Sunday,
November 12, 2006
Tony Bennett 80th Birthday
Celebrated by Hollywood
It's a great,
big party for Tony Bennett
His birthday
bash at the Kodak Theatre mixes stars, fine music and benefactors for a kids'
camp charity.
By
Geoff Boucher
Times Staff Writer
November 11, 2006
The year 1926 was a magical one for jazz. In May, in Alton, Ill.,
Cleota Davis and her dentist husband, Miles, had a
baby boy they named after daddy. Four months later, in a North Carolina town with the positively quaint
name of Hamlet, the Coltrane family welcomed a newborn named John.
And
in August that year, in Queens,
N.Y., Anthony Dominick Benedetto was born. He probably arrived in the world like
everybody else, naked and crying, but on most days since he's worn a natty suit
and a winner's smile because, well, he is Tony Bennett, after all.
On Thursday, Bennett came to the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood to blow out some candles with some
good friends. His actual birthday came and went a few months ago, but, well, he
is Tony Bennett after all. As a playful Stevie Wonder
said from the stage, "It's the longest birthday I've ever known in my
life."...
The program was hosted by Billy
Crystal and featured performances by Kelly Clarkson, Marc Anthony, Wonder and
Madeleine Peyroux, each accompanied by the Gregg
Field Big Band. Bennett closed the show with a short set that showed his voice
to be still sinewy and supple, his charm unflagging. His first number was
"The Best Is Yet to Come" and he delivered that famous first line
with a wink and a sm i! le: "Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum."
There were plenty of celebrities dotting the crowd and a steady parade of them
on stage singing Bennett's praises. Bruce Willis gushed about seeing Bennett
sing sans microphone at Carnegie Hall. George Clooney told a moving story about
Bennett's loyalty to Clooney's aunt, singer Rosemary Clooney, during her
toughest years when her personal struggles prompted many peers to abandon her.
"He was the only one who stood up and gave her a shot."
The actor, standing on the same stage where he accepted an Oscar earlier this
year, noted that one of his humbler gigs in Los Angeles was as a driver for his aunt and,
on some occasions, for Bennett. "By the way," he said, "the
rates have gone up."...
Crystal sassed
that Bennett's "first record was produced by Thomas Edison" and that
at 80, when "most people are producing phlegm, Tony is producing
albums," an allusion to Bennett's latest collection, "Duets: An Amer i! can
Classic," which has Bennett taking a page from the late-career plan of his
old pal Frank Sinatra. The CD, which debuted at No. 3 on the U.S. pop charts
last month, teams Bennett with Bono, Elton John, Paul
McCartney, Sting, Billy Joel,
Streisand, James Taylor, John Legend and others.
Bennett took it all in with a laugh. After the jokes it was time to sing, and
Bennett, eyes at full twinkle, stood center stage and performed the song
everyone wanted to hear. On this night, his version of "I Left My Heart in
San Francisco" was unhurried and
understated, until that climatic ending when the golden sun came shining down
on the boy from Queens who made good.
...Afterward,
Quincy Jones stood in a breezeway outside the venue and marveled at the night:
"To me, Tony Bennett is American music. We should have a party for him
every month."
http://www.calendarlive.com/music/
cl-et-tony11nov11,0,3222468.
story?coll=cl-calendar
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