"Fame comes and goes. Longevity's thing to aim for."

July 21, 2023 1:10 PM

The Legendary singer Tony Bennett has died.
posted by clavdivs (70 comments total)

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posted by Silvery Fish at 1:11 PM on July 21, 2023

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posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 1:24 PM on July 21, 2023

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posted by Samuel Farrow at 1:26 PM on July 21, 2023

WaPo ran a wonderful story today about Bennett's experiences in WWII [gift link]. He was at the Battle of the Bulge, helped liberate a concentration camp, and was punished after being seen spending the day with a Black fellow soldier he knew from high school when they met in a German town in Nov 1945. All of that, Bennet said, informed his civil rights activism later:

On Thanksgiving Day, Bennett was in Mannheim when he bumped into his old friend Frank Smith. They had been in a quartet together at the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan in 1942 and were excited to see each other again. “I was thrilled to see a familiar face from back home after being surrounded by strangers for so many months,” Bennett remembered. “He took me with him to a holiday service at a Baptist church he’d found. We wanted to spend the whole day together — it just felt so good to be with a friend.”

Bennett invited Smith to join him for Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all the fixings for American servicemen. The pair got as far as the lobby of the building the Army was using as a mess hall when they were berated by an irate officer. In the segregated military of the day, the two men were not allowed to be seen with each other at a military function, never mind share a meal together.

“This officer took out a razor blade and cut my corporal stripes off my uniform right then and there,” Bennett wrote. “He spit on them and threw them on the floor, and said, ‘Get your ass out of here!’”

...“My life experiences, ranging from the Battle of the Bulge to marching with Martin Luther King, made me a life-long humanist and pacifist,” Bennett said in 2011, “and reinforced my belief that violence begets violence and that war is the lowest form of human behavior.”

If you want to hear his voice get a real workout in an intimate setting, the 2 records he did with pianist Bill Evans in the mid-70s are also wonderful.
posted by mediareport at 1:28 PM on July 21, 2023 [64 favorites]

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The last of the old school crooners is gone. He was a righteous dude.
posted by Kitteh at 1:31 PM on July 21, 2023 [13 favorites]

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posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 1:32 PM on July 21, 2023

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posted by Rash at 1:33 PM on July 21, 2023

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posted by Splunge at 1:35 PM on July 21, 2023

He was a "singer's singer" and Sinatra's favorite. He was a giant and survived over 50 years in this business, There will never be another like him. R.I.P.
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 1:36 PM on July 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

I am such a fan of his, and I am so very lucky to have gotten to see him live a few years ago.

His life has been a blessing to the world - his generosity, his humanity, and all the wonderful creative work he honed and shared with the world for all those years.

I will always love his voice. His painting is pretty wonderful, too: Central Park in the Smithsonian collection; his own Benedetto Arts (I love the Tuscany landscape).

What a wonderful person to have shared a planet with.

Thank you for posting this, clavdivs.
posted by kristi at 1:41 PM on July 21, 2023 [14 favorites]

Bennett was my favorite of that generation of singers. No surprise that he'd be a favorite of Sinatra's; they were both working the same cultural vein, and I think they contrasted with each other in an interesting way. I'd say that Sinatra probably came out slightly ahead of Bennett on purely technical grounds, but Bennett's delivery was warmer, and more natural sounding. Which to my way of thinking is more important in covering standards.
This is obviously not an especially important highlight of his career, but I always found his appearance on SCTV, appearing as a guest of Bob and Doug Mackenzie, an oddly touching moment.
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posted by Ipsifendus at 1:47 PM on July 21, 2023 [10 favorites]

The most unlikely of second acts, his career revival over the past 2-3 decades has been wonderful to watch. Who knew that several generations of young people would come to love him well beyond his initial popularity? One of my favorite things was see Tony Bennett appearing with MTV kids.

Such a voice, such a person. I'm glad to have been alive while he was here.

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posted by hippybear at 1:48 PM on July 21, 2023 [8 favorites]

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posted by kabong the wiser at 1:52 PM on July 21, 2023

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posted by riverlife at 1:59 PM on July 21, 2023

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posted by jim in austin at 2:06 PM on July 21, 2023

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posted by Windopaene at 2:12 PM on July 21, 2023

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posted by amelliferae at 2:13 PM on July 21, 2023

If you want to hear his voice get a real workout in an intimate setting, the 2 records he did with pianist Bill Evans in the mid-70s are also wonderful.

The Bennett/Evans version of "You Must Believe In Spring" gets me right in the feels.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 2:14 PM on July 21, 2023 [7 favorites]

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posted by MonsieurPEB at 2:14 PM on July 21, 2023

The last of the old school crooners is gone.

What kitteh said. He was the pinnacle epitome of crooner who lived a complex life over nine decades. I Left My Heart in San Francisco came out when I was in grade school. All the kids who loved to sing sang it all the time. It's the kind of song you burst into singing when crossing a bridge. So expansive.
posted by y2karl at 2:15 PM on July 21, 2023 [4 favorites]

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posted by /\/\/\/ at 2:28 PM on July 21, 2023

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posted by May Kasahara at 2:52 PM on July 21, 2023

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posted by gentlyepigrams at 3:05 PM on July 21, 2023

I saw him almost 17 years ago on my first trip to Vegas. He was amazing. It was a small room so very intimate setting. I remember being impressed by how great his voice was at the age he was then and he had another decade and a half to go.
posted by downtohisturtles at 3:07 PM on July 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

I always found Bennett's singing to be strong, earnest, OPEN... he was not holding back, he was committing.... You couldn't not be moved by his big crescendos, even if it's just a song on a jazz radio station playing in the background. I also appreciate how generous and "collaborative" he was with other musicians. And a redemption story - good beginnings, a rough patch that he gets through, and a long second act where he gave us so much good music. Thanks Tony.

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posted by Artful Codger at 3:08 PM on July 21, 2023 [10 favorites]

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posted by kitten kaboodle at 3:28 PM on July 21, 2023

Wrote this on his Alzheimer diagnosis thread. Bears repeating....

"....Bennett also practiced bel canto singing which is an opera influenced practice that kept his voice in shape. This showed in his range and his projection. I saw him one night in the Hollywood Bowl. We were sitting in the cheap seats. At some point he said, "This is for all of you in the back row!" He then sang in acapella the slowest and sweetest version of "Fly Me to the Moon"

Learning that this was his practice made a lot of sense to me. I had always seen him as an opera singer singing in a boxer's body. His phrasing is as good if not better than Sinatra's. I feel that he took more risks than Sinatra. His work with Gil Evans is outstanding. And he always seemed to really enjoy what he is doing.

Lastly, and I am surprised that more critics don't pick up on this. Sinatra came out of a big band era. Bennett came out of a post-war bebop era. Sinatra was a microphone. Bennett was an instrument. Bennett could sing in intimate settings with small groups. Besides a singer he was also an instrument. Sinatra flamed early and mostly lost his relevance because he couldn't adapt to small settings. He became as anachronistic and pallid as the arrangements were behind him.

It says a lot about Bennett and the artistic choices he made. And he was incredibly generous

Bennett is among the best, if not the best, performer I've seen so far. I heard some say that there always seems to be a smile in his voice.

Molte bene', brother! Thanks for being a bright light!
posted by goalyeehah at 3:30 PM on July 21, 2023 [21 favorites]

I’m heartbroken, and don’t know where to begin with what he means to me. He’s my close, personal friend.
posted by Capt. Renault at 3:36 PM on July 21, 2023 [16 favorites]

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posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 3:37 PM on July 21, 2023

"Among his numerous accomplishments as a painter, Bennett has no less than three works in the Smithsonian collection, and created a commissioned artwork commemorating the United Nations’ 50th anniversary in 2001."
posted by clavdivs at 3:42 PM on July 21, 2023 [5 favorites]

I had the opportunity to see him live in 1998 while on a trip to Las Vegas with my folks. It was at this concert where I learned the valuable lesson that if you grease the palm of an usher you get better seats; we ended up at a table right at the front of the stage. Bennett was already an elder statesman by this point but his voice and energy were still top notch.

Coincidentally, this was the same weekend Frank Sinatra died. While we were waiting in line there were a bunch of journalists interviewing concert goers about his death, I guess figuring fans of one would naturally be fans of the other. Pretty impressive that Bennett still had a quarter century and a number of cool projects (his duet of Body and Soul with Amy Winehouse is a favorite of mine) left to go.
posted by The Gooch at 3:44 PM on July 21, 2023 [4 favorites]

"one more for the road"
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posted by clavdivs at 3:44 PM on July 21, 2023

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posted by hydra77 at 3:45 PM on July 21, 2023

It is refreshing to see an obituary post on Metafilter where the third comment in points out what a great person the deceased was rather than "yeah, but... [serious of awful things]."

RIP, King. I like things that are great. Good things are fantastic. You were great.
posted by bondcliff at 4:16 PM on July 21, 2023 [13 favorites]

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posted by Pendragon at 4:42 PM on July 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is obviously not an especially important highlight of his career, but I always found his appearance on SCTV , appearing as a guest of Bob and Doug Mackenzie, an oddly touching moment.

Interesting, because the news report on his death I just saw cited the SCTV appearance as an important moment in reviving his career. Maybe just Canadian news being Canadian.

One of the greats.


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posted by nubs at 4:55 PM on July 21, 2023 [3 favorites]

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posted by humbug at 5:02 PM on July 21, 2023

I just realized I have a Tony Bennett story. Well, sort of. While in Madison, Wisconsin earlier this year, we were looking for a local place for dinner and found this authentic Italian place that touted Tony Bennett said they were the best Italian restaurant. They're justifiably proud of his appreciation, it was very good.

I'll always associate his later career with Lady Gaga. She was hot when she announced she was doing an album of jazz standards with Tony Bennett. Fans just went with it! Suddenly we were all Tony Bennett fans too.
posted by fiercekitten at 5:08 PM on July 21, 2023 [7 favorites]

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posted by dannyboybell at 5:21 PM on July 21, 2023

From Sesame Street, Slimey to the Moon.
posted by Capt. Renault at 5:36 PM on July 21, 2023 [11 favorites]

It is hard to believe that "Tony Bennett helped liberate a concentration camp in World War Two" is a real sentence stating a true fact, but it is? "List of Grammy Award winners who have liberated concentration camps" is not a thing I would have believed could exist.
posted by mhoye at 5:53 PM on July 21, 2023 [5 favorites]

It would not even have occurred to me that Tony Bennett had seen hard combat in WWII.

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posted by schmod at 6:19 PM on July 21, 2023

This is my evening listening: Tony and Gaga at Lincoln Center in 2014.

I saw Tony in a small theater in NYC in the early ’90s and he was just riveting.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:21 PM on July 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

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posted by condour75 at 6:22 PM on July 21, 2023

His voice was smooth and strong but what I really heard was that those lyrics were his own words, as long as the song lasted. He felt every line as he sang it and I felt it, too.

🎵
posted by wenestvedt at 6:35 PM on July 21, 2023 [4 favorites]

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posted by cupcakeninja at 6:46 PM on July 21, 2023

His voice was one in a million, and he put it to good use far beyond music.

Thanks, Tony. ❤️ Rest in power.
posted by armeowda at 7:03 PM on July 21, 2023 [4 favorites]

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posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 7:17 PM on July 21, 2023

All of those voices now gone. I wish I could have seen him once. I still think one of my more "how lucky am I moments" was to wander into my hotel in NYC one night after dinner and drinks only to stumble into Rosemary Clooney holding court in an attached lounge. No seats available on the floor, but I could sit at the bar and let her voice, a voice I knew from all through my childhood , wash over me.

Those singers could just do that and I would love more of it.

A few years back there was some doc about the Lady Gaga collabs. It was clear from her interviews that she absolutely adores and admires him. She talked about how you could tell the Alzheimers made him lost, but the second he started to sing he snapped back and was present. (Brains are wonderfully weird)
posted by drewbage1847 at 7:37 PM on July 21, 2023 [4 favorites]

Tony Bennett was a nice person, which I don't always expect in a great artist. That's something.

Part of his genius was sticking to his guns and not changing his style when went it went out of fashion. He was fortunate enough to weather the winds of change and swing right back into fashion when the time was right, with the encouragement of his son Danny Bennett;

"I've been unplugged my whole career."
posted by ovvl at 7:42 PM on July 21, 2023 [4 favorites]

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posted by JoeXIII007 at 7:51 PM on July 21, 2023

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posted by detachd at 9:08 PM on July 21, 2023

Was listening to his albums with Bill Evans when I came here to find others recommending them. :)

I have a soft spot for the one voice and one instrument combo. Bennett & Evans, Fitzgerald & Pass. You get the idea. Love the clarity, the wide open space. Suited Bennett's voice so well, and Evans made sure he got the space for it.

Like Holiday, he put more of himself into the songs than most singers.

And a decent human being to boot, by all accounts.

RIP
posted by Pouteria at 1:56 AM on July 22, 2023 [7 favorites]

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posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 6:14 AM on July 22, 2023

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posted by jabo at 7:09 AM on July 22, 2023

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace.

I'll never forget how Bennett had a hit on 99X in Atlanta and did a live concert for the station in the mid-'90s. I wish I had a better link, but the best I can do is this Instagram photo from Program Directory Leslie Fram from the concert.
posted by ob1quixote at 7:26 AM on July 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

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posted by potrzebie at 9:09 AM on July 22, 2023

I grew up listening to Mr. Bennett, as my mother was a fan of a station that played him, Sinatra, Mel Tormé, Vic Damone, Robert Goulet—that whole school of WWII and postwar crooners and swingers.

Gratifying to know that he bore the standard for that style so graciously ever since then. I liked him best when he was scaled down, with a small group or with just a piano, as in those sessions he did with Bill Evans that've been cited, and which I also recommend.

Some of his best-known recordings are either him a bit OTT (e.g., "Boulevard of Broken Dreams") or swathed in so much reverb, it sounds as if he's locked in an empty cathedral (e.g., "I Left My Heart in S.F."). He could really handle a lyric and a melody under any circumstances, but my favorites are those recordings (including later ones like his Astaire tribute Steppin' Out) where he plays it cool.

His style—and, really, that whole genre/vibe of singer—is gone. New guys who try to sing in that style sound like some camp tribute act, aping the mannerisms without the style or individuality. Until a new generation comes along with its own organic take on the single greatest body of popular song created—the Great American Songbook—we can be pleased to have been around when giants like Mr. Bennett strode the earth.

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posted by the sobsister at 9:22 AM on July 22, 2023 [6 favorites]

When I was a child, there was a cabaret club in my home town called "Talk of the Midlands". Tony Bennett performed there in the early 1970s, at a time when his career was somewhat in the doldrums. My dad took me down to the venue and we stood with a group of people outside the stage door - which someone had kindly propped open - listening to him sing. I was about 12 years old and I have never forgotten it.
posted by essexjan at 9:30 AM on July 22, 2023 [10 favorites]

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posted by kathrynm at 3:54 PM on July 22, 2023

And a decent human being to boot, by all accounts.

An all too human being by at least one.
posted by y2karl at 4:48 PM on July 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

“Tony Bennett’s Greatest Jazz Collaborations,” Ted Gioia, The Honest Broker, 22 July 2023
posted by ob1quixote at 7:40 PM on July 22, 2023 [4 favorites]

An all too human being by at least one.
posted by y2karl

Not saying he is an angel.
posted by Pouteria at 9:55 PM on July 22, 2023

This is hitting me especially hard. I always liked Bennett without paying a lot of attention to his music—he was this benevolent presence in pop culture for so long. (For those of you who like my funny stories about my dad, he once expressed his admiration for Bennett: “someone says to him ‘hey Tony, you’re going to be playing at South Shore Music Circus!’ and he says ‘okay!’ Then someone says ‘hey Tony, you’re going to be on MTV!’ and he says ‘okay!’”)

What makes this harder than I expected is that he went public with his Alzheimer’s diagnosis around the same time my mother-in-law was diagnosed. I had hoped the only thing they’d have in common was being two lovable people from the tri-state area, but it turns out there’s this as well. Vale, Tony.

My writing colleague Syd Urbanek wrote a great article about Bennett’s third act as an MTV mainstay. I also loved Jason Diamond’s appreciation.
posted by pxe2000 at 2:31 AM on July 23, 2023 [5 favorites]

Syd's piece is AMAZING.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:33 AM on July 23, 2023 [3 favorites]

My introduction to Bennett was his album where he sang songs associated with Sinatra called Perfectly Frank.

Then I listened to his mid 70s collaboration with Bill Evans. And have been a fan ever since. That 60 minutes interview a where you could see how affected Lady Gaga was is really eye opening, especially as it relates to Alzheimer's. His eyes popped when he heard the songs of his. I have a genetic predisposition for Late Stage Alzheimer's so watching that was doubly poignant.

He lived a great life.

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ETA: The SNL bit with Alec Baldwin is fantastic too!
posted by indianbadger1 at 10:03 AM on July 23, 2023 [2 favorites]

Not saying he is an angel.

Actually speaking, I would bet that he is one now. Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made, as the saying goes -- despite his lapses when he knew no better, he was, in my estimation, a force for good far far more than not.
posted by y2karl at 10:47 AM on July 23, 2023

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posted by Gelatin at 4:07 AM on July 24, 2023

Wow, that extended look at Bennett's career by Syd Urbanek from Feb 2022 and linked by pxe2000 just above is fantastic. An incredible, beautifully written deep dive covering his early life and career, decline into addiction and depression and then extensively recounting his resurgence in fascinating detail. An amazing read.
posted by mediareport at 7:30 AM on July 24, 2023 [2 favorites]

Today I learned about a really wonderful website, The Year of Tony Bennett (with an interactive Tony discography and much more), from which I learned that today, August 3, is Tony's birthday.

Happy Birthday, Tony.

Thank you all - especially clavdivs - for this thread of fond remembrances.

I miss Tony, and I'm glad we can still hear his voice.
posted by kristi at 1:19 PM on August 3, 2023 [1 favorite]