Tony Bennett’s Heart Was in Jazz
During a seven-decade career, the vocalist, who died Friday, won 19 Grammy Awards and remained true to his interpretation of the American Songbook, bringing its music to new heights and finding new audiences through collaborations with artists like Lady Gaga. By Marc Myers July 21, 2023 2:53 pm ET Tony Bennett at the Palladium in London in 1976 Photo: David Redfern/Getty Images Tony Bennett, who died on Friday at age 96, never liked being called a pop singer. Instead, he considered himself a “jazz interpreter of the American Songbook.” His disdain for rock hampered his career at times, especially in the late 1960s and ’70s, when he hit bottom. But in 1986, at age 60, Mr. Bennett launched one of the most remarkable and enduring late-stage comebacks in music history. Throughout his seven-decade career, Mr. Bennett’s voice was the s
Tony Bennett at the Palladium in London in 1976
Photo: David Redfern/Getty Images
Tony Bennett, who died on Friday at age 96, never liked being called a pop singer. Instead, he considered himself a “jazz interpreter of the American Songbook.” His disdain for rock hampered his career at times, especially in the late 1960s and ’70s, when he hit bottom. But in 1986, at age 60, Mr. Bennett launched one of the most remarkable and enduring late-stage comebacks in music history.
Throughout his seven-decade career, Mr. Bennett’s voice was the sunny sound of operatic optimism. He released more than 100 albums and more than 80 singles, winning 19 Grammy Awards (17 of which came after 1990) and receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. From “Because of You,” his first No. 1 single, in 1951, to “Love for Sale,” his second album with Lady Gaga, in 2021, Mr. Bennett’s vocal approach typically built to a triumphant finale, when his power and improvisational skills united for a euphoric crescendo.
Mr. Bennett never wavered from his jazzy, conversational street-singer approach, even when he returned to Columbia in 1986 and released “The Art of Excellence.” A long string of albums for the label followed, and by the 2010s Mr. Bennett had become the oldest pre-rock star still working and a father figure to young listeners, thanks largely to his collaboration with Lady Gaga.
The pair released “Cheek to Cheek” in 2014, which won a Grammy and resulted in a TV special and worldwide tour. While the merger gave Lady Gaga old-school cachet and a legendary mentor, Mr. Bennett wound up with the better deal. Gaga’s doting and daughterly praise on and off stage elevated him again to superstardom.
When I interviewed Mr. Bennett for the Journal in 2014, I asked if he worried that the collaboration might be perceived as selling out. “My dream is to bring jazz out so it won’t be forgotten,” he replied. For Mr. Bennett, who had already experienced international stardom, exposing millions of young listeners to swing and jazz was more satisfying. He had scores to settle.
Born in 1926, Mr. Bennett grew up during the Depression in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., and sang and painted at home. After his father died when he was 10, his extended family encouraged his artwork. An art teacher suggested he continue to sing, just in case.
His singing career began in New York clubs in the late 1940s following his years in the Army during World War II. Back in New York, he called himself Joe Bari and frequented jazz-musician hangouts.
In 1949, Pearl Bailey asked Mr. Bennett to open for her at a Greenwich Village club and urged Bob Hope to come see him. Hope took Mr. Bennett on the road, shortening his family name from Benedetto to Bennett. In 1950, Mr. Bennett signed with Columbia Records.
During the 1950s, he recorded a couple of jazz-flavored albums, notably “Cloud 7,” with guitarist Chuck Wayne, and “The Beat of My Heart,” with pianist Ralph Sharon
and leading jazz percussionists. In 1962, Mr. Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” climbed to No. 5 on the Billboard album chart, and the title tune became his signature song. Two albums that Mr. Bennett liked better followed—“I Wanna Be Around” (1963) and “The Movie Song Album” (1966).But the arrival of the Beatles in 1964 and a new generation of rock singer-songwriters rendered the American Songbook stale. After the rock-minded Clive Davis took over at Columbia in 1967, Mr. Bennett was increasingly pressured to record contemporary pop fare. “Some of the songs made me physically ill,” Mr. Bennett said in his autobiography.
After Mr. Bennett left Columbia in a huff in 1972, the albums he subsequently recorded for smaller labels failed to chart. During this period, Mr. Bennett recorded two albums that he told me were the finest of his career—duet recordings with jazz pianist Bill Evans.
In the late ’70s, Mr. Bennett went into a tailspin. He went on cocaine benders, scrambled for jobs and divorced twice. By 1979, Mr. Bennett was on the brink of bankruptcy. Emotionally shredded, he asked his sons, Danny and Dae, for help. They settled his debts and began rebuilding his career.
Many of his albums that followed peaked high on the Billboard 200 chart, while “Duets II” and “Cheek to Cheek” reached No. 1. He also recorded albums with jazz artists such as Phil Woods, Wynton Marsalis and Bill Charlap. In 2001, Mr. Bennett, with his wife, Susan, founded the
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens, N.Y., a high school where students audition for admission.“Duets II” was a turning point. It included an emotional “Body and Soul” with Amy Winehouse, who died soon after recording it. Mr. Bennett and Lady Gaga, who also appeared on the album, began to discuss recording an album of songbook standards together once she was freed up.
Interviewing Mr. Bennett for the Journal at his art studio in 2018, I asked him why jazz was such a personal obsession. “It keeps me honest,” he said softly. “It’s a spontaneous thing. You have to sing intuitively and hope that it’s right, at that moment. Young people like it. They just need to know they have a choice.”
—Mr. Myers is the author of “Why Jazz Happened” and “Anatomy of 55 More Songs” (Grove Press).
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