Sing it again, Tony

Tony Bennett, only octogenarian ever to top the Billboard charts, spoke generously today about the singers who perform with him on his "Duets II" CD. He described Michael Buble as "a great entertainer..perhaps the Louis Prima of today." This may surprise Buble, who will now have to imagine himself singing "Bingo Bango Bongo, I Don't Want to Leave the Congo" and duets with Keely Smith, backed by Sam Butera.

A shelf of fine recordings has come from Mr. Bennett. Among the choicest are the Rogers and Hart set he made with George Barnes and Ruby Braff, his duets with Bill Evans and with k.d. lang, his stomping, knockout performances with the Basie band, and the little known, happy accident of his songs with a Stan Getz quintet (available on a double CD called "Tony and Jazz"). 

Sometime in the 1960s, when Mitch Miller was A&R director of Columbia Records, he got Tony to sing the Hank Williams lament "Cold, Cold Heart." It sold a gazillion copies. But one day, Bennett says, he picked up his telephone and heard a voice say, "Mr. Bennett? Hank Williams. Are you the one who's ruining my song?"

In Tony Bennett's honor, we will pop the cork on a bottle of Asti Spumante.