Tony Bennett: Duets II - The Great Performances Blu-ray Review
Tony Sings the Great Hits of Yesterday!
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, March 8, 2012
Geek alert: I grew up loving the music of Percy Faith. That name may not mean much to younger readers, but Percy
was one of the all time most successful arrangers in the post-World War II era and he remains to this day the only
artist who has charted Number 1 singles in both the "pop vocalist" era ("The Song from
Moulin Rouge") and the
rock era ("Theme from
A Summer Place"), a record that seems unlikely to be shattered, given the vagaries of
time and the dearth of artists still alive that span both timeframes. Faith had a remarkable run of top selling singles
and albums through the fifties and sixties, and he is credited not only with helping to invent and codify the "easy
listening" genre, but also for being one of the first to treat rock hits of the day to high gloss orchestral arrangements,
with
such top selling albums as
Themes for Young Lovers and several follow-ups. Film lovers may recognize Percy's
name from his Oscar nominated score adaptation for the Doris Day biopic
Love Me or Leave Me, as well as
Percy's underrated dramatic scores for such films as
The Third Day and the lamentable Stephen Boyd-Elke
Sommer opus
The Oscar. One of the co-stars of
The Oscar was a top selling vocalist whose career Faith
had shepherded for years in his guise as chief arranger for A&R Director Mitch Miller at Columbia Records—one Tony
Bennett.
Faith had a hand in innumerable vocalists reaching the Top 10 throughout the fifties and even a bit into the sixties,
including everyone from Doris Day herself to Rosemary Clooney to Guy Mitchell (Faith co-wrote Guy's number 1 hit "My
Heart Cries for You") to, yes, Tony Bennett. Bennett was "just another" vocalist in the rather large Columbia stable in
the early fifties, churning out a number of top selling singles (often with Faith arrangements) like "Because of You" and
"Rags to Riches". Bennett's entrance into the permanent public lexicon didn't happen until 1962, and it was completely
by happenstance. This was in the day of the "cover tune," pop songs that were shopped to any number of artists
simultaneously, many of whom would come out with their own versions, hoping to strike gold. The Broadway musical
All American had opened, with songs by
Bye Bye Birdie's Charles Strouse and Lee Adams (and a book by
Mel Brooks), and its score (recorded on a Columbia Original Cast Album) contained the gorgeous ballad "Once Upon a
Time," which Bennett recorded and fully expected to be his next hit. The B-side on the 45 was a tune no one had ever
heard of, but which attracted the attention of a DJ working at a station in the "City by the Bay," a DJ who was
attracted to the song's title: "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." The song quickly attracted attention in San Francisco
and then caught on like wildfire across the nation, becoming Bennett's signature tune.
Unfortunately, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" was in some ways the high water mark of Bennett's pop career, for
within
just a few months of its release, the British Invasion helped cement the sounds of rock as the dominant force in Top 40
radio, and easy listening artists like Bennett found themselves pushed to the relative sidelines. Bennett's "acting"
appearance in
The Oscar probably didn't help much, but for Bennett fans who may not be aware of it, it's worth
checking out, plus Tony sings the absolutely gorgeous Faith ballad "Maybe September" on the soundtrack, a hauntingly
beautiful song that is a sterling example of Bennett's impeccable timbre and especially of his unbelievable breath
control.
Though Tony did continue to chart, at least on the Adult Contemporary charts, he, like so many other pop vocalists who
had been major forces in the fifties, found himself deemed irrelevant, for better or worse.
Bennett was nothing if not a smart businessman, though, something that probably saved his career, albeit after a
period of some turmoil.
When Columbia was intent on making him "relevant" by singing more rock oriented material (including for the much
lambasted album
Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today!), Bennett didn't just resist, he left his long
corporate home and set out rebranding himself as a jazz vocalist, releasing albums with icons like the legendary pianist
Bill Evans. (Truth be
told, Bennett had always had a jazz edge, something highlighted by his long and fruitful association with Ralph Sharon).
Bennett didn't
meet with much commercial success, though, and his life spiraled out of control, with divorce and drug addiction in the
troublesome wake.
Bennett's son Danny came to his aid and began booking his father on shows with a younger leaning demographic, and
Bennett's sales
became the strongest since his fifties and early sixties heyday. He's continued to reach out to audiences who might not
otherwise be prone
to checking him out with his
Duets albums. His first
Duets outing was made when he was at the
venerable age of 80, and it
became an immense hit. Now five years later, Bennett teams with an amazing variety of artists who help him celebrate
his 85th birthday. If
it's true his voice isn't
quite what it once was (though it's still an amazing instrument considering its age), his
song choices are still
superb and his artistry here is palpable.
This release is something of a scrapbook documenting the live recording sessions. Each of the artists gives a brief
reminiscence or anecdote
about what Bennett means to them as artists, and then we get footage of what appears to be the actual recording
sessions (for the most
part, anyway). All of the disparate artists selected by Tony and producer Phil Ramone for this second
Duets
album seem to realize
the honor they've been handed to collaborate with such a legend, and they all sound fantastic. This was sadly Amy
Winehouse's last
session, and while she seems clear eyed and clear headed, vocally she almost seems to be channeling Lady Day
herself, Billie Holiday.
Considering their shared proclivities for substance abuse and the ravages that abuse visited on both of them, perhaps
it's a more than apt
comparison.
The songs included on this disc are:
Don't Get Around Much Anymore with Michael Bublé
Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me) with Queen Latifah
Stranger in Paradise with Andrea Bocelli
Watch What Happens with Natalie Cole
Body and Soul with Amy Winehouse
It Had to Be You with Carrie Underwood
Blue Velvet with k.d. lang
Speak Low with Norah Jones
On the Sunny Side of the Street with Willie Nelson
The Way You Look Tonight with Faith Hill
Yesterday I Heard the Rain with Alejandro Sanz
The Girl I Love with Sheryl Crow
This Is All I Ask with Josh Groban
The Lady Is a Tramp with Lady Gaga
One For My Baby (And One More for the Road) with John Mayer
How Do You Keep the Music Playing with Aretha Franklin
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