Last of the great crooners, RIP
RIPTony Bennett, who has died aged 96, sang with everyone from Pearl Bailey to Lady Gaga (pictured).
He had been living with Alzheimers since 2016.
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Unfortunately his most famous song needs to be updated to “I left my poop in San Francisco”. Times have changed!
Such American crudeness! Just go back into your box.
I was fortunate to work with him in my tenures with the St. Louis Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra. He was a huge talent and very gentle person. He surrounded himself with the best talent in folks like Ralph Sharon, Steve Swallow and many others. At heart, I think he was a jazzer !
His legacy is set forever.
I love his album with Bill Evans.
They actually recorded 2 albums together.
I found him largely anodyne but his was undoubtedly a life well lived.
David: How lucky you were to work with him! He was also a World War II veteran and saw things no man should ever have to see, and that at the tender age of 18 or 19. The WWII veterans are practically all gone now: my parents’ generation. Rest in peace, the great Tony Bennet.
This is probably his greatest performance and accompanied by the sublime Cornet playing of Bobby Hackett https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLuFKaXEI1Y
I would argue that this is his best recording with the great Bobby Hackett:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J61bjXhh0iY
Thanks for sharing.
How can one put into words this man’s achievement? What an enormous musical legacy he leaves.
For a bit of fun, look for the episode of The Doris Day Show, from 1970, where he plays himself. And of course duets with Day in (what else?) “I left my heart in San Francisco.”
RIP to one of the greatest.
First telecast on 23 November 1970:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYHzJ5lwYtY
and that’s Kaye Ballard as the Italian mamma.
Just finished listening to the classic two record set, “Live at Carnegie Hall,” recorded in 1962. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Wanna bet??!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJKjn2OtyH0
The WSJ has a very nice obituary but it’s behind a paywall. Here’s an excerpt:
“In the same profile, Bennett lamented the pressures of the “money boys, the Broadway wiseguys” and “this obsolescence thing in America, where cars are made to break down and songs written to last two weeks.”
“Good songs last forever, and I’ve come to learn that there’s a whole group out there in the audience who’s studying that with me. There’s a greatness in an audience when it gets perfectly still. It becomes a beautiful tribal contact, a delicate, poetic thing,” Bennett said. “A great song does that.”
That’s just beautiful.
Not a crooner, really. For a very long time, he would do at least one number without the microphone, just to show how it is really done. RIP
Exactly. “Crooning” is singing very quietly (as in a lullaby to a child). He was a singer plain and simple, as was Crosby and all the other so-called “crooners.”
His style has fallen from favour. Its place has been taken by certain singers trying their hand at opera – a poor substitute.
Sad, but please don’t call him a crooner! Although he recorded some pop material to make money and/or because his label required it, he was essentially a jazz singer, as David Hyslop pointed out. Just check out his duets with Bill Evans, all of which are on YouTube.
He was certainly not a crooner! He had a big voice and he knew how to use it.
Tony was truly the LAST OF.THE GREATS of his generation! I still listen with reverence to his two albums of duets with other incredible singers. For years, Tony was an annual summer attraction at the Melody Tent on Cape Cod — his singing always blew the place apart; I’ll never forget that! Tony had a distinctive voice that could only have been crafted in heaven…now it’s back where it belongs! Tony finally beat altzimers by being unforgettable! RIP.
I enjoyed his early years, but I found his duets somehow more poignant – you could feel the threads fraying, but it made the effort all the more touching and sincere. What a performer! RIP
He was not only an outstanding singer, but reportedly an even better person. I’m aware that he did fundraising gigs for non-profits and either waived his usual fees or charged next to nothing. And it wasn’t because he had an open night on his schedule.
By all accounts, you are right: he was a wonderful person.
Wonderful clip of him and Lady Gaga so many years down the line with that same, distinctive sound to his voice. Crooning or now, he, and Bing Crosby, and Perry Como, and Andy Williams, and many more all had their individual own sound, like their music or not. You could tell all apart as soon as they were on the radio. So many generic voices today, trained to order. May he rest in peace.
Oxford Languages Dictionary: “a singer, typically a male one, who sings sentimental songs in a soft, low voice.”
Wiki: “Crooner is a term used to describe primarily male singers who performed using a smooth style made possible by better microphones which picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to access a more dynamic range and perform in a more intimate manner.”
I doubt that these definitions mean that one who can sing in such a style is capable of nothing else.
I’ve noticed no one who is a crooner wants to be identified as a crooner.