I met Tony Bennett. I shook his hand, introduced myself, and told him how much I’ve loved him all these years, how he’s inspired me, how I’m one of his biggest fans. He held my gaze the whole time, smiling, and said, “Thank you. Thank you, sweetheart.”

He called me SWEETHEART!!!  (Swooning, she falls to the floor.)

I met him at a book release party for Will Friedwald, jazz writer for the Wall Street Journal, music scholar, and prolific author. Will’s new book is A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers, a book so big that it won’t fit in a bread box. Or, as Will pointed out, “This book is so big that we had to get the book jacket at Lane Bryant.”

I was invited to this intimate party, which was held in the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City, by my dear friends, Shaynee Rainbolt and Terese Genecco, who had been invited by yet another talented singer, Pamela Luss. I had met Pamela, who is married to Will Friedwald, when I interviewed her for Cabaret Exchange (now NiteLife Exchange) oh so many years ago.

When we got to the standing room only party, Pamela greeted us and said, “Tony Bennett is going to be here tonight. He’s supposed to show up around 7:00.” My heart stopped beating for about 15 seconds. Then my mind, in an attempt to get my heart started again, said to me, “Oh, he probably won’t come after all.”

But he did.

This party featured performances by an illustrious line-up of  cabaret and jazz singers, like K.T. Sullivan, Barbara Carroll, Pamela Luss, Barbara Fasano and Eric Comstock, just to name a few. Will, who was acting as MC, said at one point, “People keep asking me, ‘Is that Tony Bennett sitting over there?’ and I keep telling them, ‘Yes, it is.’”  Then Tony stood up and crowd applauded.

For the rest of the night, all I could think about was how I was going to dart across the room and meet him after the show.

Honest to God, Tony Bennett has been my idol for almost 12 years now. I’ve listened to almost every album, read his autobiography (which was co-authored by Will Friedwald. That’s how they met and became friends), watched every music video and TV special, and celebrated him on his birthday. I’ve only seen him perform live once, at the Sonoma Jazz Festival. He was captivating, hip and spot on.

I’ve been so inspired by the evolution of his career, his voice and his style. Starting out as an Italian crooner with a clear, legato voice in the bel canto tradition, he used to sing popular love songs of the day, like “Because of You” and “Blue Velvet.” But he got hooked into  jazz, loosened up and started swinging, backphrasing and developing  his own distinctive voice and style. As he’s gotten older, he’s only gotten better. His voice has more grit, guts, soul… and power!

But he is always in service to the song, not the sound of his voice. He honors the intregrity of the original melody when he improvises and always lets the lyric guide his phrasing, dynamics and mood. He’s hip. He’s hot. He’s a jazz cat!

He’s also a good, kind, generous person. And that shines through everything he does.

On a more personal note, I suspect my deep love for Tony Bennett comes from what he’s taught me; that it’s possible for a singer who started in a more classical, sing-it-as-it’s-written style, then successfully move into the freedom of jazz and personal interpretation. He’s shown me that, yes, your voice can get even better as it gets older! It can become more distinct, honest and revealing while keeping its power and stamina. And you can still perform with grace, energy and style at age 84!

He is one of my musical heros, and I feel so blessed to have shaken his hand, looked into his eyes, and told him how much he’s meant to me. November 8, 2010. A day I’ll never forget.

This upsurge in "George Michael Awareness" has me listening to his past CD’s. Faith. Older. Listen Without Prejudice. With a new appreciation and middle-age ears, I am hearing the jazz influences in some of his tunes and noticing how much pain and emotion fill all of them. Well, the exception being some of his more pop, WHAM-ish songs.

And then there’s his performance of "Somebody to Love" with the band Queen. It is one of the greatest, more powerful vocal performances I’ve ever seen. How many other performers do you know who could pull off singing a Freddie Mercury song with Queen during a Freddie Mercury tribute concert and make it work? Well, George Michael not only made it work. He raised it up to another level and brought the audience along with him.

He also gave me one of the greatest teaching tools ever when he was being interviewed on Oprah several years
ago. She asked him if he was afraid if by coming out as a gay man he
would lose fans. He answered, "No. I mean, why would I want the
approval of people who don’t approve of me?"

That answer makes me smile. It’s simple yet brilliant. Because as
performers, as singers, we too often get our panties in a twist because
we so want EVERYONE in our audience to like us. To approve of us. To become our fans. We think if we are good enough, if we can really impress people, then they will like us.

But I’ve found that people either like you or they don’t. Certain people in your audience, no matter how amazing you are, just won’t like what you do. There’s nothing wrong with this. It just means they aren’t your audience. It’s not a good match.

And why, as George Michael so wisely says, would you want to be liked by people who don’t like what you do, or don’t like who you are? It makes no sense. Yet, most performance anxiety and stage fright is bound up in this need to liked, to be found worthy.

So, thank you, George Michael, for such a liberating answer. I hope you still feel that way.

I would love to see him in concert. I bet it’s an amazing show. He’s coming to San Jose, but when I checked for tickets they were situated too far away. I hate seeing concerts by looking at the artist blown up on a ginormous TV screen. I want to be close enough to see him sweat.

By the way, Ellen Degeneres is giving away tickets to George Michael’s concerts. You can sign up to win at her website.

I also found this great review of George Michael’s new CD.

Enjoy!

Yes, he’s been around for a long time. But as he’s aged, or as I’ve aged, he’s become irresistible to me. I’ve bought up all his Cd’s. I have a Pandora station dedicated to him. And I just bought tickets, very expensive tickets to see him live when he comes to Sonoma in May for the Memorial Day Sonomajazz concert.

Maybe it’s because his vocal history resembles my own, if I may be so
bold. As I listen to him, his earlier recordings he sounds like an
Italian operetta singer, classical bel canto in his production and
style. But as he  moved into jazz by working with some truly great jazz
musicians, his style became jazz-ish. He swings, and his sound starts
to develop a uniqueness, identifiable, distinct.

And in his later years, yes, he can still belt ‘em out, and his voice
has some rough edges that actually improve his sound, his effect and
make him all the more irresistible. To me.

Ah, Tony, will I ever meet you? I pray I will. Maybe when you come to Sonoma in May. We’ll bump into each other in the Plaza. Look for me. I’ll look for you.