Published: Wednesday August 12, 2009 MYT 4:00:00 PM
Tony Bennett, Dave Brubeck spin magic again
NEWPORT, Rhode Island (AP): Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck spun some of their old magic when they performed together for only the second time in their 60-plus-year careers.
The inspiration came from documentary filmmaker Bruce Ricker after he discovered that the two music legends were performing back-to-back sets Sunday at the close of George Wein's CareFusion Jazz Festival 55 at Newport, Rhode Island.
Ricker had already done a film on Bennett, and was working on separate documentaries about Brubeck and Johnny Mercer (marking the centennial of the lyricist's birth).
Clint Eastwood, an avid jazz fan, has been involved both off and on screen as a producer and presenter.
"Clint Eastwood was pushing for this ... and Bruce finally got everybody together. ... You don't want to mess with Clint," laughed the 88-year-old Brubeck, in a telephone interview Monday from his home in western Connecticut.
Brubeck closed his set with his quartet's classic "Take Five," which he recorded 50 years ago, and did a solo piano encore of the classically-inspired "Thank You (Dziekuje)," dedicated to his longtime friend, festival producer George Wein, 83, who founded the Newport Jazz Festival in 1954..
A few songs into Bennett's set, Brubeck returned to the stage at Fort Adams State Park to perform with the singer for the first time in 47 years.
"We decided to do a Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer song called 'That Old Black Magic," said Bennett, in an interview in his trailer backstage Sunday. "Harold Arlen is my favorite composer through the years ... It's one of the great jazz songs of all time."
That was also the same tune that Bennett sang with Brubeck's quartet outside the White House on Aug. 28, 1962 - a recording included on compilation albums by both artists. Although they were friends and labelmates at Columbia Records that was their only performance together until Newport.
Brubeck recalls that the concert - originally intended by President John F. Kennedy for college students who had come to work as summer interns in the capital - drew such a large crowd that it had to be moved to The Ellipse just south of the White House grounds.
"I had started playing and the emcee announced that Tony Bennett would sing with me, and there was no rehearsal. Tony walked out and did a wonderful version of 'That Old Black Magic,"' Brubeck said.
This year, Brubeck returned the favor by sitting in at the piano with Bennett's guitarist, drummer and bassist to accompany the singer.
"I thought it came out so well with no rehearsal, just a little talk before we went on stage," said Brubeck. "You're taking a lot of chances when you do something in front of such a critical public without time to run down with everybody. ... You feel very elated that it all came off."
Brubeck rarely plays behind singers now, but earlier in his career he recorded with Carmen McRae and Louis Armstrong, among others,
"Tony has such great command, control and power that it's a thrill to hear him really start to belt it out," said Brubeck. "It's a wonderful experience when somebody has all that power."
Bennett, who has performed with such outstanding jazz pianists as Ralph Sharon and Bill Evans, got a thrill from playing with Brubeck at Newport.
"What I loved about it was he's such an inspiration to me," the 83-year-old Bennett said. "He shows me that I'm still learning, that we are not finished yet and he is such a great teacher."
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