Product Description

Sometimes, if you live long enough, and remain true to yourartistic principles, people catch up with what you're doing. Not that singer Tony Bennett has been withering away in the weeds. When popular song stylists the likes of Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby place you at the top of Olympus, well...you the man.
MTV UNPLUGGED reprises the greatest moments in Bennett's concert repertoire, songs he's been refining for40 years. The only difference is that thanks to enthusiastic fans like Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a young audience is ready to embrace the classic Tin Pan Alley song forms, and swinging jazz trio approach that has long distinguished Bennett's stylised presentation.
Bennett has a dramatic, understated way of personalising the narrative elements ofa song. "Fill my heart with song, let me sing forevermore",he pleads on "Fly Me To The Moon", a tune he's probably done 10,000 times, yet it sounds like he's grasping the meaningfor the very first time. The effect is stunning, and even on tunes where his pitch wavers, his way of getting back in tune is just so hip and swinging. On a dreamy "Moonglow" and a coy "They Can't Take That Away From Me" he shares the mic with k.d. lang and Elvis Costello respectively, and the manner in which the old pro's generosity of spirit draws the youngsters into his orbit is indicative of Tony Bennett's enduring grace and charm.

Track Listing

1. Old Devil Moon
2. Speak Low
3. It Had To Be You
4. I Love A Piano
5. It Amazes Me
6. Girl I Love
7. Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words)
8. You're The World To Me
9. Rags To Riches
10. When Joanna Loved Me
11. Good Life/I Wanna Be Around
12. I Left My Heart In San Francisco
13. Stepping Out With My Baby
14. Moonglow - Bennett, Tony & K.D. Lang
15. They Can't Take That Away From Me - Bennett, Tony & Elvis Costello
16. Foggy Day
17. All Of You
18. Body And Soul
19. It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
20. Autumn Leaves

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14273 in Music
• Released on: 1999-08-30
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Enhanced, Live

Amazon.co.uk Review
If you want to break yourself to the MTV generation, what better vehicle than the network's own Unplugged series? Bennett is accustomed to operating in an acoustic setting, this mass exposure to an audience not normally his own paving the way for his eventual filling of the Sinatra vacuum, an old master with enough élan to satisfy the style-conscious consumer. Long-serving pianist Ralph Sharon's Trio remains a stable unit, featuring bassist Doug Richeson and drummer Clayton Cameron. Bennett's casual delivery is possible only because of this band's easy rapport, pulling no punches with his run of classy (and classic) material. "Old Devil Moon", "Speak Low", "I Left My Heart In San Francisco", "Body And Soul": they're all on board. The trio makes a sudden spurt towards the end of Gershwin's re-jigged "The Girl I Love", trotting out a fast sequence of solos for its hard-driving finish, then Bennett calls for all microphones to be completely pulled during "Fly Me To The Moon". To bridge the generation gap, kd lang and Elvis Costello guest on "Moonglow" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me" respectively. --Martin Longley

From Amazon.com
This CD won Grammy Awards in 1995 for Album of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. Recorded live with Tony Bennett's long-standing accompanists Ralph Sharon on piano, Doug Richeson on bass, and Clayton Cameron on drums, the set includes more than 20 songs, many of them standards Bennett has sung for years, such as "Old Devil Moon," "I Wanna Be Around," "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," "All of You," and "Body and Soul." Guest artists k.d. lang and Elvis Costello appear on, respectively, "Moonglow" and "They Can't Take That Away from Me." It's a joyful romp for Frank Sinatra's favorite singer. --Stanley Booth

Customer Reviews

It's All So Easy
The songs on this album were always good. However,in this context they are in the hands of a master interpreter, Mr Bennett.The sparing rhythm of Ralph Sharron's trio provides an atmosphere where Tony's voice takes centre stage,soaring and flowing through the American songbook with consumate ease.Tony has always been highly regarded as a crooner but over the years has developed into one of the finest Jazz singers on the planet. This is Tony Bennett at his best-- In front of an audience and this album captures ably the magic of Tony Bennett in concert.Thoroughly reccomended !