Tony Bennett Returns with The Art of Romance

28 November 2004

All is well with veteran jazz crooner Tony Bennett. At 78, he looks great, and says, with no uncertainty, that he's feeling just fine. Well, why not? His career remains in full swing. Tony recently performed at a benefit concert with Paul McCartney and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Tony also jetted off to the island of Anguilla in the Caribbean to sing at a wedding on national television, and has released a five-disc anniversary collection. Tony Bennett captures our hearts, yet again, with a new CD titled "The Art Of Romance."

Tony Bennett is a master of the Great American Songbook. He's held that title for as long as most fans can remember. Tony puts a magical touch on every song he sings, whether it's Johnny Mercer's "I Remember You" or Johnny Mandel's "Little Did I Dream." His obvious love for entertaining always seems to win over another generation of adoring fans.

To fully appreciate Tony Bennett, you have to return to his humble beginnings as a struggling New York nightclub performer working under the name Joe Bari. Following Bob Hope's suggestion that he change his name to Tony Bennett, the aspiring young singer won his first recording contract and a hit song with "Can You Find It In Your Heart." For most jazz singers, including Tony Bennett, the 1960s and '70s proved to be tough times, as rock 'n' roll, folk and disco commanded a majority of sales and radio airplay. But Bennett, despite falling out of favor, pushed on. He stuck with the classics, and in 1994 he was back on top with his multi-million selling Unplugged album.

What's been the key to Tony Bennett's success? He admits that some of it comes from luck, but adds, "It's about having faith in the audience to discover great art."

Tributes to great composers and vocalists are nothing new for Tony Bennett. His most recent recordings included tribute albums honoring Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, and a Grammy-winning effort with k.d. lang to Louis Armstrong.

Tony Bennett wanted to try something a little different on his latest release, Art Of Romance. In addition to re-introducing little-known songs to listeners, he made his songwriting debut, composing the lyrics to Django Reinhardt's "All For You."

Tony also covers the 1966 Johnny Mercer/Geoffrey Clarkson song "Time To Smile".

Another message on Tony Bennett:

Tony Bennett
http://mercerjohnny.blogspot.com/2011/12/tony-bennett.html

Tony Bennett is also mentioned here:

All-Star Recording Pays Tribute to Johnny Mercer
http://mercerjohnny.blogspot.com/2010/04/all-star-recording-pays-tribute-to.html

Susannah McCorkle
http://mercerjohnny.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-cd-features-susannah-mccorkles-most.html

Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett Shares His Favorite Music on New CD
By Doug Levine
Washington
13 August 2003

Lots of people have their favorite Tony Bennett song. Maybe it's Because Of You or Left My Heart In San Francisco. Even today's younger fans, the ones who bought his Unplugged album by the millions, have a few of their own. But what are Tony's favorites? A new CD has been released of classic pop and jazz handpicked by Tony himself titled Tony Bennett: Artist's Choice.

It's no surprise that Tony Bennett's favorite music comes from the Great American Songbook, including Cole Porter's Too Darn Hot, performed by Mel Torme. Many of Bennett's own hits were drawn from the "golden era of music," peppered with pop standards by Johnny Mercer, "Yip" Harburg, Duke Ellington, Harold Arlen, and George and Ira Gershwin.

One of Tony Bennett's closest friends was crooner Frank Sinatra, whose version of Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) is why Bennett calls him "quite simply, the best."

Of all the recordings of One For My Baby (And One More For The Road), Tony Bennett picked Frank Sinatra's for the new CD Tony Bennett: Artist's Choice.

Bennett is a lifelong fan of great jazz vocalists. One of his heroes was Louis Armstrong, who performs Mack The Knife on the album. Bennett agreed with the late jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie when he said, "Without Louis Armstrong there would be no me."

Tony Bennett regarded Judy Garland as the greatest entertainer that ever lived. Millions of music and movie fans think so, too. Her signature song is Over The Rainbow, from one of the greatest films of all time, The Wizard Of Oz.

And speaking of signature songs, how about Rosemary Clooney's Tenderly, Duke Ellington's Take The 'A' Train, Doris Day's Sentimental Journey, Billie Holiday's I Wished On The Moon, and Nat "King" Cole's Straighten Up And Fly Right, all featured on Tony Bennett: Artist's Choice.

Other releases in the Artist's Choice series include picks by Sheryl Crow, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles, Lucinda Williams and Yo Yo Ma.