Just Getting Started

October 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.

October 15, 2016
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.

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November 1, 2016
Just getting started at 90, Bennett tells readers that he learned joy from Louis Armstrong, the essence of elegance from Pablo Picasso, and the rewards of collaboration from Harold Arlen. He called Astoria, Queens, his home and, yes, he famously left his heart in San Francisco. His admiration for Lady Gaga and Amy Winehouse would befit someone 70 years his junior, while his professional debt to Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, and Johnny Mercer goes back nearly that far. From Fred Astaire to Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland to Pearl Bailey, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Abraham Lincoln, Bennett credits iconic artists, political figures, family members, and various places with teaching him vital lessons about life and show business. The singer and painter's third autobiographical book, following Life Is a Gift (2012), and written with backup from Simon, 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)