What a wonderful idea. This is a compilation album ranging across
Tony Bennett's early career, from 1954 to 1967, highlighting some of his more adventurous sessions with jazz musicians, including
Count Basie,
Herbie Hancock,
Herbie Mann,
Art Blakey,
Stan Getz, and others, and featuring jazz standards like "Green Dolphin Street," along with a healthy dose of
Duke Ellington compositions.
Bennett not only holds his own, he sounds delighted on every track. The ironic thing, of course, is that Columbia frowned on these kinds of side excursions from his pop career in the '50s. Now, all is forgiven, and this proves an unusually imaginative repackaging that illuminates an important part of
Bennett's talent and further contributes to his '80s renaissance. (The album contains a previously unreleased 1964 performance of "Danny Boy" featuring
Stan Getz. Originally released as a two-LP set,
Jazz was compressed to a 68-minute CD by excising two tracks.) ~ William Ruhlmann