Tony Bennett – 3 August 1926 - 21 July 2023

It’s unlikely that those who heard Anthony Dominick Benedetto singing with military bands during his service in World War II realised they were hearing a star in the making. But after studying singing postwar, under the aegis of the American Theater Wing, a charity that helped war veterans involved in the arts, Bennett worked professionally around New York. Using the stage name Joe Bari, he was heard by Bob Hope, who spotted his potential, urged him to change his name to Tony Bennett, and paved the way for a contract with Columbia.

From the mid-50s, his regular accompanist was British-born Ralph Sharon, who described the singer’s early records as ‘Four bars strings, vocal, eight bars band, back to the bridge – Roger, over and out.’ On the road with his backing trio, Sharon recalled scaled down versions of that approach, on gigs in Florida, Atlantic City and New York State. Yet in reaction, Bennett planned an album featuring voice and drums. He coaxed Chico Hamilton, Jo Jones, Art Blakey and Candido to join him in the studio for sessions that became The Beat of My Heart. ‘All I can say, is this is IT!’ said Bennett, during the playbacks.

Then in late 1958, he temporarily replaced Joe Williams as the singer with the Basie band, for a week in Washington D.C., followed by a month in Philadelphia at the Latin Casino. ‘I was the first white singer to sing with a Black band,’ he told me, when I was making a documentary about the Basie band. ‘It was a shock. It wasn’t supposed to happen.’ Columbia recorded the gigs, but Columbia rejected them because they were in mono, and confected a studio version with dubbed applause. In a label swap, Roulette (Basie’s label) made a sister set of recordings. Basie Sings, Bennett Swings, put him on the map as a singer, the equal of Sinatra and Crosby.

Tony Bennett with his Quartet at the Royal Festival Hall, London - Photo by Roger Thomas

As Bennett’s career went on, Tommy Flanagan, John Bunch and Lou Levy accompanied him, but his pianist of choice remained Sharon. However, the most exceptional piano / voice collaboration of his career remains the two duo albums he made with Bill Evans in 1977. He also liked performing alongside stars of pop and rock, which he started doing in the 1990s, although he was still touring the world with his small backing group led by Sharon. I was privileged to be playing in a group that opened for them in the late 80s at a festival in Leeds Castle in Kent, and he was the most convivial, friendly, and supportive backstage companion. No hint of ‘big timing’, just a genuine interest in the music and delightful affability.

As the generation of singers with whom he had forged his career retired or passed away, Bennett continued to tour and perform. Singing in the Royal Albert Hall, he eschewed the PA and sang acoustically, his voice filling that august space to perfection. But he also allied with a new generation of singers he admired, his early favourite being Diana Krall. His son Danny (also CEO of Verve at the time) described the recorded results as ‘an honour and privilege beyond my wildest dreams’. But most recently, until his retirement late last year, his recording and concert partner was Lady Gaga. Listen to their version of ‘I Get a Kick Out of You’ and hear consummate artistry come full circle.