MTV Unplugged

TONY BENNETT: “MTV Unplugged” (Columbia)

WHAT DO Tony Bennett, Elvis Costello and k.d. lang have in common? They’re all pre-eminent in their own particular fields of popular music, that’s what. (Why didn’t I guess? – Ed)

Elvis and k.d. are also on this Unplugged CD from a show featuring the style of saloon singer one wouldn’t normally associate with MTV. But then Tony Bennett is so damn pre-eminent in his field that he’s often rated above even Sinatra, in terms of both his jazz-leaning and his technical skills.

What’s frequently forgotten is that by popularising Hank Williams’ song ‘Cold, Cold Heart’ Bennett also opened the major record company’s eyes to the potential for “minority appeal music” such as hillbilly and blues in the early ’50s. Likewise, by belting out – a la Louis Armstrong and Johnny Ray – songs like ‘Rags To Riches’ he paved the way for the integration of black vocal inflections into popular music of the rock ’n’ roll era.

So, I’ve no problem with Bennett’s graceful presence gracing MTV unplugged, particularly after his stunning show in Dublin’s National Concert Hall last year which was a stripped-down masterclass for rock, pop, jazz, trad and classical musicians alike.

Here he uses the same sublime trio, with Ralph Sharon on piano, Dough Richeson on bass and Clayton Cameron on drums. And they set ever-so-slight yet just-right rhythmic and melodic lines against Bennett’s still seamless legato. If you think k.d. is a great singer she’s clearly met more than her match with Bennett on ‘Moonglow’. Likewise a noticeably strained Elvis-as-crooner is relegated to the second rank of singers – of this type anyway – on ‘They Can’t Take That Away From Me’.

Bennett’s breath control really is astounding, especially during ‘I Left My Heart In San Francisco’ when he runs together the two lines “it waits for me/when I come home to you San Francisco.” Clearly his bel canto training is the key, though the Miles Davis/Bono improvisations before the coda of ‘The Girl I Love’ are more than a little indulgent, and in bad taste.

Listening to these songs one also is reminded of Tony Bennett’s claim that Tin Pan Alley tunes were “the apotheosis of popular music this century.” In terms of his much-beloved economy of line (both musical and lyrical) and classical structures they are – even if the subject matter is relatively limited. Yet were there many rock songs as sensual as ‘Speak Low’? Or a rock polemic as pointed as the anti-materialistic ‘The Good Life’? Probably not.

Apart from the magnificent 4 CD set ‘The Artistry Of Tony Bennett’, this collection is close to an ideal introduction to a singer who undoubtedly is one of the towering vocal talents of the 20th century. It is fitting that this fact is being recognised before the guy dies.

• Joe Jackson