This edition of Giants of Jazz brings you the first part of a two-part audio interview with the illustrious jazz singer, Tony Bennett. This interview has not been heard for close to 50 years and, like Bennett himself, has aged very well indeed.
“I like everything that’s gone down with me. I like what’s happened. It’s all experience and it’s all a great pleasure to be a known entertainer and to have a voice.” — Tony Bennett, as related to Hot Air host Bob Smith.
Today, as an 86-year-old jazz and entertainment industry star, Bennett shows no sign of giving up his passion for either performing or recording. In August 2012, Bennett played four different Canadian cities in just six days. In November he starts a tour of Brazil.
His album collaborations with the likes of Lady Gaga, Michael Bublé and Christina Aguilera keep attracting commercial success and a Grammy count that has now reached 17, including a Lifetime Achievement Award presented to him in 2001. The script of Bennett’s storybook life starts with a child growing up in an Italian-American household in New York where on Sundays, mandolins and guitars would come out and everyone would play and sing.
“It’s a have-fun business.” — Tony Bennett’s advice to teenagers as related to Hot Air host Bob Smith.
As a young man smitten with music, Bennett followed his heart to the epicentre of jazz on 52nd Street in Manhattan. That’s where musicians like Erroll Garner and Art Tatum played five, one-hour sets per evening and captivated the imagination of the impressionable, young singer.
Bennett’s interview with CBC's Hot Air host, Bob Smith, starts with a recollection of that period in his life.
[play]Listen to Bob Smith's interview with Tony Bennett from the mid-'60s, 12 minutes and 45 seconds.
Interview backgrounder
The exact date of this interview is not known, but it is almost certainly from the mid-'60s, when Bennett was one of many big acts that came to Vancouver to play with the fine house band in residence at the Cave Supper Club on Hornby Street.
Bennett’s great respect for arrangers is evident in this interview. Among the many names he drops in the conversation is that of Robert Farnon, a Toronto-born arranger, orchestrator and conductor who was admired by Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones and others.
Bennett’s knowledge of Canadian broadcasting was impressive. He references a defunct radio variety show on CBC called The Happy Gang, much to the amazement of the interviewer.
The archive
The Bob Smith Hot Air archive is a treasure trove of approximately 50 interviews Smith recorded with some of the greatest stars of the day, from the world of jazz and beyond. Captured between 1950 and 1982, these interviews include conversations with Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Harry James, Oscar Peterson and Lena Horne, as well as Sammy Davis Jr., Bill Cosby, Harry Belafonte, Liza Minnelli and many others.
The interviewer
The cigar-smoking, erudite and opinionated Smith was an old-time broadcaster who forged friendships with an A-list of entertainers who always seemed to have time for a sit-down with Smith — and sometimes a little “taste” of something special that Smith had corked away for just such occasions. His habitual sign-off to his weekly jazz show, Hot Air, now undeniably the longest-running program on CBC Radio, was “God bless jazz fans everywhere.”
Related:
Tony Bennett and Mexican star Thalia
Giants of Jazz: Louis Armstrong
Giants of Jazz: Oscar Peterson
Giants of Jazz: Cannonball & Nat Adderley