Tony Bennett Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Should Singers Pack It In?

Six Iconic Singers Who Should Call It a Day

Periodically, I see articles asking whether specific singers should pack it in, whether their vocal cords are too shot to keep performing in public. I’ve long been of the school that the market should decide whether the performer should hang it up.

It’s often difficult for players in many endeavors to know when to hang up the cleats. Willie Mays, the best baseball player in my lifetime, cringed as he noted he batted only .211 in 1973, his final season. (It’s not very good.)

I recall that Mick Jagger didn’t think he’d still be singing in his fifties. Yet, he’s still at it in his eighties, even though he was on more than one of those lists of “he should stop” more than a decade ago.

When Pete Seeger would perform in his later years, his voice was largely shot, but he could still play the banjo and tell stories; Pete was being inspirational Pete, whom I saw dozens of times and met once.

The 85-year-old Martha Reeves blamed her backup singers for her national anthem performance.

I saw a PBS event, America Made In Virginia: 250 Years Together on July 4. One of the performers was Judy Collins, whose voice I adore; I saw her live in 1980. In the presentation, she was a bit shaky early on, but she got better over time. Still, the 87-year-old is on her retirement tour

Several people had newsworthy physical ailments that have sidelined them for a time recently, such as Frankie Valli, Rod Stewart, and Barry Manilow.

Call it a day?

Rand Bishop’s piece on Medium recommends Six Iconic Singers Who Should Call It a Day and Pack It In. “The human voice is a machine. And machines break down.”

He praised the incomparable Tony Bennett, who still could produce at 95. I watched his special that featured Lady Gaga. He might not have remembered the performance the next day, but he delivered musically when it mattered.

Conversely, Stevie Nicks, Jon Bon Jovi, and Ann Wilson make the list of should-be retirees. I have no specific info on them. Neil Diamond is noted, but the very few times he’s performed in recent years, his fans don’t mind carrying the load.

This leaves two Pauls. Bishop notes, correctly, “McCartney’s guest appearance on a recent Saturday Night Live revealed severely compromised vocal chops.” He has put together a decent album recently, however. One commenter said that he hasn’t been any good in 30 years, which is nonsense. The show I saw in 2014 was great!

There goes Rhymin’ Simon

As for Simon, he was quite open about his hearing loss in this November 2024 interview. He’s been able to perform by changing mic placement and creating different arrangements for some songs. I watched a show from his A Quiet Celebration tour online, and it sounded much like his Stanford show in early June.

“Simon and company closed the second set with the always-fun ‘Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard,’ with [Edie] Brickell reappearing to handle the famed whistle solo that her husband originally did on the 1972 studio recording. The whole crew then returned for a four-song encore — highlighted by the gorgeous take on Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” to close — before taking their bows in front of the highly appreciative audience.

“Yet, Simon still had one more in him and remained on the stage after the other musicians departed. What came next was the moment that everyone in attendance will likely remember for years to come as he glided into a precious, humbling and completely raw solo take on Simon and Garfunkel’s classic ‘The Sound of Silence.’

“It was one of those perfect concert moments, as Simon turned to the only song that could really bring this Quiet Celebration to a close in such a fitting and heartfelt manner.”

A buddy saw one of the two nights he was at Tanglewood in late June. This review was of the other night but is just as complimentary as my pal reported. Paul Simon needed a workaround and found it. Bravo for him; let him keep plucking away.

Tony Bennett Day

Anthony Benedetto

It’s Tony Bennett Day!

I’ve often been a sucker for a comeback story. Tony Bennett’s is a great one. Instead of changing with the times – his attempts to do so were disastrous – he returned to being who he’d always been, and the times changed with HIM.

He was born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in 1926 in Queens, New York, but was singing as Joe Bari when Bob Hope made a better suggestion.

Tony was one of those crooners I remember seeing on the variety shows hosted by Perry Como, Judy Garland, Red Skelton, Danny Kaye, Andy Williams, and Dean Martin. Of course, he was on Ed Sullivan, where he appeared 18 times between 1952 and 1971.

While he didn’t entirely fade away, he became less relevant to the cultural conversation for a time.

Rebirth

As Wikipedia noted, his son Danny was pivotal in the change: “His father… had tremendous musical talent, but had trouble sustaining a career from it and had little financial sense. Danny signed on as his father’s manager.

“Danny got his father’s expenses under control, moved him back to New York City, and began booking him in colleges and small theaters to get him away from a ‘Vegas’ image. The singer had also reunited with Ralph Sharon as his pianist and musical director (and would remain with him until Sharon’s retirement in 2002).

“By 1986, Tony Bennett was re-signed to Columbia Records, this time with creative control, and released The Art of Excellence. This became his first album to reach the charts since 1972.

“Danny began regularly to book his father on Late Night with David Letterman… This was subsequently followed by appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Sesame Street, The Simpsons, Muppets Tonight, and various MTV programs.” I specifically remember Capital City on the Simpsons; the song is on my Simpsons’ Songs in the Key of Springfield CD.

In the collection

I have several Tony Bennett albums, all but one from 1993 or later when the video of Steppin’ Out With My Baby from the album Steppin’ Out was in heavy rotation on MTV.

Then Tony had an MTV Unplugged special, which I watched. Elvis Costello and k.d. lang showed up for one song each. I own his two Duets albums with various collaborators and Tony and lang, Diana Krall, and Lady Gaga on whole albums.

Between 1963 and 1966, he was nominated for eight Grammys, winning two for I Left My Heart in San Francisco. From 1991 to 2022, he was nominated 33 times for a Grammy, receiving 17, plus a Lifetime Achievement Award. Many were songs or albums with artists decades younger than he, including Stevie Wonder and the late Amy Winehouse. He became the king of duets.

I had the pleasure of seeing Tony Bennett at Tanglewood, I believe, in the late 1990s. His opening act was Krall, and they performed songs together as well. Ralph Sharon was the pianist/musical director.

I was reading the 60 Minutes interview about Tony preparing for two concerts at Radio City Music Hall with Gaga. He was aided by his wife, Susan, while living with Alzheimer’s disease. The shows, which he did not remember only days later, were tremendous. It was recently rebroadcast on CBS.

American Songwriter called these the Top 10 10 Bennett songs. Check out his paintings.

Citations

Bennett was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame and received the United Nations “Citizen of the World” award.

The US Senate recently passed a resolution declaring August 3 as Tony Bennett Day. Senate Majority Chuck Schumer “cited Bennett’s service in World War II, as well as his decision to march with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama in 1965, ‘at a time when the agents of most entertainers discouraged them from marching in these kinds of things because they might lose some fans. But Tony didn’t care; he believed in equality.’” The House passed a similar measure.

Here is a life in pictures from The Guardian. Today would have been Tony Bennett’s 97th birthday. He was the gold standard for singers.

Watching the Oscars and the Grammys

movies and music

Because of scheduling dictated in part by COVID, the Oscars and the Grammys were on successive weekends. I watched them both in 30-minute chunks while riding the stationary bicycle. So not in real time; I’m too busy for that.

There was a point in the mid-nineties when I would listen to the radio at 8:37 a.m./5:37 a.m. Pacific Time, to hear the announcement of the Oscar nominations in the major categories. I’d then scribble them down frantically and quite illegibly. Of course, in a few years, I discovered I could find them on the Internet by 9 a.m. But it was exhilarating at the time.

Last century, I usually DID watch the Oscars live to the very end, or until I got too tired. I would record the program on my DVD or DVR, get up in the morning, and view it, making sure not to see/hear the news. If I don’t know the outcome, it’s new to me!

After I got to The Slap, about which everyone has an opinion, the show rolled on until Will Smith’s acceptance speech for Best Actor. And it took me two days to actually watch it. To my surprise, I was REALLY angry about this rambling half-apology – no playing-off music there.

Yay, CODA, 3 for 3!

Music

I’ve decided to watch the Grammys the last two years, in part as an archeological dig. Hey, I’ve at least I’ve HEARD OF the nominees for Record, Album, and Song of the Year. OK, I don’t know Daniel Caesar or Giveon, who were featured on Justin Bieber’s track Peaches, the live performance of which was the most bleeped of the show.

I know who Anderson Paak is because he appeared as a performer on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah in December 2018; yes, I looked it up. He’s now part of Silk Sonic with Bruno Mars. Mars’ song with Mick Ronson, Uptown Funk, was so ubiquitous in 2015 that even I had heard it quite often.

H.E.R. I know because she was on that Grammy tribute to Prince in 2020, and she’s a fine guitarist.

I actually own THREE of the Album of the Year nominees. The winner, We Are, is the second album by Jon Batiste that I own. The TV special of Tony Bennett’s 95th birthday concert with lady Gaga I found touching, so I got it . The other – don’t laugh – is Sour by Olivia Rodrigo, which I pretty much blame on my daughter playing it incessantly.

For Best New Artist, Olivia Rodrigo was the winner. I didn’t know Arooj Aftab, Jimmie Allen, Baby Keem, Arlo Parks, or Saweetie. FINNEAS is Billie Eilish’s brother and sometimes collaborator. Hasn’t Glass Animals been around for half a decade or more?

As for Japanese Breakfast, I actually heard of the book Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner on The Daily Show and CBS Sunday Morning. Oh, she has a band too?

Every year, Arthur links to these end-of-year video compilations. I asked him, which one is The Kid LAROI? So he wrote a post about him.

There are other artists I did recognize in some categories, such as The Black Pumas (saw on Sam Bee’s show). But most of the nominees I knew were relative dinosaurs like Foo Fighters and Paul McCartney.

Etc.

My, I HATED both of In Memorium segments because I couldn’t always read the names, as the cameras panned out to show the performers. It was particularly egregious at the Oscars. I liked the Sondheim medley at the Grammys, though.

WRGB, Channel 6 in Schenectady, the CBS affiliate, inserted a package of local commercials during the Grammy broadcast. Carrie Underwood was already singing. This is not the first time WRGB has muffed things like this.

I find myself more drawn to music than the movies these days. In no small part, it’s because movies, when I see them on TV or a computer, don’t seem… theatrical.

By contrast, what Batiste said in his acceptance speech is true. “It’s like a song or an album is made and it’s almost like it has a radar to find the person when they need it the most.”

I got that vibe as the Brothers Osborne closed out the Grammys with Dead Man’s Curve, as members of the audience, regardless of their musical genre were clearly grooving to the tune.

Freedom – Jon Batiste
Leave The Door Open – Silk Sonic
I Get A Kick Out Of You – Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga

I may try this again next year.

1951 music: Giants win the pennant

two by Tony Bennett

In 1951, the New York Yankees won the third of five World Series in a row, why so many people hated the Bronx Bombers.

Yet the thing I remember most from that baseball season, which even predates me being born, was Bobby Thompson’s home run, which meant that New York “Giants win the pennant!” I still hear the call in my mind’s ear. The Giants were in second place in the National League, 13 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers. But the teams ended up tied at the end of the regular season, requiring a three-game playoff.

As for the music of 1951, I’m quite familiar with most of these songs and performers. These songs all hit #1.

Songs

Cry – Johnnie Ray and The Four Lads, eleven weeks at #1, gold record (Okeh). I know Johnnie Ray mostly from the reference in Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners. “Poor old Johnnie Ray. Sounded sad upon the radio. Moved a million hearts in mono.”

Because of You – Tony Bennett, ten weeks at #1, gold record (Columbia). Despite his Alzheimer’s, he has a new album with Lady Gaga.

How High the Moon – Les Paul and Mary Ford, nine weeks at #1, gold record (Capitol). What to consider when buying a Les Paul guitar.

(It’s No) Sin – Eddy Howard, eight weeks at #1, gold record (Mercury). I was unfamiliar with this bandleader and vocalist.
If – Perry Como, eight weeks at #1 (RCA Victor). Yes, I did watch his variety show for a time.
Come On-a My House – Rosemary Clooney, eight weeks at #1, gold record (Columbia). Much more than George’s aunt.

Cold, Cold Heart – Tony Bennett, six weeks at #1, gold record (Columbia). Yes, the Hank Williams song.

Too Young – Nat “King” Cole, five weeks at #1, gold record (Capitol). When I was a kid playing Beatles albums, the inner sleeve always featured several albums by Nat Cole. So I’ve long known that he was on the same label as the Beach Boys and Peter and Gordon, as well as Nancy Wilson and Al Martino.

Be My Love – Mario Lanza, gold record (RCA Victor). Possibly THE most familiar song for me on this list, on the radio a lot when I was a little kid. But I experienced a mondegreen re the last word in the first line. I thought it was “end this yearney”, with him mispronouncing “journey.” But the last word is actually “yearning.”