pt at large

Tony Bennett Reading List

The Tony Bennett reading list:

START HERE: Tony Bennett's Jazz Journey on Charlie Rose (1996 Interview)

Then here to hear range of Tony's style, "Some Other Time"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06ssRQ7K1hQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MselAkjXbM Bill Evans with Tony Bennett on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show 10/27/75 shows how much fun he had singing

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjpjWusMwHE

 

Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga - I Get A Kick Out Of You (Official Music Video)

Anderson Cooper on witnessing Tony Bennett's final act in 2021 | 60 Minutes

From the archives Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga

Tony Bennett's final act in 2021 | 60 Minutes

Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga @ Jazz at Lincoln Center • New York • [Juillet 2014]

Tony Bennett goes Gaga on ‘Cheek to Cheek’

PBS Newshour: Tony says "Always stick with quality" ...and credits African Americans in New Orleans who created the American art form Jazz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyUzwmf7YwM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GFDI4WjdX8

Tony Bennett Exclusive: Tony and his wife Susan talk about Bennett's founding of the Exploring the Arts Program in 1999

Tony Bennett Exclusive Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nQrvk_PHWo

Tony Bennett Interview with George Stroumboulopoulos

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett - Interview on CBS Sunday Morning 21.09.2014

Bill Evans with Tony Bennett on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show 10/27/75

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OhpSSIhihU    Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett's musical collaboration | 60 Minutes Australia

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ocV_M4tmZA    Tony Bennett honors Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MselAkjXbM

Bill Evans with Tony Bennett on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show 10/27/75

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://stylecaster.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/1618244/how-tony-bennett-die/

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/21/arts/music/tony-bennett-dead.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/21/arts/music/tony-bennett-lady-gaga.html?smid=url-share

https://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2023/03/the-lady-is-a-tramp-lady-gaga-and-tony-bennett.html

https://twitter.com/keaaaaley/status/1682375890884329472

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/21/arts/8-must-watch-tony-bennett-performances/

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndSoczxwsTc

 

 

 

A 48-minute August 20, 2021 FRESH AIR interview with Tony Bennett by Terry Gros...worth every minute.

RIP the pop and jazz vocalist legend, dead at 96 on July 23, 2023

A MUST READ....

A 48-minute August 20, 2021 FRESH AIR interview with Tony Bennett by Terry Gros...worth every minute.

Bennett's pinpoint memory responding to Terry's questions reveals his philosophy of singing with specific examples. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2019. Some aspects of his memory was so hard wired that he accessed it with astonishing clarity.

On July 21, 2023, we lost a singer, a keeper of the flame, and a deeply rooted connection with The American Songbook. His responses to Terry's questions eloquently speak to his respect for the women and men who wrote and performed the songs he sang. His place is secure in the pantheon of American music. 

 

Tony Bennett: RIP to an Enduring Legend

July 23,2023

Tony Bennett.. Anthony Dominick Benedetto, has left the building. Part of my heart went with him. Heck, part of the hearts a few million others figuratively soared up and away with him. 

Bennett was an omnivore of good material. He had a sense of what made the song tick...and once he sang a song, it was hard to imagine any other version that satisfied as much as his.

Many of his songs were recognizable after the first phrase. And some not so much, like "My Reverie", "a 1938 popular song with lyrics by Larry Clinton and melody based on the 1890 piano piece Rêverie by the French composer Claude Debussy."

He was drinking from the trough of history to satisfy his need  to learn, grow, and create anew. His inquisitive nature needed to be nourished by blowing on the embers of a song created in a composition over 100 years old.  Who does that these days?

Bennett was not only interesting but interested....in people, history, contemporary events and the arts. He walked the walk and sang the talk. He was genuine and generous, never strayed far from his ethnic roots. He took up painting late in life. And was well regarded. The art shows he participated in weren't because he was already famous. It was because he was a good artist.

I cried when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in 2019. I cheered when, with specific memories undisturbed by the disease, he performed a show with his friend Lady Gaga.

His definitive rendition of  "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" was in heavy rotation in my early romantic life. An old adage says "when we go somewhere that changes us, we leave it with the parts of us that it was able to change, grow, and adapt."  Tony has left us.

I'm not singing "I Left My Heart In San Francisco."  I'm singing "Tony left a little part of his heart in Tamburello."

 

Song and Surprise Of The Day: "Don't Be Cruel," More A Reinvention Than A Cover

Whooeeeee.... never thought someone could, or would, take this song by you know who, turn it upside down, let the sound of the coins falling from its trousers produce a song track, utterly its own, groove heavy, emotionally convincing, reeking of the 1950s, everything going on... voice,  gospel phrasing undertones, backup singers and tight band that makes every note count.  And the bass line running through like a freight train with a metronome in the firebox. I don't remember dancing to the original but this version begs you push the chairs back in the kitchen.. Oh my, 4 minutes and 17 seconds of retro listening pleasure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-STFyfsdoVA

Let the song play through and wait for the cherry on top, the rock 'n rolly rockabilly, Billy Swan's "I Can Help".