Monday, June 7, 2010

Why I Love Tony Bennett

It's surprisingly difficult to find a truly great Tony Bennett clip on You Tube. I couldn't find his great version of Harold Arlen's A Sleeping Bee at all, and even an early I Left My Heart In San Francisco clip is marred by the sad past- her- prime appearance of Judy Garland.

I did, however, find two gems: Tony's duet with Stevie Wonder on Wonder's For Once In My Life, in which Stevie plays some incredible chromatic harmonica. If playing harmonica was all he did, Stevie would still be a genius.

Best of all, though, is this audio- only version of the great Maxwell Anderson/ Kurt Weill composition, Lost in the Stars. Tony is backed up by Count Basie's band. It's just perfect.

In the piece about Sinatra I wondered about the quality of Frank's heart. No need for that with Tony Bennett- he is all beautiful heart and soul, a zen master, who said on a documentary I watched, "All I ever wanted was to sing and paint."

Me too, Tony, me too.



1 comment:

SueWho said...

Stevie and Tony - what a pair!