Age is a number.
Time is a moment.
And Tony Bennett’s music transcends the past and the present.
It’s timeless, ageless and universal – just like the singer.
Bennett, 91, thrilled a packed house Wednesday at the Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center. This towering giant of American music more than lived up to expectations. On this night the singer was equal to the legend.
“As I approach the prime of my life,” Bennett sang early on, as he looked out at the crowd with a mischievous grin on the first line of “This Is All I Ask.” The audience laughed with delight at the lyric and the singer got a big kick out of letting them in on the joke.
Bennett continued the song, almost as if acting it out. He is thoroughly unique and not just because of his stunning voice.
Bennett takes a song and makes it his own by painting a picture with the lyrics and vocal inflections. He also uses his hands and body movements to tell a story. His physical presence is part of the performance and he wore a blue blazer, grey slacks, with a white shirt and grey tie.
Bennett had a slow, genteel gait, as he walked over to the piano and leaned back against it. To show a sunset, he moved his hand in a circular motion – almost waving to the crowd – while raising his hand in the air.
At times, during some songs, Bennett seemed to be asking for divine intervention, and put his palms together in front of his face and looked to the heavens.
Like Frank Sinatra singing “a saloon song,” or Lady Gaga slinking her way through a jazz pop number — Tony Bennett creates atmosphere and drama in his performance.
And he knows how to work a crowd.
“The boys and I play all over the world, but I think I would be happy living here,” Bennett said to thunderous applause from Villagers. His remarkable band includes: Tom Ranier, piano; Gray Sargent, guitar; Harold Jones, drums and Marshall Wood on bass.
When Bennett sang a medley of his hits, it was like a roller-coaster ride through the great American songbook.
The list included: “Because of You,” “Jealous Heart,” “Who Can I Turn To,” “Just In Time,” and “The Good Life.
He quickly turned The Sharon from a concert hall into The Church of Music Appreciation.
The vocal atmosphere was almost religious.
“He’s still got that voice, it just doesn’t stop,” said Bob “Bobalou” Romano, a singer in The Villages who attended the show with Stephanie Reilly. “Age doesn’t matter with Tony Bennett,” Romano added. “His focus is on the quality of the music and he still makes it special.”
Reilly saw Bennett a few times over the past 30 years.
“I don’t know how he does it, but his voice is just as good now as it was then,” she said.
Villager Joan Weintraub agreed.
“It’s his voice and the wonderful music he sings,” she said. “Tony Bennett is so calm on stage, he brings these songs to life and you don’t even realize it. I just hope he keeps on singing.”
Villager Pat Parissi grew up with Bennett.
“Back in the ‘50s, I had all his records,” she said. “I used to play his big hits over and over. I played them so much my mother and grandmother used to yell at me to turn off the record player. Tony Bennett has always been about bringing quality to music, and he’s still doing it.”
Villager Buzz Busby is 82 and attended the show with his friend, Cindy Warf.
“I’m almost as old as Tony Bennett and I just hope I look as good as him when I’m 91,” Busby cracked. “I always loved his music and his voice. You just don’t hear good music like that nowadays.
“He sets an example for all of us. I don’t feel old, and when I watch and listen to Tony Bennett, I feel young.”
Jan Lavin is a popular singer in The Villages.
“Tony Bennett has been a musical mentor for me,” Lavin said after the concert. “He’s 91 and look at the way he performed tonight – it was an inspiration. I just want him to keep singing his songs, and I want to keep singing them.”
So does Antonia Bennett, Tony’s daughter, who opened the show. “I’m so lucky, I get to travel around the world with my Dad and listen to him sing,” she said.
In addition to singing, Bennett showed he can still move on a stage. He did a little bit of a soft shoe, during “Stepping Out With My Baby,” which was pretty spry for a 91-year old guy. There were a couple of cha-cha moves as Bennett gave “The Shadow of Your Smile,” a Latin beat.
There was power and emotion as Bennett acted out a wounded lover’s role on “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” He seemed melancholy and longing, on “Someone to Watch Over Me.”
Bennett sipped a drink and sounded like a philosophical boozer on “One for My Baby and One More For the Road.”
But nobody’s perfect, even Bennett.
During “The Way You Look Tonight,” he forgot some lyrics and just sang, “do-do-da, do-do-da,” — and you know what? It sounded great.
Then, during Bennett’s all-time classic, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” he was building up to a powerful finish, when all of a sudden, he had to sneeze.
And so he did. Then Bennett, without skipping a beat and in a remarkably graceful comeback, just picked up where he left off. The audience went wild and gave him one of at least six standing ovations he earned throughout the evening.
It all goes to show that listening to Tony Bennett sing is like hearing the National Anthem. You want to stand up and salute, because the man – like the flag – is a symbol of what America and its music are all about.
