s latest collaborations and his artistic approach with each song.

Entering his seventh decade as a recording artist with more than 100 albums and 15 Grammy Awards including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Bennett has earned his legendary status many times over.  He remains the Columbia recording artist with the greatest longevity at the label.  His 2007 primetime special, “Tony Bennett:  An American Classic,” won seven Emmy Awards and was directed by Academy Award winner Rob Marshall.

He has performed for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Reagan, Geroge H.W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama.  He also worked with and marched alongside Martin Luther King in his 1965 civil rights march and was honored with the Martin Luther King’s Salute to Greatness Award.

In addition to performing, he is a visual artist as well, with three of his original paintings featured in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian, including his portraits of Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington.  His humanitarian efforts are renowned, and the United Nations honored him with their Humanitarian Award in 2007.

He has published three books — his autobiography, The Good Life, and two collections of his paintings, Tony Bennett: What My Heart Has Seen and Tony Bennett in the Studio: A Life of Art and Music.  Bennett founded, in association with the Department of Education in New York City, the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts — a public arts high school in his hometown of Astoria, Queens. With his wife, Susan, he established Exploring the Arts, a charitable organization that supports arts education in NYC public high schools.  Exploring the Arts supports 14 public high schools throughout New York City.

In the fall of 2007, a documentary of Bennett’s life and career, produced by Clint Eastwood, “Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends,” aired on THIRTEEN’s American Masters on PBS.

The full song program follows:

“The Lady Is a Tramp” (Lady Gaga)
“One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)” (John Mayer)
“Body and Soul” (Amy Winehouse)
“Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” (Michael Bublé)
“Blue Velvet” (k.d. lang)
“How Do You Keep the Music Playing” (Aretha Franklin)
“The Girl I Love” (Sheryl Crow)
“On the Sunny Side of the Street” (Willie Nelson)
“Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)” (Queen Latifah)
“Speak Low” (Norah Jones)
“This Is All I Ask” (Josh Groban)
“Watch What Happens” (Natalie Cole)
“Stranger in Paradise” (Andrea Bocelli)
“The Way You Look Tonight” (Faith Hill)
“Yesterday I Heard the Rain” (Alejandro Sanz)
“It Had to Be You” (Carrie Underwood)

Great Performances is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, Vivian Milstein, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, the Starr Foundation, the Filomen M. D’Agostino Foundation, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, public television viewers, and PBS.

Tony Bennett: Duets II is produced by RPM TV Productions, Inc. For Great Performances, Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn is executive producer.

Paul Crowder’s film, Last Play at Shea, a documentary about those concerts, which intertwined the history of the stadium and the New York Mets with Joel’s New York-centric biography, received accolades when it premiered at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival last October. Stephen Holden of The New York Times dubbed it “exhilarating,” noting of Joel’s musical selections, “His blunt, irresistibly tuneful songs, however autobiographical, are also nuggets of American cultural history.”

Now, those songs, mostly heard in fragmentary form in the documentary, are performed in full in Billy Joel: Live at Shea Stadium, which comes to PBS in March on Great Performances. (In New York, THIRTEEN will air the program Monday, March 7 at 8 p.m. ET, for other markets check local listings)

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Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers.

Joel and his band offer definitive and often transcendent versions of hits, rarities, personal favorites and crowd-pleasing surprises, including duets with guests McCartney (“I Saw Her Standing There,” “Let it Be”), Bennett (“New York State of Mind”), and Brooks (“Shameless”).

Built in 1964, Shea Stadium was the home of the New York Mets for 45 years. Designed as a multi-purpose stadium, Shea became the birthplace of arena rock when the Beatles appeared there on August 15, 1965, establishing the ballpark as a pinnacle venue for rock’s biggest names. The Who, The Police, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and others have all played Shea.

Chosen as the last rock act to play the venue, Billy Joel staged his “Last Play at Shea” concerts on July 16 and July 18, 2008, rocking a combined audience of 110,000 fans with one of the most emotionally charged shows ever played at the historic stadium. After 45 years, two New York Mets World Series victories, the arena debut of The Beatles and Billy Joel’s “Last Play At Shea,” the final section of Shea Stadium was torn down in 2009.

Songs
Angry Young Man
My Life
Always a Woman
New York State of Mind (with Tony Bennett)
Allentown
Shameless (with Garth Brooks)
River of Dreams/Hard Days Night
We Didn’t Start the Fire
Captain Jack
Goodnight Saigon
I Saw Her Standing There (Paul McCartney)
Italian Restaurant
Take Me Out to the Ball Game/Piano Man
Let it Be (Paul McCartney)

The concert will be released a CD/DVD set as well as a stand-alone DVD and stand-alone Blu-ray disc by Sony Music on March 8.

It was co-produced (with Steve Cohen) and directed for television by Jon Small, and edited by Laura Young. Executive producers: David Horn and Todd Kamelhar. For Great Performances, Cara Cosentino is producer; Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn is executive producer.

Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, Vivian Milstein, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.

The multi-platinum-selling Bublé made his Great Performances debut in December 2005 with his first solo television special Caught In The Act.

Michael Bublé Meets Madison Square Garden airs on THIRTEEN as part of the Great Performances series on Thursday, March 4 at 10 p.m. (check local listings for availability on other PBS stations)

Great Performances is a production of THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG – one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers.

With 80 sold-out U.S. appearances, Bublé’s 2008-09 concert tour was attended by more than 1.5 million fans worldwide. Released on DVD+CD, the Madison Square Garden concert won a Grammy as “Best Traditional Pop Album” in February 2010. Last October, Bublé’s current album Crazy Love (produced by David Foster, Bob Rock and Humberto Gatica) jumped to number one on the Billboard charts upon its release. Bublé’s previous albums have sold more than 15 million copies. His 2007 CD, the Grammy-winning Call Me Irresponsible, was a number one album in the U.S. and around the globe. His 2005 It’s Time album sold six million copies worldwide and holds the record as the longest running title to remain on the Billboard Traditional Jazz charts for two full years, remaining at the number one position for more than 80 weeks.

Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, Vivian Milstein, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust and public television viewers. For Great Performances, Bill O’Donnell is series producer and David Horn is executive producer.

For more information on Michael Bublé, please go to: www.michaelbuble.com and www.bungalow-b.com.

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“Sting: A Winter’s Night…” captures the artist in the evocative setting of one of England’s most famous cathedrals. Standing on a peninsula overlooking the River Wear in County Durham, the 1,000 year-old UNESCO world heritage building is an iconic landmark of Northern England. Inside, the architecture and atmosphere are equally as inspiring, and it is in this setting that Sting is joined by guest musicians, including local Newcastle artists Kathryn Tickell (Northumbrian pipes and fiddle), Peter Tickell (fiddle) and Julian Sutton (Melodeon). Esteemed performers from around the world also include Dominic Miller (guitar), Vincent Ségal (cello), Scottish harpist Mary MacMaster, Ira Coleman (bass), Chris Gecker (trumpet), David Mansfield (violin and mandolin), Cyro Baptista, Bashiri Johnson and Rhani Krija (percussion), and vocalists Laila Biali, Lisa Fischer, Jo Lawry and Steven Santoro. Producer Robert Sadin conducts an ensemble of 35 musicians, which includes additional string and brass sections.

Featuring traditional music of the British Isles as its starting point, Sting and guest musicians interpret stirring, folk-based melodies including “The Snow it Melts the Soonest” (traditional Newcastle ballad), “Soul Cake” (traditional English “begging” song), “Christmas at Sea” (traditional Scottish song), “Gabriel’s Message” (14th century carol), “Balulalow” (lullaby by Peter Warlock) and “Now Winter Comes Slowly” (Henry Purcell). Two of Sting’s own compositions are also featured: “Lullaby for an Anxious Child” and “The Hounds of Winter,” which originally appeared on his previous release Mercury Falling. “Winter is a season I’ve always had an affinity for,” says Sting. “It’s certainly rich in terms of inspiration and materials.”

Born a milkman’s son in Newcastle, England, Sting met Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers, who formed The Police in 1977. The band quickly became a success in both the U.S. and the UK, scoring several No. 1 hits including Roxanne, Every Breath you Take, King of Pain and Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic. The Police earned five Grammy Awards and two Brits, and in 2003, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. With the release of Dream of the Blue Turtles in 1985, followed by Bring on the Night, Nothing Like the Sun, The Soul Cages, Ten Summoner’s Tales, Mercury Falling, Brand New Day, All This Time, Sacred Love and Songs from the Labyrinth, Sting has evolved into one of the world’s most distinctive and highly-respected solo performers, collecting an additional 11 Grammy Awards, two Brits, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, three Oscar nominations, Billboard Magazine’s Century Award and MusiCares Person of the Year for 2004.

A production of Graying & Balding, Inc., in association with Universal Music Classical Management & Productions (UMCMP) and THIRTEEN for WNET.ORG, the production is directed by the Emmy Award-winning team Jim Gable and Ann Kim. A DVD of the program will be released November 24 on Deutsche Grammophon, featuring additional performances and behind-the-scenes footage documenting the concert’s genesis.

Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, Vivian Milstein, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers and PBS.

Photograph for video thumbnail by Tony Molina.

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“I was 15 or 16 and he was 18 or 19, and he definitely looked after me,” Winwood recounts of his blossoming friendship with Clapton, at the top of the telecast. “[We] played records and talked about music. From very early on, he took on a brotherly [role].” As their friendship solidified, Clapton and Winwood – with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Ric Grech – formed Blind Faith. They disbanded in 1969 after releasing only one chart-topping, self-titled album.

The spotlight, however, hasn’t dimmed on either Clapton or Winwood’s careers – Clapton has won 18 Grammy Awards and honored with 3 different inductions into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame; Winwood has won Grammy Awards for record of the year and best male vocal performance for his work on “Higher Love.” As for the decision to play a reunion concert, Clapton wanted to recreate “the romance and beauty of [the music] played in the past” The pair take viewers back to rock’s glory days as they perform songs by Jimi Hendrix (Little Wing), Clapton’s catalogue (Forever Man), and tracks from Winwood’s band Traffic (Pearly Queen) – rounding off the performance with hits from their Blind Faith album– which, for fans old and new, is an evening not to be forgotten.

Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood: Live From Madison Square Garden also features Willie Weeks on bass, Chris Stainton on keyboard, and Ian Thomas on drums.

A production of Parallel 28 Equipe Inc., Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood: Live From Madison Square Garden is directed by Martyn Atkins and produced by John McDermott, James Pluta and Scooter Weintraub; John Beug, Michael Eaton, Peter Jackson and Tom Whalley are executive producers. The special was recorded live in performance at Madison Square Garden in February 2008. For Great Performances, Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn is executive producer.

The telecast marks Clapton’s most recent appearance on Great Performances. In 2004, Great Performances broadcast highlights from Clapton’s three-day guitar festival from Dallas in Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival, as well as a follow-up Crossroads Festival concert from Chicago in 2006. Clapton also appeared in the series’ presentation of Cream Reunion Concert (2005) and Concert for George (2003).

The DVD of Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood: Live From Madison Square Garden is distributed by Warner Strategic Marketing.

Great Performances is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, public television viewers, and PBS.