Las Vegas jump-starts Tony Bennett’s 90th birthday with benefit celebration — PHOTOS

Tony Bennett doesn’t talk about anything as though it’s over.

Albums with Lady Gaga? Another one is in the works, he says.

Tennis? “It’s pretty inconvenient to get to a tennis court in New York right now” from his residence overlooking Central Park. Does that mean he had to give it up? “No, no. I still love to play.”

Touring? “I’m still going strong and we’re sold out all over the world,” he says during a phone call last week.

Future collaborations? “I’d like to do something with Beyonce,” he says, “and she mentioned she would like to do something with me.”

But 90 is a birthday that demands some degree of looking back, even if Bennett’s 90th, coming up Aug. 3, is a milestone that can’t be confined to one city.

In having to share the standard-keeper of classic cool, Las Vegas probably comes in third after New York and San Francisco (if only because of, you know, that song). But it’s unquestionably first to the birthday party with next weekend’s Power of Love gala, celebrating Bennett in a fundraiser for the Keep Memory Alive Foundation and the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.

The May 21 gala at the MGM Grand Garden is a steep ticket — starting at $1,500 — but buys an eclectic tribute that includes hot “Late Late Night” host James Corden, Andra Day, Diana Krall, Darius Rucker, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler and Police guitarist turned jazzman Andy Summers.

Oh, and quite possibly Tony Bennett as well. But he’s being a little cagey about that.

“When I get there I’ll find out what they want me to do,” he says. “I’m looking forward to having a great time in Vegas.”

Larry Ruvo, the driving force behind Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada and the foundation, provides further clues. When he was giving Bennett a tour of the clinic’s main room, which was designed to double as a small performance space, he says the singer started clapping and whistling to test the acoustics, as Quincy Jones had once done before.

“I want to sing in this room,” Bennett told him.

“You’re going to get your chance,” Ruvo replied. That will be for a VIP pre-event reception at the center on Friday. The public will have more interface with another private event at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Las Vegas version of the Brooklyn Bridge at New York-New York. A Champagne toast at the private party will conclude with a tribute to the singer on surrounding casino marquees on the Strip.

Ruvo answers the two questions most likely to come up about next weekend’s big bash, including one nagging little detail.

Why now, when Bennett’s Big 9-0 actually isn’t until Aug. 3?

“August is difficult,” Ruvo says, with people out of their usual routines during the vacation season. The Power of Love gala has taken place in the spring for the past few years.

And why pick a guy who beat the odds when it comes to aging gracefully to raise money for the not-so-lucky who develop dementia and related brain-health issues?

Ruvo says Bennett asked that one himself. His answer: “Tony, you’re the poster child for caregiving.”

“We have a big caregiving program,” he explains. “And for these people to see a man who is 90 years old and a prolific painter (and) just finished a European tour.”

(The benefit also acknowledges Bennett’s side career as a painter by inviting artists such as Marina Abramovic, Dale Chihuly, Jeff Koons and Peter Tunney and auctioning some of their works.)

Bennett says on the phone he will “never retire,” and Ruvo says he received a longer explanation from the singer: “Let me tell you about retirement. All my friends who retired are dead. I don’t care what you do, you have to keep busy.”

The singer owes his transformation into cross-generational icon in part to his son Danny, who became his manager and introduced his father’s style to a new generation with a 1994 “MTV Unplugged.”

Bennett says his son is planning another big 90th celebration in New York, either at the Empire State Building or Radio City Music Hall, with performances from both that show and the Las Vegas gala to be combined for a TV special.

Ruvo also connected Bennett to tentative deals with the Brooklyn Brewery and an Italian winery for custom beer and wine labels.

“I was a busboy in the Sahara Hotel Congo Room when he was appearing (in the 1960s),” Ruvo says. “I remember it vividly,” even though “he would never remember” their brief meeting.

“What a treat it is for me. I was a busboy and now Tony helps me with my charity,” he adds. “He’s as gracious and charming today as he was then. He’s just a nice human being.”

Bennett has been part of the Las Vegas landscape since he was featured in “Minksy’s Scandals” at the Dunes in 1960.

“I must be honest. I really liked the very beginning of Las Vegas. It was interesting to see how it was gonna go,” he says. “In fact, when I first played Vegas they weren’t sure that they even wanted singers on the show. They really wanted comedians and very famous stars like Marlene Dietrich and Harpo Marx. Big, big names they would bring in.”

Now, like most who have seen the city grow, “I can’t believe it when I go there after so many years and see that homes are going all the way out to the mountains in the distance. I remember when that was just prairie. It’s become a major city in the United States.”

Bennett is asked if he gives the largest credit for his longevity to singing, painting or tennis (his friendship with Las Vegas tennis pro Marty Hennessy has outlasted many of the casinos he once headlined).

“The whole bottom line to the question you just asked is that it’s a blessing to be alive. That’s how I feel about life,” he says. “I’m very fortunate that I’m very healthy. I’m 90 years old and I’m very healthy. I’m still performing. It’s amazing, that I’ve had such a good long life.”

Bennett followed his big holiday stocking-stuffer Lady Gaga duets album with “The Silver Lining — The Songs of Jerome Kern,” a comparatively obscure album that lays his aged voice bare against the hushed piano backing of Bill Charlap, or sparse trio accompaniment.

“It’s one of those that will be good for years,” he says. “(Charlap’s) playing and his trio were so fantastic it will never be old-fashioned or dated 10 or 15 years from now.”

That sounds like a description that could hold for everything he’s ever done, he is told.

He chuckles.

“I like to do everything with quality. I don’t like to cheat the audience,” he says. “I always try to do the best job I can for them because they deserve it.”

Read more from Mike Weatherford at reviewjournal.com. Contact him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com. Follow him @Mikeweatherford