Tony Bennett welcomes the butterflies

HPR chats with a legend

With a jazz career spanning nearly 70 years and a 91st birthday coming up in August, Tony Bennett is a true renaissance man. In that time he’s made a name for himself in the art world and has also gained notoriety for his humanitarian efforts.

The man himself took a moment to chat with the High Plains Reader about his early life and career, the MTV generation, and how he became friends with Frank Sinatra and Lady Gaga.

High Plains Reader: According to Biography.com, Your vocal coach Mimi Spear offered some advice to you while you studied singing at the American Theatre Wing. "Don't imitate other singers; emulate instrumentalists instead." Who were the instrumentalists you admired and how did you interpret that?

Tony Bennett: Learning to study jazz musicians really impacted my vocal style and in particular I loved the great jazz pianist Art Tatum, as he would make every song its own perfect performance. He would start at slow and then build into an incredible finish, so that you felt like you had experienced all that could be communicated just by listening to one song. So that was how I guided myself in terms of communicating a song to an audience -- to put everything I had into each moment, each phrase, so that it was a complete interpretation of the song.

HPR: What was the best advice you’ve ever received?

TB: Well, I was fortunate enough to have met so many of my heroes through my life, but I always point back to the first time I met Sinatra at the Paramount Theatre. I had just received the opportunity to have a summer replacement show on television and I was very nervous about how it was all going to play out.

I decided to get advice from Frank and I was warned how tough he could be, but when I came into his dressing room he could not have been nicer to me, and when I told him how nervous I was he said to me: "It's good to be nervous because that shows you care and the audience will pick up on it and they will root for you."

So ever since that day I welcome the "butterflies" that I get right before a performance or an event, as they tell me I still care about what I am doing.

HPR: What fueled your passion for singing or rather show business--did you come from a musical or theatrical family? I read that you had a brother involved in the opera and an uncle in Vaudeville--is this true?

TB: My brother John had a beautiful voice as a child and was called "The Little Caruso," but as he got older he decided he didn't want to spend his life in show business and my Uncle Dick was a hoofer in the theatre, and he took me to see many Broadway shows and I got to see Maurice Chevalier perform, which was a thrill.

It was my Italian-American family that gave me the encouragement to pursue my dreams. My father passed away when I was ten and my mother was left a widow with three children to raise on her own. My family would always come to our house on Sunday to be with her, and after a big meal they would make a circle and my brother, sister and I would perform for them. I received so much love and encouragement from them on those Sundays that it was at that early time in my life I decided I wanted to be a performer.

HPR: Can you tell us a bit about your gig as a singing waiter? How long did you do that and how did this experience fuel your vocal fire? Also, what were the most popular songs?

TB: I always thought that if I never made it as a performer that I would have been perfectly happy just performing as a singing waiter for the public. Irish songs were the most popular so we had two Irish chefs in the back so they would teach us all the great tunes such as Danny Boy and My Wild Irish Rose in the kitchen, and we would run back out to the dining room and perform them. It was a great training ground.

HPR: Your career has spanned 70+ years. Do you have a favorite era of music in that time?

TB: Well I fell in love with Jazz and I would go to all the jazz clubs on 52nd Street in Manhattan as often as I could -- and then you have the Great American Songbook, which is the treasure trove of popular standards written in the 20s, 30s and 40s when you had Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, the Gerswhins, all writing songs at the same time, so it was a golden age of songwriting.

HPR: What did you think of rock and roll when it came out--did you think it would last -- also, how do you feel the advent of rock and roll changed the music game?

TB: When I started out we did seven shows at the Paramount Theatre every day, so by the time you finished you had sung to everyone -- the young kids, the parents, the grandparents and the premise was to sing for everyone, which has always been my game.

When rock and roll came out, it was promoted as music just for teens and your parents listen to that other music. One of my most meaningful moments came when I had been discovered by the MTV Generation and a father and son came backstage and the son said to me that listening to my music was the first thing that he and his father had agreed about in a long time. That meant a lot to me.

HPR: What years were the toughest and why?

TB: When you are just starting out it's very tough. Pearl Bailey gave me my first big break in the business when she asked me to join her show at the Village Inn in New York City.

She told me, "Son, I can start you out but it's going to take ten years for you to learn how to walk on the stage properly."

And Pearlie Mae was right about that. You make a lot of mistakes when you are coming up, but in the end you learn from those mistakes and you get advice from other artists and eventually you learn that even the hardest times were beneficial, as you learn not just what to do but what to leave out.

HPR: You released an album with Lady Gaga. What drew you to collaborate? You also recorded with Amy WInehouse on her last official recording. What was it like recording with her?

TB: I love working with Lady Gaga. She is just an authentic artist and I know she will have a very long career ahead of her. We like each other -- we are both Italian-American, so we understand each other and our families get along too.

I first saw her perform when we were both asked to sing at a benefit for the Robin Hood Foundation, and I was so impressed that I went to see her backstage and asked her to record with me on my Duets II album, and she said yes. We had such a good time doing that, it was natural to do another album together. I just love her.

With Amy Winehouse, I would meet her backstage whenever I performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London and you could tell she was an artist that sought the truth in her performances.

When we recorded Body And Soul together she wasn't happy with how it was going, so we stopped and I asked her if she ever listened to Dinah Washington. Her eyes lit up and she told me that Dinah was one of her all-time favorites and I said she reminded me of Dinah and that was it -- the rest of the session was magnificent. She was a fearless artist and she was completely honest as a singer, which is a rare thing.

HPR: You are also an accomplished painter. How often do you paint and are you currently working on anything?

TB: I always have a sketch pad in my pocket with a pencil so I can draw whenever I see something that inspires, and when I am on the road I take watercolors with me so I can paint everywhere I perform. I am thrilled with an exhibition of my paintings that is up at the Paley Center for Media in New York City, as it’s incredible to see all your paintings in one room together. I forget sometimes how many paintings I have done over the years.

HPR: I know the best rule in polite conversation is to avoid religion and politics, but according to the bio provided by Jade Presents, you’ve performed for 11 US presidents, and are commended for your humanitarian efforts. How do you feel about our current political climate?

TB: I don't like to get on a soapbox, so my only hope is that we eliminate all forms of violence in the world. Ella Fitzgerald used to say to me, "Tony we are all here," and she was right about that. We share this planet together so it's how we should live, together and in harmony, as we have more in common with each other than what makes us different."

IF YOU GO

Tony Bennett

Thursday, June 1, 7pm

Bluestem Ampitheater, 801 50th Ave S, Moorhead