[Dixielandjazz] Tony Bennett - 80 Year Old Swinger

[Steve Barbone]

Interesting to note that this review was listed under the "popular" music
category, rather than under the "jazz" category, which IMO, is what Bennett
sings. Good heavens, bite my tongue, could it be both?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


Music Review | 'Tony Bennett' - FORUM, POPULAR MUSIC
Still Singing, Still Swinging, Still Alive in the Moment

NY Times - By STEPHEN HOLDEN - September 28, 2006

³I Got Rhythm²: those three little words define the spirit of Tony Bennett
at 80. To put it another way: ³It Don¹t Mean a Thing if It Ain¹t Got That
Swing.² For Mr. Bennett, that swing is an article of faith. Maybe a
performer has to be a certain age for the kind of rhythmic mastery commanded
by Mr. Bennett to assume a forceful spiritual resonance. To swing as hard as
he does at 80 means to be on top of things. And for Mr. Bennett, being on
top of things means being truly joyful and alive in the moment.

In Mr. Bennett¹s case it is also an opportunity to assert his aesthetic
creed: a belief in the traditional values embedded in popular standards.
Musically that means choosing sophisticated pop-jazz narratives that adhere
to a rigid structure and bowing down to the masters: Gershwin, Ellington,
Berlin et al. 

Lyrically it involves committing to songs that profess a bedrock belief that
things last, including passionate love. On the rare occasion a song doesn¹t
culminate in a happy ending, Mr. Bennett does his best to supply it.

A prime example of the emphatically positive approach taken by Mr. Bennett
and his wonderful quartet (Lee Musiker on piano, Paul Langosch on bass,
Harold Jones on drums and Gray Sargent on guitar) on Tuesday at the Theater
at Madison Square Garden was his exhilarating performance of ³Old Devil
Moon.² The singer and his crew swung it lightly at first, then bore down
more heavily as they built it to an explosive final assertion of the line
³Blinds me with love,² the word ³love² drawn out for several seconds with a
full belting intensity.

Now and then there were vestiges of the throbbing lyricism of the crooner of
40 years ago. ³I Left My Heart in San Francisco² and ³For Once in My Life,²
both sung quietly until their stentorian finales, were suffused with a
husky, bittersweet nostalgia. An arrangement of Hank Williams¹s ³Cold, Cold
Heart² for guitar and voice swung it delicately.

After his version became a hit in 1951, Mr. Bennett recalled, he received a
phone call from Williams in Nashville, accusing him of ruining the song. (He
didn¹t; he just sweetened and softened it.)

The concert coincided with the release of Mr. Bennett¹s 80th-birthday album,
³Tony Bennett Duets: An American Classic² (RPM/Columbia), an all-star
blockbuster collection of his signature songs rerecorded as duets with
younger acolytes, from Bono to Celine Dion to John Legend. Two of his
partners from the record, Michael Bublé (whom Mr. Bennett introduced as ³the
best contemporary artist²) and Elvis Costello (in fine voice), joined him to
perform their respective duets from the album, ³Just in Time² and ³Are You
Havin¹ Any Fun?² 

Natalie Cole, who opened for Mr. Bennett with a short set from her new
album, ³Leavin¹ ² (Verve), reappeared to sing ³Smile,² a 1954 hit for her
father, Nat King Cole, that Mr. Bennett revived five years later and sings
on his new album with Barbra Streisand. Ms. Cole, who has taken a sabbatical
from pop-jazz, returned to her 70¹s soul sound with a frisky version of
Aretha Franklin¹s old hit ³Day Dreaming.² And in a striking change of pace,
she sang a bare, penetrating version of Neil Young¹s ³Old Man² that went
deeper than she usually goes.