Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder to team up

[Larry Kart]

[There have been countless pop singers in recent years suddenly discovering their lifelong connection to jazz. I don't buy it, as they didn't have the guts to pay their dues with jazz.

Bennett's connection to jazz, such as it is, goes back a long way. In his teen-age years in Queens he sang at sessions with Al Cohn, who remained a musical associate over the long haul, and on Bennett's very first album, "Cloud 7," from 1954 he was backed by a small jazz group led by his friend Chuck Wayne, with Dave Schildkraut on alto. That's not to say that Bennett is a jazz singer; he's not. Rather, his singing is compatible with jazz accompaniment, and he's usually stimulated by it. The best example of this IMO are the two albums he did of Rodgers and Hart songs with Ruby Braff for his own label Improv, later collected on Concord.

[Chuck Nessa]

Might this be the first "collaboration" with two "dead" participants?

[Big Al]

[There have been countless pop singers in recent years suddenly discovering their lifelong connection to jazz. I don't buy it, as they didn't have the guts to pay their dues with jazz.

Bennett's connection to jazz, such as it is, goes back a long way. In his teen-age years in Queens he sang at sessions with Al Cohn, who remained a musical associate over the long haul, and on Bennett's very first album, "Cloud 7," from 1954 he was backed by a small jazz group led by his friend Chuck Wayne, with Dave Schildkraut on alto. That's not to say that Bennett is a jazz singer; he's not. Rather, his singing is compatible with jazz accompaniment, and he's usually stimulated by it. The best example of this IMO are the two albums he did of Rodgers and Hart songs with Ruby Braff for his own label Improv, later collected on Concord.

I would also add The Beat of My Heart to that list. Even if you disagree that the execution wasn't perfect, you have to admit that took Jupiter-sized cajones to be a pop singer and make a very decidedly non-pop record back then.

Completely agree with the statement in bold as well.

[Big Al]

Bennett's knack for repaving roads has also slipped in recent years.

Absolutely 100% agree here.

[Mark Stryker]

I agree completely with Larry's previous posts on Bennett's relationship to jazz. This is an interesting topic, and I've talked to Bennett about it on a couple of occasions and thought the board might be interested in his view. Here's what he said in 1992: "I'm not a jazz singer; I'm a singer that a jazz audience likes." (author's note: this thread suggests not all of the jazz audience would agree, but Bennett's point still stands.) ''My job is to always sound vital. I have to produce energy and a vitalness, and the jazz artists supply that to me. I improvise with them. Every night, I'll sing the same songs, but by the way they're playing, I'll listen to them and sing their phrases. Wherever they're at, that's how I'm singing.''

In 2006 he said this: "I know how to improvise, and for me jazz is the greatest contribution culturally that the United States has given to the world." Also: "It's the interpretation of going behind the beat or in front of the beat, and it changes every night. You might be singing the same song but there's a vitalness that the musicians feed me and I feed them. I'll make a turn of phrase and all of sudden they'll change the chords, embellish it and make it better."

I will add that I heard Bennett about seven weeks ago and I thought he was in great form, especially on ballads, which he often sang in a strikingly loose rubato over just guitar or piano accompaniment. Even at 80 he could maintain a legato line. (He turned 81 earlier this month.) On both the swingers and the ballads, he was always telling a story, and I heard all kinds of little nuances of phrasing that personalized the lyrics and deepened the emotional quality of the work. Complaints? Well, the over-reliance on "big finish" climaxes is still an issue and there are other mannerisms too. There has always been something stiff about his stage patter too (though not in his singing in my view). The line between soul and false sentiment is awfully thin in the idiom in which Bennett works, but I've always felt Bennett communicates the former not the latter. Others may disagree. I did find it interesting the degree to which Bennett both aesthetically and physically placed himself inside the center of his quartet as opposed to singing outfront of the band, if you know what I mean. The group, incidentally, included pianist Bruce Barth, guitarist Gary Sargent, bassist Paul Langosch and the former Basie drummer Harold Jones.

MS

Edited August 17, 2007 by Mark Stryker