AH! VEGAS AND CROONERS!! WHAT A COMBO. BROADS, BOOZE, BUCKS AND BENNETT! Here’s a classic Vegas show from the iconic Sahara, with Tony Bennett, back in the day when “San Francisco” was still a new song, the Beatles were a new sensation, and the only “counter culture” was where you ate at the local diner when no tables were available.
The show opens up with a classic fanfare and a couple of big band extravaganzas with Bennett in front of Louis Basil’s orchestra before he settles down with his working trio of Ralph Sharon/p, Hal Gaylord/b and Billy Exiner/dr for an hour’s set that includes 24, count ‘em, 24 songs ranging from standards like “Time After Time” to the “new thing” of bossa nova with “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars.” Most intriguing is his bookending “The Rules of the Road” with two different readings of “One For My Baby” and repeating the treat with “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” wrapping around “I Wanna Be Around.” Bennett is in vintage form, using his patented range like the painter with the brush that he was, using broad strokes mixed with dainty details.
Adding to the Vegas mood is a brief interlude where Milton Berle, Danny Thomas and Mickey Rooney all take turns coming up to the microphone for some good natured ribbing and ad libbing. Hey, this is Vegas, baby! FLAUNT IT!!!
A perfect time capsule of an era, a style, a genre and an attitude of how to treat a song with respect. Gotta love it!
Columbia Records
www.sonylegacy.com