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Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett is an NEA Jazz Master

No one else in popular American music has recorded for so long and at such a high level of excellence as Tony Bennett. In the last ten years alone he has sold ten million records. The essence of his longevity and high artistic achievement was imbued in him in his loving childhood home in the Astoria section of Queens where he was born on August 3, 1926. His father died when Tony was 10 and his mother, Anna, raised Tony and his older brother and sister, John and Mary, in a home surrounded by loving relatives who were Tony’s first fans filling him with encouragement and optimism. He attended the High School of Industrial Arts in Manhattan, where he continued nurturing his two passions, singing and painting. From the radio he developed a love of music, hearing Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, and James Durante.

As a teenager Tony sang while waiting on tables, and then enlisted in the Army during World War II. While in Europe he performed with military bands. He later had vocal studies at the American Theatre Wing School. The first time Bennett sang in a nightclub was in 1946 when he sat in with trombonist Tyree Glenn at the Shangri-La in Astoria. Bennett's big break came in 1949 when comedian Bob Hope noticed him working with Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village in New York City. As Bennett recalls, “Bob Hope came down to check out my act. He liked my singing so much that after the show he came back to see me in my dressing room and said, ‘Come on kid, you're going to come to the Paramount and sing with me.’ But first he told me he didn't care for my stage name (Joe Bari) and asked me what my real name was. I told him, ‘My name is Anthony Dominick Benedetto’ and he said, ‘We’ll call you Tony Bennett.’ And that's how it happened. A new Americanized name—the start of a wonderful career and a glorious adventure that has continued for over 60 years.”

With millions of records sold worldwide and platinum and gold albums to his credit, Bennett has received seventeen Grammy Awards—including a 1995 Grammy for Record of the Year for his “MTV Unplugged” CD, which introduced this American master to a whole new generation—and the Grammy Lifetime Award. His 2007 prime-time special, “Tony Bennett: An American Classic,” won seven Emmy Awards. His initial successes came via a string of Columbia singles in the early 1950's, including such chart-toppers as “Because of You,” “Rags to Riches,” and a remake of Hank Williams “Cold, Cold Heart.” He had 24 songs in the Top 40, including “I Wanna Be Around,” “The Good Life,” “Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)” and his signature song, “I Left My Heart In San Francisco,” which garnered him two Grammy Awards.

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Jazz Fiction

Interruptions On A Christmas Eve

Read "Interruptions On A Christmas Eve" reviewed by Arthur R George


The small restaurant and occasional music bistro was closed for Christmas Eve. Its owner Ernie DiVitale had darkened the room. There was light enough, from the Christmas tree in the corner and spilling in from a lamp over the prep area in the kitchen, to relax with his wife Veronica at a back table over cappuccini and frutti di bosco tortas, ricotta cheese cake with fresh fruit toppings, a special treat in winter. For Ernie and Veronica it ...

1
Interview

A Fireside Chat With Tony Bennett

Read "A Fireside Chat With Tony Bennett" reviewed by AAJ Staff


This interview was first published on All About Jazz in September 2001. Tony Bennett hails from a period in Americana where style loomed larger than sustenance and men were less than men without a martini or scotch in one hand and a cigar or cigarette burning from the other. Those were the days. And although Tony was never a member of the “Rat Pack," he still had that swagger. At seventy-five, Tony's longevity is a tribute to his ...

799
Film Review

Clint Eastwood Presents: Tony Bennett - The Music Never Ends

Read "Clint Eastwood Presents: Tony Bennett - The Music Never Ends" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


This article was first published on All About Jazz on April 11, 2008. Tony Bennett Clint Eastwood Presents: Tony Bennett--The Music Never Ends Warner Home Video 2007 No matter how much you know, or think you know, about the life and artistry of Tony Bennett, you will learn something new from Clint Eastwood's lovingly rendered, impeccably produced two-DVD documentary Tony Bennett--The Music Never Ends. Eastwood and director Bruce Ricker weave together performance ...

263
Building a Jazz Library

The Best of Tony Bennett

Read "The Best of Tony Bennett" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


"Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business, the best exponent of a song," Frank Sinatra once said. “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." Tony Bennett began his career as a singing waiter in his Queens, NY neighborhood. He served in WWII as part of “the greatest generation" and returned home to his music. Two enduring career hallmarks--his inexhaustible ...

463
Album Review

Tony Bennett / Bill Evans: The Complete Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Recordings

Read "The Complete Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Recordings" reviewed by Chris May


In the mid-1970s, when singer Tony Bennett got together with pianist Bill Evans to record The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album (Concord, 1975) and Together Again (Concord, 1976), Bennett was considered terminally uncool by most jazz fans under 30, and rock fans of any age. Despite a few earlier outings in jazz contexts, including an album recorded with Count Basie's orchestra, Basie Swings, Bennett Sings (Roulette, 1959) he was primarily regarded as an MOR singer, defined in the public consciousness by ...

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Beauty, Love and Justice: Living A Coltranian Life

Tony Bennett: A Hero's Journey in Authenticity

Read "Tony Bennett: A Hero's Journey in Authenticity" reviewed by Christine Passarella


This article was first published on All About Jazz on April 19, 2021. The Bennett Effect Jazz singer Tony Bennett always looms large in my mind because of the elegant way he artistically embraces humanity. Awareness of Tony Bennett came my way when his music greeted me as a child, especially on Sunday during Italian American family dinners. With the delicious sauce covered ravioli and crisp Italian bread, we also had the vital ingredient of great music. The ...

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Profile

Gaga, Bennett, The Count, Presidents: Harold Jones Drums Across History

Read "Gaga, Bennett, The Count, Presidents: Harold Jones Drums Across History" reviewed by Arthur R George


When Tony Bennett stepped past the twilight of Alzheimer's onto the stage of Radio City Music Hall in jny: New York City in August 2021, drummer Harold Jones was there ready for him, as he had been for Bennett over the past seventeen years, in a friendship going back to 1968. Lady Gaga, the popstar recreated as a jazz singer and Bennett's partner on two Columbia albums, Cheek to Cheek in 2014 and this year's Love for Sale, both also ...

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Performance / Tour

Songstress Antonia Bennett, Daughter Of Jazz Icon Tony Bennett, Launches Solo Career At Dizzy's Club On November 30, 2023

Songstress Antonia Bennett, Daughter Of Jazz Icon Tony Bennett, Launches Solo Career At Dizzy's Club On November 30, 2023

Source: RickGomesPR

Antonia Bennett, the acclaimed jazz singer and daughter of legendary jazz icon Tony Bennett, launches her solo career at Dizzy's Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Thursday, November 30, with two performances at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. This one-night-only engagement promises an unforgettable journey through the Great American Songbook, along with Bennett’s own original compositions. With her warm and captivating voice, Bennett will bring to life timeless classics from the Great American Songbook, evoking the spirit of Ella ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Tony Bennett

Jazz Musician of the Day: Tony Bennett

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Tony Bennett's birthday today!

No one else in popular American music has recorded for so long and at such a high level of excellence as Tony Bennett. In the last ten years alone he has sold ten million records. The essence of his longevity and high artistic achievement was imbued in him in his loving childhood home in the Astoria section of Queens where he was born on August 3, 1926. His father died when ...

Video / DVD

Tony Bennett Sings for Madison Ave.

Tony Bennett Sings for Madison Ave.

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Like many vocal stars eager to supplement their income and remain visible, Tony Bennett did his fair share of TV and print ads for a wide range of products. Here are a bunch of TV commercials, as well as two rare ones from my archives that were given to me by friends: Here's Tony for Rheingold Beer, popular in the Northesast in the 1950s and '60s... Here's Tony for Visa Checkcard in 1998... Here's one featuring Tony for Japan's Tanaka ...

1

Recording

Backgrounder: Tony Bennett - Movie Song Album

Backgrounder: Tony Bennett - Movie Song Album

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

As we say goodbye to the late Tony Bennett, let's listen to one of his favorite Columbia albums—The Movie Song Album. Here's the song list as well as the arrangers and notable soloists: Song From “The Oscar" (Maybe September) (arr,cond Johnny Mandel) (Lou Levy, piano) Girl Talk (arr,cond Neal Hefti) (Jimmy Rowles, piano) The Gentle Rain (arr,cond Johnny Mandel) (Luiz Bonfá, guitar) Emily (arr,cond Johnny Mandel) The Pawnbroker (arr,cond Quincy Jones) Samba De Orfeu (arr,cond Johnny Mandel) (Luiz Bonfá, guitar) ...

1

Obituary

Tony Bennett (1926-2023)

Tony Bennett (1926-2023)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

For me, Tony Bennett's passing was personal. Since 2011, I interviewed the singer five different times for The Wall Street Journal, four at his art studio overlooking Central Park. Each time was a revelation, from the interview we did sitting in close quarters on a sofa to the last in 2018, when his Alzheimer's was already evident. It was one of the last media interviews he would give. The first time I saw Tony, I was with my artist father ...

1

TV / Film

Bill Evans and Tony Bennett on TV

Bill Evans and Tony Bennett on TV

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

By October 1976, Bill Evans and Tony Bennett had recorded two albums of duets for Tony's short-lived Improv label. I've always had mixed feelings about the recordings. For me, it's strange to hear Evans as second fiddle to anyone and even stranger to hear Tony having to defer, musically, to his accompanist. But strangest of all, perhaps, is the contrasting personalities of Evans, the melancholy introvert, playing against Tony, the sunny-side-up optimist. For a long time, I've felt the two ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Tony Bennett

Jazz Musician of the Day: Tony Bennett

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Tony Bennett's birthday today!

No one else in popular American music has recorded for so long and at such a high level of excellence as Tony Bennett. In the last ten years alone he has sold ten million records. The essence of his longevity and high artistic achievement was imbued in him in his loving childhood home in the Astoria section of Queens where he was born on August 3, 1926. His father died when ...

Video / DVD

Free View: Tony Bennett's Crew

Free View: Tony Bennett's Crew

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Singer Tony Bennett may be retired from the stage, but his backup group is still swinging. On Friday night, they'll be playing together in Brighton, Mass,, near Boston, and you can stream the event for free from the comfort of your home, from anywhere in the world. Or, if you're in the Boston area and want to go, I'll tell you how. But first, let me introduce the gang—pianist Tim Ray, guitarist Gray Sargent, bassist Marshall Wood and singer Donna ...

Video / DVD

Tony Bennett: If I Ruled the World

Tony Bennett: If I Ruled the World

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Readers frequently ask what, in my opinion, defines a great jazz vocal. I typically reply that it's a combination of the singer empathizing with the song's lyrics, vocalizing the song in such a way that the listener feels your delivery emotionally, and knowing where to improvise to give the song your special touch. I now have a video that captures all three of these factors, requiring no additional explanation from me. All you have to do is watch, listen and ...

1

Interview

Lady Gaga on Tony Bennett

Lady Gaga on Tony Bennett

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

At the end of September, I interviewed Lady Gaga for a half hour by phone for The Wall Street Journal. We talked about Love for Sale—her new duet album with Tony Bennett—as well as a range of other subjects. My resulting piece went up online on Friday and the print version is in the paper's arts section today. The last time I interviewed Lady was in 2014, just before her first album with Tony, Cheek to Cheek, was released. A ...

“We aren't likely to see a recording career like this again.” —The New York Times “...his voice is still a technical marvel, and no one else on Earth can make a lyric written eight decades ago sound as natural as a conversation at a coffee shop.” —New York Magazine

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Love Is Here To Stay

Verve Records
2018

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The Silver Lining:...

Columbia Records
2015

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Viva Duets

Sony Legacy
2012

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Duets II

Sony Legacy
2011

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More Tony's Greatest...

Columbia Records
2011

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Videos

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