Tony Bennett

[mikelz777]

"For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business, the best exponent of a song. He excites me when I watch him - he moves me. He's the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more. There's a feeling in back of it."

-Frank Sinatra

Is Tony Bennett a jazz artist? I suppose he's very much like Frank Sinatra in that respect, the answer being yes and no. The past several days I've been enjoying "Fifty Years: The Artistry Of Tony Bennett" which has allowed me a much deeper look at Bennett than a single greatest hits disc would provide. I've come to appreciate him much more as a singer as a result. It's also interesting to see the many recognizable names that play among the 5 discs such as Art Blakey, Count Basie/Basie Orchestra, Zoot Sims, Eddie Costa, Jo Jones, Bobby Hackett (on ukelele as well as cornet!), Al Cohn, Jimmy Rowles, Tommy Flanagan, Bill Evans, and of course, Ralph Sharon and his trio among others. He's also worked with a lot of great composers, conductors and arrangers. When you read the booklet from an artist's box set, you're most likely going to get a one-sided view of the artist and a rosey one at that. Even so, it's very hard to discount the truth of what's being said about Bennett when there are so many huge names saying such nice things about him. There's a veritable "who's who" of the entertainment industry included here. Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Buddy Rich, Barbara Streisand, Mitch Miller, Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby Hackett, Nat Hentoff, Gil Evans, Harold Arlen, and Bill Evans all had very positive things to say about him. It all seems to support what I've read of him elsewhere.

Has anyone here ever worked with him or had the opportunity to be around him enough to know a little about the man? He always gave me the impression of being a genuine class act and very well respected in the business. What are your thoughts on Tony Bennett?

[Hardbopjazz]

Well, Frank Sinatra said he is the best jazz singer.

I think he is a jazz singer. I have seen him live 3 times. All 3 times he performed some of the same tunes, and each time the approach was different. To me that's a jazz artists.

[Larry Kart]

Has anyone here ever worked with him or had the opportunity to be around him enough to know a little about the man? He always gave me the impression of being a genuine class act and very well respected in the business. What are your thoughts on Tony Bennett?

I got to know Bennett fairly well at one point and thought he was a great, soulful guy and a terrific performer -- far more so in person than on record, though my taste for his recorded work grew considerably once I'd experienced the remarkable immediacy he could bring to a song on the stage. For all that immediacy, though, I wouldn't say that Bennett was a jazz singer because his rhythmic sense isn't a jazz one. Not that he's at odds with jazz accompaniment, far from it -- e.g. his version of "Lover" with Ruby Braff is superb -- but Tony for me is just in a different albeit usually compatible zone, again especially rhythmically.

Not exactly the same thing, perhaps, but I think of Jeri Southern versus say Lee Wiley -- the former not a jazz singer IMO (though quite at home in jazz settings), the latter a quintessential one. Could it be that that Southern, like Bennett, places the verbal-emotional "story" of the song in the foreground and then alters/personalizes the musical material from that perspective, while for Wiley (or Billie Holiday et al.) the story and the musical material are always one living, in-the-moment thing?

[Ted O'Reilly]

Could it be that that Southern, like Bennett, places the verbal-emotional "story" of the song in the foreground and then alters/personalizes the musical material from that perspective, while for Wiley (or Billie Holiday et al.) the story and the musical material are always one living, in-the-moment thing?

Now, THAT's about as good a descriptor as I've seen...

[Larry Kart]

Could it be that that Southern, like Bennett, places the verbal-emotional "story" of the song in the foreground and then alters/personalizes the musical material from that perspective, while for Wiley (or Billie Holiday et al.) the story and the musical material are always one living, in-the-moment thing?

Now, THAT's about as good a descriptor as I've seen...

As JSngry said the other day, "That's what I get paid for."

[JSngry]

I've never really liked Bennett, but have never really disliked him either. Obviously does what he does very well, I've just never felt the need to care about it one way or the other.

Glad to hear he's a nice guy, though. That and tree-fitty will get me a cup of coffee.

[Christiern]

Tony Bennett was never a singer I know of no one at his level of fame and recognition who is as accessible to the fan in the street. He really seems to know that he owes the public as much, or more, as he does the industry pushers.

Similarly, I know that I have just posted two inordinately awkward sentences.

[BFrank]

Jazz

[mikelz777]

"New York-born Tony Bennett is one of the most respected vocalists in the world today. With a 56 year musical career that includes performing with the Count Basie Orchestra in the 50s, classic recordings with Bill Evans in the ‘60s and an incredible solo performing and recording career spanning five decades, Bennett has always been accompanied by an impeccable collection of jazz musicians. His passion for music is equaled only by his love of art. As a painter, he continues to study and show his work at galleries throughout the U.S. Bennett was open and giving during this interview."

1993 interview.

[Teasing the Korean]

I think that the great 20th Century song stylists can fall at various points on the spectrum between pop and jazz. Some are clearly one or the other; others are not so clearly categorized.

Aside from some of his early schmaltzy singles and perhaps a few mid-life crisis missteps, I think that Tony Bennett maintained more a of a consistent jazz element throughout his career than many of what I would consider the "jazzy pop singers" - artists such as Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Julie London, and others. Whether that makes Tony a jazz singer, I don't know, but the distinction is worth noting.

Edited March 9, 2011 by Teasing the Korean

[Larry Kart]

I think that the great 20th Century song stylists can fall at various points on the spectrum between pop and jazz. Some are clearly one or the other; others are not so clearly categorized.

Aside from some of his early schmaltzy singles and perhaps a few mid-life crisis missteps, I think that Tony Bennett maintained more a of a consistent jazz element throughout his career than many of what I would consider the "jazzy pop singers" - artists such as Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Julie London, and others. Whether that makes Tony a jazz singer, I don't know, but the distinction is worth noting.

Of the ones you've mentioned, Peggy Lee is unequivocally a jazz singer to me.

[Teasing the Korean]

Of the ones you've mentioned, Peggy Lee is unequivocally a jazz singer to me.

I would tend to agree with you, but I think that Peggy eventually strayed farther from jazz territory than Tony did for several years. That doesn't mean she's less of a jazz singer than he is; I was referring more to the overall stylistic focus than the inherent musical ability.

Edited March 9, 2011 by Teasing the Korean

[six string]

I'm not sure I would characterize TB as a jazz singer but he's damn close. I like his voice and his style and he gets bonus points for appearing to be a good guy. I've only seen him once but he delivered imo. Unlike Sinatra, I don't own any music by Tony Bennett. As much as I enjoy him, I don't feel like I have to own any of his music (yet).

[Christiern]

Jazz singing, as such, goes beyond surrounding yourself with jazz musicians and enjoying a rapport with their music. Tony Bennett was never a jazz singer, as I heard him, but he was very compatible.

People often mistake a certain "hipness" for jazz. Sinatra vas very hip and he obviously felt at ease with the music, having performed with jazz players since his Dorsey days, but I see him and Bennett more as suitable for jazz framing rather than as actual jazz artists.

[gmonahan]

To me the essence of jazz has always been improvisation. I love Bennett and have just about every record he's ever made, but I don't know that he's a particularly improvisational singer. I like TTK's idea of a range. Bennett doesn't imprison himself in the melody of a song, but he sure tells the story.

I have been really impressed, though, by his *life* as well as his singing. He joined the civil rights movement early with passion, marching with Dr. King, and he has championed gay rights as well. His heart seems always to be in exactly the right place to me.

And he really is a wonderful singer, jazz or not. Don't know many singers who would dare to duet with Bill Evans, but Bennett did it twice, and beautifully.

[crisp]

[The past several days I've been enjoying "Fifty Years: The Artistry Of Tony Bennett"

An excellent compilation and the box that got me into his music. I've only seen Bennett live once, in the early Nineties at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Apart from a lot of enforced clapping (of the band, the theatre, dead composers, ourselves), I recall being disappointed to the point of boredom for the first several numbers (all past hits), then being totally floored by a mesmerising Body and Soul. It was pretty amazing, transcendent almost.

[zootsi]

I'm not sure if he's a true jazz singer or not, but he is a living legend, and I could listen to his stuff all day long. I greatly admire the fact that in the early 60's he refused to 'sell out' and do more rock oriented material (even though I enjoy rock). He hung in there doing his own thing and rose to the top. A very class act.

[crisp]

He did do a number of soft-rock covers in the late-Sixties, the sort of thing Sinatra did around the same time, although I believe he eventually left Columbia over the issue and started his own label, source of some of the Bill Evans sessions.

[Ted O'Reilly]

He did do a number of soft-rock covers in the late-Sixties, the sort of thing Sinatra did around the same time, although I believe he eventually left Columbia over the issue and started his own label, source of some of the Bill Evans sessions.

The label he started was called "Improv". Interesting, considering many think he lacks that particular quality...

[Larry Kart]

About Tony being improvisational in performance, I think he is a lot (in fact, I know he is, having discuseed this once with one of his former backup musicians, bassist Jon Burr. The difference (and this is very hard to define) is that the musical aspect of this improvisational involvement on Tony's part, while it can intense and often quite inventive, is intermittent and also springs from and retruns to his involvement with the verbal-dramatic story of the song and his emotional involvement with that. As I said above, with him it's not one thing (as it is with Billie, or Peggy or Mildred Bailey, or Sarah et al.) but more or less two things/two worlds, and what he does is kind of swoop into one from the other. Better yet (and to perhaps modify what I've said above), I think his sometimes intense improvastional zeal stems from habits/techniques of vocalization. from the ways he's learned to handle his voice. It's like his voice is almost a "thing," and sometimes for a while it goes off where it wants to go. And Tony knows that it feels good and is useful overall for him to keep that "thingy" aspect of voice on a loose leash, to let it "lunge" if you will.

Again, Burr emphasized how surprising from an accompanist's point of view, some of Tony's in-the-moment choices were -- harmonically, melodically, and rhythmically -- not "wrong" or impossible to make work, and often very stimulating to respond to, but not choices that a musician thinking in musical terms would make. A "vocalizer" thing, again, is my best guess -- a very Italian tendency, perhaps.

[medjuck]

IF improvisation is the essence of jazz is Neil Young a jazz musician? Or was Jimmy Hendrix?

[crisp]

Or Bob Dylan.

I put Tony Bennett in the same category as Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis and Mel Torme; someone who is equal parts showbiz and jazz, but as Larry astutely says above, treating both as two separate worlds that can be used to inform and affect one another. It's rare to find that and great when it occurs.

Among instrumentalists I would sort of put Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, George Shearing and Roland Kirk in the same category: there's that love of showbiz that comes through most obviously in the song choices (Evans and Rollins both did a lot of Al Jolson songs for example), but also in the people they work with and/or their approach to music.

Edited March 11, 2011 by crisp

[Teasing the Korean]

Again, Burr emphasized how surprising from an accompanist's point of view, some of Tony's in-the-moment choices were -- harmonically, melodically, and rhythmically -- not "wrong" or impossible to make work, and often very stimulating to respond to, but not choices that a musician thinking in musical terms would make.

I do not understand this. If Tony Bennett, or anyone else, is making choices on the fly that are surprising harmonically, melodically and/or rhythmically, how can I, Larry Kart, Burr, or anyone else say which of these choices would be a "musician's" choices or not? There are as many musician's choices in those situations as there are musicians.

[Larry Kart]

Again, Burr emphasized how surprising from an accompanist's point of view, some of Tony's in-the-moment choices were -- harmonically, melodically, and rhythmically -- not "wrong" or impossible to make work, and often very stimulating to respond to, but not choices that a musician thinking in musical terms would make.

I do not understand this. If Tony Bennett, or anyone else, is making choices on the fly that are surprising harmonically, melodically and/or rhythmically, how can I, Larry Kart, Burr, or anyone else say which of these choices would be a "musician's" choices or not? There are as many musician's choices in those situations as there are musicians.

On Burr's and my sense of the many kinds of choices that musicians have made over the years?

Also, I'm not trying to lay down any law here, just speculating about a question that I didn't even raise here. My main point (again speculative, as in "I think") was:

'I think [bennett's] sometimes intense improvisational zeal stems from habits/techniques of vocalization, from the ways he's learned to handle his voice. It's like his voice is almost a "thing," and sometimes for a while it goes off where it wants to go. And Tony knows that it feels good and is useful overall for him to keep that "thingy" aspect of voice on a loose leash, to let it "lunge" if you will.'