10/31/2016
Fans of heralded crooner Bennett will revel in this inviting charming book. As Bennett heads into his 91st year, he affectionately recalls the many places (San Francisco; Queens, N.Y.) and various people (Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Jackie Kennedy, Maurice Chevalier, and Charlie Chaplin, among others) whose work or friendship has shaped him over the years. Calling the recording of "Body and Soul" he did with Amy Winehouse one of the favorites of his career, he asks himself whether there's anything he could have said that day to pull her back from addiction. He praises Winehouse for taking the spirit of jazz and making it shine in new ways, recalling that her memory "reminds me of how the music we bring to our lives goes on and on in those we love." From Pablo Picasso's paintings, Bennett, also a painter, hopes he's learned to bring to his singing a "clear, elegant, and simple line that invites audiences to open their hearts and minds." Bennett's mother, Anna Suraci Benedetto, taught him to "hold out for quality" to produce something enduring. In these beguiling portraits, Bennett warmly remembers of the deep influences on his life. (Nov.)

Fans of heralded crooner Bennett will revel in this inviting charming book...In these beguiling portraits, Bennett warmly remembers of the deep influences on his life.” — Publishers Weekly

“[Just Getting Started] is as breezy and meaningful as one of his trademark songs as readers learn about the man by the company he kept and the heroes he worships. Bennett’s ethereal still lifes and landscape paintings adorn this simple yet profound and gracious homage.” — Booklist

“In Just Getting Started...the singer takes a look back on his long, successful career and rich life...What comes through in all 42 chapters is the singer’s gratitude...Let’s hope this new generation can learn a lesson from Mr. Bennett’s unflagging class and graciousness. — Wall Street Journal

“He’s the reason that I’m here today, that I’m still making music, that I’m still excited to make music.” — Lady Gaga

“For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business, the best exponent of a song. He excites me when I watch him. . . . He moves me. He’s the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more.” — Frank Sinatra

“If Tony Bennett, who swings wonderfully, can’t send you, there’s a phychiatrist right up the street from you. DIG him.” — Louis Armstrong

“Tony Bennett is one of the greatest. He’s in a class by himself.” — Fred Astaire

“The epitome of what entertainers were put on earth for. Tony was born to take people’s troubles away, even if it’s only for an hour. He loves doing it; he’s a giver.” — Judy Garland

“He’s a big, beautiful man. With all of his greatness, his hat size never needed to be larger than his artistic stature.” — Duke Ellington

In Just Getting Started...the singer takes a look back on his long, successful career and rich life...What comes through in all 42 chapters is the singer’s gratitude...Let’s hope this new generation can learn a lesson from Mr. Bennett’s unflagging class and graciousness.

[Just Getting Started] is as breezy and meaningful as one of his trademark songs as readers learn about the man by the company he kept and the heroes he worships. Bennett’s ethereal still lifes and landscape paintings adorn this simple yet profound and gracious homage.

In Just Getting Started...the singer takes a look back on his long, successful career and rich life...What comes through in all 42 chapters is the singer’s gratitude...Let’s hope this new generation can learn a lesson from Mr. Bennett’s unflagging class and graciousness.

[Just Getting Started] is as breezy and meaningful as one of his trademark songs as readers learn about the man by the company he kept and the heroes he worships. Bennett’s ethereal still lifes and landscape paintings adorn this simple yet profound and gracious homage.

Joe Barrett gives a light touch of New York to his narration of this memoir by singer Tony Bennett, a native New Yorker. Barrett shares his talent for dialect and accent as listeners hear conversations that Bennett recalls with people who helped guide his long and distinguished career. Pearl Bailey gave Bennett his first break, and Bob Hope took him on the road and changed his name. Although Bennett has performed for many years, he remains true to his jazz roots. His international renown continues to this day. As for Barrett, he can count his performance of Bennett’s recollections as a resounding success in a career par excellence. E.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

2016-10-05
The nonagenarian singer expresses his gratitude to many of the people who have helped him along the way.With the help of NPR host Simon, Bennett presents not so much a memoir as a collection of sweet, uplifting tributes to people ranging from Abraham Lincoln to Lady Gaga as well as places, including Astoria in Queens, New York; the small town of Pyrites in upstate New York; and, of course, San Francisco, where Bennett famously left his heart. Each chapter concludes with a lesson the author has learned or a bit of wisdom gained from the subject of the chapter. Duke Ellington taught him never to worry “about going into or out of style,” and Lena Horne’s resilience made him think, “when life sends you difficulties or misfortunes, don’t get mad or sad—get busy.” From both Fred Astaire, who “used to float past” Bennett’s house on his regular morning walk, and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, the singer learned the same lesson: trim your work down to its essence. His own chapters are neat and modest. If they don’t tell readers much about Bennett’s inner life, home life, or any turmoil he might have experienced over the decades, they do paint miniportraits of many of the people who helped him on his path. Many of them, as might be expected, are musicians or songwriters, like Amy Winehouse, whose death he laments, and Ella Fitzgerald, whose albums provide a “purely joyful experience.” The author also salutes family members, like his father, who died when Bennett was 10, and painters such as Picasso and John Singer Sargent. The volume is illustrated with small reproductions of many of Bennett’s paintings, which he signs with his birth name, Anthony Benedetto. In the past decade, Bennett has been experiencing a renaissance among listeners. Many of them should be happy to hear how he got to this point.