The Year of Tony Bennett

During the sessions, I’d name a tune, and Bill would say, “That’s good, let’s do that.” We’d find a key, work it out, then play it through and work out all the changes. After three days we had nine songs in the can.

I remember how the intensity of the whole experience kept mounting. I told the engineer, “Don’t wait for us to do a take, just keep the tape running all the time.” My one regret is that didn’t record all those rehearsals and run-throughs. It was fascinating to hear Bill work on songs. He was always improvising and revising, changing and improving his approach.

Tony Bennett