I Wanna Be Around

Tony Bennett | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 29, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002ATW
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,126 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bennett in his prime: great album, October 31, 2001

By 

Jon Warshawsky "Sinatra Guru" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: I Wanna Be Around (Audio CD)

While there is no shortage of masterful Tony Bennett albums, the Bennett of the 1960s is one of the most finely honed voices of popular music. 'I Wanna Be Around' shades more toward the 'popular' (soft swing) style than jazz, but delivers two of the singer's signature numbers and much more. 'The Good Life' and the title track are inextricably part of the Bennett story - combining a bit of the soaring, almost operatic passages with the almost conversational. Throughout, you can sense these songs fit the singer like a custom tailored suit. I agree with one of the other reviewers -- if 'I Wanna Be Around' doesn't have you reaching for the 'repeat' button, you're really missing something special.

The songs are fully up to the performance, plenty of Johnny Mercer numbers, plus Coleman and Leigh's pleasing 'I've Got Your Number' which finds singer phrasing some clever lyrics in tempo with the arrangement that neither buries the singer nor buries him in excess accompaniment. Not as jazz-touched as 'I Wanna Be Around', but another example of a singer at his peak. The original album seems to have the better music, but the performances on the additional tracks from the 'This is All I Ask' album are a satisfying way to round out the otherwise short featured collection.

Antonio Carlos Jobim's 'Corcovado' -- a huge hit for Stan Getz and later interpreted by Sinatra on his album with Jobim -- seems less perfect. Beautiful song, sensational voice, but Bennett seems to grope his way through a few of the English lyrics. Fault the lyrics, translated from Portuguese -- they're not up to the music. Sinatra performs it wonderfully on his 1967 album, maybe because he was nearly 30 years into his career and Bennett was young on this 1962 version.

This may be too much detail for most people. The bottom line is that even Sinatra considered Tony Bennett the best popular singer of the century, and it is difficult NOT to reach that conclusion. All of his albums from this era -- including the concert at Carnegie Hall -- are a real treat. Highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a Killer - Master Bennett Breaking Hearts!, July 9, 2000

By 

Carlos from Rio "Carlos from Rio" (Rio de Janeiro, RJ Brazil) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: I Wanna Be Around (Audio CD)

I want to be around to pick up the pieces when somebody breaks your heart, someone who's twice as smart as I -- Wow! I think this is the best sung phrase in all American Song history. Beyond category.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece in traditional pop singing..., June 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: I Wanna Be Around (Audio CD)

Everyone has their own opinion weather Tony Bennett is or isn't a jazz singer, well he was and is an acceptionally great singer of traditional popular music. Nobody(with the acception of Keely Smith, Anita O'Day, and Rosemary Clooney) today can sing a standard like Mr. Bennett, because he's practicly the last of the great traditional jazz/pop vocalists around and still performing. When Bennett recorded this session, he had several hits, the title song, and The Good Life. Also Bennett included a tribute to Count Basie with "Until I Met You" and to Billie Holiday with "If You Were Mine." Many may not agree with me on Tony Bennett being a great jazz singer, however you have to admit he is truly influenced by jazz singers and musicians(Bill Evans, Art Blakey, Billie Holiday.) This excellent CD re-issues the original LP "I Wanna Be Around" as well as some bonus tracks featuring the excellent jazz trio led by Ralph Sharon, from a different session. This is classic pop singing that should appeal to jazz vocal collectors, as well as casual Tony Bennett fans. If you're looking for more jazz oriented Tony Bennett try "The Tony Bennett-Bill Evans Album" and "The Beat Of My Heart" and more recently "Steppin' Out" and he also has two more recently excellent CD's a tribute to Billie Holiday which is very good with the acception of a creepy duet with her, and an excellent tribute CD to Duke Ellington.