The Ultimate Tony Bennett

Glenn Kenny recommended the Rodgers & Hart album above everything else (actually two albums, but it was eventually combined into one in the digital age). Totally forgot about it and it's pretty great - like the Evans albums, it was done in the '70s when he was more or less an independent recording artist and free from Columbia's misbegotten direction.

I can't overstate how crazy it is to consider how long he was around. As mentioned upthread, the guy fought Nazis and liberated concentrated camps, then decades later marched in Selma and attended MLK's most famous speech, but even his career is astonishing for its longevity. His second #1 hit was a Hank Williams cover...when Hank was STILL alive and at the top of his game. Pair that with his last album, also a chart-topper, which was a duet with Lady Gaga.

i love the way his voice sounds in his early hits, you can hear the italian, like early Dino

The indelible imprint of this man.
How can we possibly express our gratitude?
Only perhaps by understanding the power of a good song, and the generosity of a great singer.
I cherish you as my friend.
And as my teacher.
Swift rebirth Tony. ❤️🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/HQUQA2sSFd

— k.d. lang (@kdlang) July 21, 2023

Absolutely amazing Steve Roach story about him:

In grateful memory of an artist who lived beyond boundaries: My day with Tony Bennett.
We have lost another monumental Icon. While this might seem out of left field for some, here at my page, life is rich and the paths we travel are forever full surprises when we follow our bliss. I have to share this story that lives deep in my heart.
In 1982, I was in San Francisco for a few days setting up the music environment I was commissioned for as part of an art installation - The Grounding Place. (That music is available on the release Emotions Revealed.) While exploring the city in the early afternoon with my girlfriend at the time, Anthea Izzart, we found ourselves at the historic Fairmont Hotel on Knob Hill. Not far from Grace Cathedral where I would perform many years later.
Anthea immediately saw the poster board in the lobby presenting Tonys' singing engagement. This was the hotel where he first sang “I left my heart in San Francisco” in 1962.
Then she said in her whimsical songbird British accent, “I know him and his family. I worked for them.” The next thing I knew she was on the front desk phone, and he excitedly invited us up to the top floor of the hotel which was all his. Quite surreal as he opened the door. He was alone that day in the sprawling environment of room after room: classic old world architecture, massive library, dining room for 20 people, and post card views of the beautiful (fogless that day) San Francisco bay... of course!
Tony was known for his paintings, and right there looking out onto the bay in his living room was an easel with an in progress painting of the San Francisco Bay he was working on as we arrived. He quickly called down for a bottle of wine and from that point forward some catching up occurred with Anthea. Eventually we moved to music. I was sharing my passion for the emerging electronic music I was immersed in, the installation I was in town for. and with out missing a beat, Tony was talking about the music of German minimalist composer Peter Michael Hamel he had heard on John Diliberto's Totally Wired radio show. From there we were off into the world of the avant garde and beyond. I can still feel his gentle, fully engaged and eclectic sense of hunger for the ocean of music beyond boundaries we were swimming in at the point. After few hours, and just before leaving, I presented Tony with a just released cassette copy of my first release NOW. He was among the very first few to receive a copy. As we left ,I glanced back and Tony was back to work at the easel. He bid us farewell as he was placing brush to canvas.
Reflecting back 41 years later, the track from the NOW release I gave him that day titled “The Ritual Continues” seems fitting on a few levels - I still feel his welcoming sense. I still feel the common ground as artists he expressed as he embraced us with the sense of dedication to one’s life work. The ritual continues indeed.. paint in eternal peace Tony!

My kid will be a freshman at Frank Sinatra this fall #gratitude

A lot of outlets have been telling the story of Tony Bennett marching with MLK.

But have you ever heard the story about how “wokeness,” DEI, Jesus, an actual anti-racist, 2 church choirs & 1 of the greatest dance moves of all time got Tony Bennett into show biz?

A thread

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 22, 2023

Great thread, though it botches one detail - Bennett's stage name at that point was Joe Bari:

"When Bob Hope came down to take in Ms. Bailey’s act, he liked Joe Bari so much that he asked him to open for him at the Paramount Theater. Hope had a condition, however: He didn’t like the name Joe Bari, and insisted it be changed. Dismissing the name Anthony Benedetto as too long to fit on a marquee, Hope christened the young singer Tony Bennett." (Bruce Weber for the NY Times)

Okay, this bit from his son/manager Danny about Mitch Miller from a Variety piece is great:

Mitch called me up two months before he died, and he was like, “Oh my God, jazz, that’s all he wanted to talk about. Jazz, jazz, jazz. I told him not to sing jazz, and jazz is a thing that saved his career. You gotta tell Tony — I was wrong.” And I was like, wow, OK. okay. I was meeting with Tony a couple days later, and I said, “Hey, by the way, Mitch Miller called and he wanted me to tell you….” Our meetings often consisted of him painting while I’m talking… I said, “Mitch wanted me to tell you that he was wrong.” And Tony didn’t even look at me. He just said, “Tell me something new.”