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Tony Bennett was one of the great male vocalists to come to fore in the post-war era, in his case in the early 1950s, and he enjoyed a hugely prolific and successful career as a hit singles artist, with more than 70 hits to his name across three decades (see Tony Bennett “The Singles Collection 1951-62”, Acrobat ACTRCD9062). However, with the advent of the long-playing album during the 1950s, he built a reputation as a prolific and popular album artist, recording over 60 studio albums plus ‘live’ and compilation albums. His uniquely adaptable and unmistakable voice enabled him to perform in different styles and address various concepts, while recording in a variety of orchestral, small band and jazz environments. This 51-track 2-CD collection comprises just about all the titles from his albums “Cloud 7”, “Alone At Last”, “Tony”, “The Beat Of My Heart” and “Long Ago And Far Away”, from the early years of his album career (his only previous album was a collection of titles from singles). On two of the albums he performs with a small modern jazz group, while on the others he is accompanied by orchestras arranged and conducted by Percy Faith and Stan De Vol. It’s a fascinating collection that captures the great vocalist at the start of his album career, and, as with any Tony Bennett set, it’s an enjoyable showcase for his uniquely distinctive talent.
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