Tales of Tony, Part 1

Zanzibar and Grill, 1989

The Co-Authors, c2010. Photo by Alan Nahigian; special thanks to Robert Isaiah

In 1989, just as my first big book on music, Jazz Singing, was about to be published, I got a call from Tony Bennett.  Someone had sent him a copy of the book in galley form, and he called to tell me how much he liked it. I was out of the apartment, so my then-wife answered; she told me that as soon as she heard him say, “Is Will Friedwald there?,” she immediately thought to herself, “Hey! This guy sounds like Tony Bennett!”

When we first spoke, he told me how much he enjoyed the book, and offered to give me a blurb for the back cover. He also invited me to hang out with him - I forget if it was that very night or a few evenings hence - to hear the pianist and bandleader Roy Gerson at the old Zanzibar and Grill, which was only a few blocks from me on 550 Third Avenue, near 36th Street - right up the block from Sarge’s, everybody’s favorite local deli.

It was a typical night out with Tony.  Normally, when he went to hear music, he didn’t talk much, at least in my experience.  He would always take out one of his sketch pads, and was focused almost entirely on both drawing and listening; his eyes were on the pad, and his ears were on the music.

Tony introduced me to four people, all of whom, like Tony himself, would become very important in my life.  The first was his wonderful fiancee, Susan Crow; they were already inseparable, as they would be for the rest of Tony’s long life.  Then there was Duke Niles, whom I would only meet on that one occasion.  Duke was an old-time Brill Building songplugger, and he dressed the part, in a suit and hat that had been fashionable in 1964 and still was in 1989. It was Duke who had steered Tony’s attention to the French song, “The Good Life.”  Tony was exceedingly loyal, and always invited Duke out whenever he could.

That was the night I met Roy Gerson; he was, and is one of my good friends, a marvelous piano player and bandleader who impressed a lot of people who it wasn’t easy to impress, like Tony, Rosemary Clooney, Jule Styne, John Pizzarelli, and Michael Feinstein.  Roy lives in Florida now but he has a new album coming out at this point (July 2023) that he wants me to annotate.

Charles DeForrest was also part of the group at the table.  Those of us who knew him, most of all Tony, considered Charles one of the great figures of contemporary American music, an excellent singer-pianist who entertained at saloons all over the East Side, and who was an excellent songwriter besides.  Tony had fallen in love with Charles’s song “When Do The Bells Ring For Me,” and he wanted to make it the centerpiece of his forthcoming album, Astoria: Portrait of the Artist, released in 1990.  Before they were finished, there would be two additional songs by Charlie on the album as well. 

I would hear Charles many times over the next six or seven years, before he died in 1996 at 72. Other music-loving buddies and musicians, like Eric Comstock, Christopher Gines, Jack Lewin, Loren Schoenberg, and Steve Ross all shared my opinion.  He was an equally gifted musician, vocalist, and composer who, despite having personal and professional connections with many major figures in the music business - like Tony Bennett and Benny Goodman, whom he sang with in the 1960s, never became known beyond the habitues of those upscale boîtes.  I’ll write at length about Charles at some point, but suffice it to say he was the very picture of the piano man whom Billy Joel wrote so touchingly about in his song of that title - in fact, Charles makes a cameo in the “Piano Man” video.

It was a prophetic night.  None of us knew at the time, but Tony’s relationship with Duke Niles would prove to be exceedingly important to me in particular: a few years later.  When Tony and I wrote our book together, it was his idea to title it, The Good LIfe.

Note: The title of my favorite song in A Strange Loop is “These Are My Memories.” This is my memory, as best I can remember it. I apologize if my memories are not 100% accurate, or they don’t line up with someone else’s memories of the same event. 

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SLOUCHING TOWARDS BIRDLAND is a SubStack newsletter by Will Friedwald.  The best way to support my work is with a paid subscription, for which I am asking either $5 a month or $50 per year.  Thank you for considering. Word up, peace out, go Forth and Sin no more!

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Upcoming events:

Wednesday, July 26
7:00PM (EST) - The New York Adventure Club presents
'Heroes of Cabaret (Friends of Mabel):
History of the Uniquely New York Art Form' Webinar
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Wednesday, July 26
9:30PM (EST) - Will Friedwald's CLIP JOINT:
A TONY BENNETT MEMORIAL
no cover charge!
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Saturday, July 29
10:00AM Pacific Time / 1:00PM Eastern Time
KSDS San Diego Presents
Remembering TONY : TONY BENNETT Sings the songs of 
Van Heusen, Burke, Cahn, Styne, Sondheim, Comden & Green
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Thursday, August 3
6:00PM (EST) - Will Friedwald's CLIP JOINT presents:
THE TONY BENNETT BIRTHDAY MARATHON
no cover charge!
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