Killing time in London

The Christmas Album, Snowfall; Tony Bennett

In 1993, I again chaperoned those crazy high school age musicians in the concert choir and symphonic band around Europe. At the end of the tour I only had four days before I met up with the Crown Odyssey in Tilbury, England. So, instead of flying all of the way back to the US only to turn around and fly back to Europe, I parted ways with the traveling musicians in Frankfurt, Germany, and spent four days in London, England, by myself with approximately eight million other people.

I had enjoyed the tour with the high school kids. My sister K. had come along this time. She sang in the choir and shared a seat with me on the bus. But after the two-week excursion, I needed sleep. So I stayed in bed on my first day in London just to get caught up on sleep.

Days two and three happened to fall on a Saturday and Sunday. I left my hotel room early on these days with no intentions of returning until evening. Having seen a great deal of London just a few weeks earlier, I decided that I wanted to invest my time in a concert and a show.

The show came on Saturday evening with one of the last open rehearsals of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Sunset Boulevard” before officially opening. Patti LuPone starred as Norma Desmond. Having never seen the movie “Sunset Boulevard” with Gloria Swanson and William Holden, I got caught up in the plot, missing some of the subtle nuances in the performances of the actors on the stage. I heard some years afterward that the producers of the show felt that someone a little older would play the role made famous by Gloria Swanson with a little more credibility. So, when the show came to Broadway, they booked Glenn Close to fill the role, even though Ms. LuPone held the contract. She sued and won a million-plus settlement, using part of the money to build the “Andrew Lloyd Weber Swimming Pool” at her home in Connecticut.

On Sunday afternoon, I went to Royal Festival Hall and enjoyed an afternoon listening to Tony Bennett. After an evening of drama and divas, I found refreshment in this affable and uninflated master of song. He seemed so relaxed as he emerged from the wings, genuinely pleased that someone would come and listen to yet one more interpretation of some of the world’s greatest tunes. I particularly enjoyed his pianist, Ralph Sharon, with his tasty fills and his deft touch. After an afternoon of some hard swingin’ and some deep ballads, and a few encores, Mr. Bennett closed up shop with “I Left My Heart In San Francisco”.

The number of young people in the audience astounded me. I figured that my young years would distinguish me from the rest of the crowd. Hardly. Mr. Bennett has something that the younger crowd likes. On April 15, 1994, Mr. Bennett performed live for MTV’s series Unplugged, which, for Tony Bennett, provided a superfluous platform. “I’ve always been unplugged!” he declared with a smile. He won his audience over without changing his music one bit. And in the end, won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance from this April performance, and, more unexpectedly, Album of the Year.

And so, when Jon Stewart had his show “The Jon Stewart Show” (before he had “The Daily Show”) it was only natural to bring on Tony Bennett to PLUG his UNPLUGGED album, and, since it was Christmas, he and the Ralph Sharon Trio performed “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”. The track made for a remarkable addendum to an “old school” Christmas album that Mr. Bennett had recorded in the 1960’s.

Sometimes I see and hear musical artists and wonder about the future of music. I see young people embrace the music of Tony Bennett and I rest a little easier.

Credits: To Buck Ram, Kim Gannon and Walter Kent, for composing “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”, a song with a sentiment that has brought a glimmer of hope to millions who can’t get home for a special day.