At 65, With New CD Collection, Tony Bennett Is Still the Tops

The way jazz-influenced pop singer Tony Bennett sees it, his is a “noble job.”

“If you can take an audience and transport them for an hour or so, using a trick or two to make them forget what’s on their mind, you’re giving them a nice break.”

Bennett--who turns 65 on Saturday, when he appears at the Universal Amphitheatre--has been taking his listeners on mini-musical vacations for more than 40 years. He is renowned for his excellent sense of pitch, his keen timing, his ability to instill emotion into a song and his consistent taste in material.

The singer’s career, which began with a string of No. 1 pop hits in the early ‘50s including “Because of You” and “Cold, Cold Heart,” hasn’t been all ups. One major low was being dropped from Columbia Records in the early ‘70s--he had recorded for the label exclusively since 1951. (He re-signed with Columbia in 1986.)

Still, he maintains he’s currently at a high point, reporting that many of his shows, often in large venues like the 6,251-seat Amphitheatre, are selling out. (At press time, tickets were still available for Bennett’s show.)

“I think I’ve sustained so long because, like Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald and the others, I’ve stuck with the (great pop standards),” he says. “(Those songs draw) a more mature audience, not just a demographic, that likes quality music.”

You’ll find a bevy of those evergreens on “Forty Years: The Artistry of Tony Bennett,” a four-CD package that has just been released on Columbia.

The collection contains 87 titles handpicked by Bennett from 91 albums’ worth of material. It opens with 1951’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” and goes on to include such hits as “Because of You,” and, naturally, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

The set also includes many pieces on which Bennett is backed by jazz musicians. Among these are 1958’s “Lullaby of Broadway” with the Count Basie band; 1961’s “Close Your Eyes,” with a bristling solo by saxophonist Zoot Sims, and 1975’s “My Foolish Heart,” where he is backed by pianist Bill Evans.

“I’m a pop singer, but I’ve always tried to surround myself with the best jazz musicians,” says the man who will work Saturday with a trio led by pianist Ralph Sharon--his accompanist for more than 25 years and a musician who has recorded with jazz greats like Charles Mingus and Oscar Pettiford--and a string ensemble.

“I have to grow now,” Bennett says. “I’m 65. I really have to wrap this up and make it wider and broader. It’s all so encouraging and inspiring. What a life.”