Though unimaginatively titled,
Tony Bennett
's second 12" LP
Tony
is a more ambitious effort than his first,
Cloud 7
. The earlier disc employed a small band, but
uses two separate larger ensembles, a jazz big band arranged and conducted by
Ray Conniff
for all of the first side and
"Always"
on the second side, and a string orchestra arranged and conducted by
Percy Faith
for the rest.
Bennett
may be relying on current songwriters for his hit singles, but this is a collection stocked with standards written by the great interwar songwriters of stage and screen --
Irving Berlin
,
Al Dubin
Vernon Duke
Duke Ellington
Sammy Fain
Dorothy Fields
George & Ira Gershwin
Jimmy McHugh
Harry Warren
Kurt Weill
, and
Vincent Youmans
, among others.
Conniff
provides punchy neo-swing charts, particularly on the side-ending
"I Can't Give You Anything but Love,"
while
Faith
's strings provide lush, wistful underpinnings to the often-sad sentiments of the ballads on the second side.
matches the arrangements with his vocal performances, keeping pace with the jazzy horns or soaring above the sweet strings. He tries a retake of his first
Columbia Records
recording,
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams,"
in a slightly less exaggerated but still fruity performance. His
"Lost in the Stars"
uses only an acoustic guitar accompaniment for much of its length, the better to get across its melancholy message.
presents
as a timeless balladeer quickly outgrowing his status as belter of hit singles, and not a moment too soon. ~ William Ruhlmann