At 91, Tony Bennett performs with professionalism, kindness

Ripping reams of pages off the ol’ calendar comes with time-honored compensations. Ya know, those privileges of age — early bird specials, movie discounts, racing those little scooter carts through supermarket aisles while knocking young whippersnappers into the canned peas. Plus, after years of unflagging propriety, the freedom to dispense with everyday pleasantries and indulge your inner grump. … Or not.

“Thank you so much for interviewing me,” says soft-spoken entertainment icon Tony Bennett with the impeccable manners that have lost none of their gentlemanly sheen after 91 years. Nor has any of that singular vocal style faded since this giant of classic crooning first dropped off his heart at the City by the Bay all those decades ago.

“I’m sold out everywhere I go in the world, and I learned a long time ago that if you’re sold out you have to keep going,” says Bennett, who returns to Las Vegas beginning Wednesday for a six-show run of his new production, “Tony: The Best Is Yet to Come,” through Nov. 11. “I’m still going strong, and if the audience loves you, you make sure you show up for them.”

He’s been showing up for us for 68 years — and counting. Even closing in on seven decades onstage, Bennett’s still bent on surprising the audience with vocal twists and turns on tunes by George Gershwin, Cole Porter and other masters of the Great American Songbook. “People realize that certain things never go out of fashion. You take a George Gershwin song and it still sounds like it’s brand new,” he says. “But I like to feel creative and improvise, coming up with something fresh for the public to listen to.”

An especially intuitive performer, Bennett adheres to the credo that less is more. “You have to learn what to leave out and what to put in so the show is just right,” he says. “You have to say what you’re saying and leave. The whole idea is to never bore the public.”

Professionalism, courtesy and kindness (and obviously, talent) have always been Bennett hallmarks. You’d need to go way back to discover the roots of those attributes. Back to his childhood and his father, John Benedetto, a grocer in Queens, New York, during the Depression years. Beyond passing along his love of music — he would sing opera, pop songs and show tunes to Bennett and his brother — he also imparted the value of compassion. Strangers often found a sofa to sleep on at the Benedetto house. Once, Bennett recalled, his dad caught a thief breaking into their store.

“When he heard that the man who tried to rob him had two children and was trying to get some money to feed them, he gave him a job,” Bennett says, also crediting his dad with a life philosophy he observes to this day. “He taught me to do everything with quality and to make sure that whatever you do lasts. You’ll never go wrong because quality never goes out of fashion.”

Sadly, Bennett’s father died when he was 10, so his mother, Anna, a seamstress, became the household’s sole breadwinner. Yet she also encouraged his emerging talents, even finding a way to bring her son together with a performer who would become one of his musical idols. “She introduced me to Ella Fitzgerald and I didn’t even know who Ella Fitzgerald was,” Bennett says.

“Ella was the biggest thing everybody listened to in the jazz world, and (his mother) got in touch with her and explained that she had a son that was interested (in music) and she got the two of us together. Oh, my God, it was unforgettable.”

And from that encounter came more valuable lessons, this time from the star known as the First Lady of Song. “She taught me to be very spontaneous and to treat the public very well, just like family,” Bennett says. “Give them the best you can give them.”

Nearly 70 years later, he’s still doing precisely that with the class that’s come to define him.

No, Mr. Bennett: Thank you so much for letting us interview you.

Contact Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0353. Follow @sborn1 on Twitter.