I Left My Heart in San Francisco [An American Classic Celebrates 80]

Performer: Tony Bennett
Producer: Ernie Altschuler; Mitch Miller; Al Ham
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Also available in a 3-pack with THE ART OF EXCELLENCE and ASTORIA: PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST. Personnel: Tony Bennett (vocals); Candido . Along with his producer, Ernest Altschuler, and his arranger/pianist, Ralph Sharon, Tony Bennett had been searching for a repertoire and a musical approach beyond his long-gone pop work with Mitch Miller of the early '50s and his artistically pleasing but commercially dicey jazz work of the mid- to late '50s. It seemed to be a combination of Broadway songs and other contemporary material, carefully selected and arranged to show off Bennett's now-burnished vocals, which, as he approached the end of his thirties, were starting to be located in a more comfortable range closer to a baritone than a tenor. With this album, they found the key, not only by happening across a signature song in the title track, but also in the approach to songs like "Once Upon a Time," a gem from the flop musical All American, and Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's "The Best Is Yet to Come," which Bennett helped make a standard. (Frank Sinatra didn't do it until two years later.) From here on until the world changed again toward the late '60s, Bennett would not have to feel that he had to compromise his art for popularity, making up-tempo singles in an attempt to meet the marketplace while longing to do ballads and swing material instead. I Left My Heart In San Francisco, a gold-selling Top Ten hit that stayed in the charts almost three years, demonstrated that he could have it all. (Tony Bennett won two 1962 Grammy Awards for the title song: Record of the Year and Best Solo Vocal Performance, Male.) ~ William Ruhlmann Fully a decade after his first top hits, the enormous success of 1962's " I Left My Heart In San Francisco" finally established Tony Bennett as the preeminent male singer of his generation. While some of the tunes here might not be as distinguished as later work, (where Bennett would be able to excercise more clout) there are substantial offerings such as the near-transcendent "Once Upon A Time" and a thoughtful reprise of Nat "King" Cole's "Smile," complete with a lovely wordless soprano floating somewhere in the background. By this time, Bennett's slightly grainy baritone was a perfectly refined instrument; the increased confidence permeating his second interpretation of Cole Porter's "Love For Sale" (first heard on 1957's THE BEAT OF MY HEART) is infectious. A playful, off-meter reading of Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's aptly titled "The Best Is Yet To Come" closes the set in high style.

One of the finest voices of 20th century American pop, Tony Bennett began his career in the '50s, under the watchful eye of producer Mitch Miller, recording huge hits such as "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," and "Because of You." In 1958, his album BASIE SWINGS-BENNETT SINGS was a precursor to later jazz-based work. That same year, "Firefly" was Bennett's last US Top 40 entry until 1962, when he made a major comeback with the Grammy-winning "I Left My Heart In San Francisco." In '93 and '94 he was awarded Grammys for his albums PERFECTLY FRANK and STEPPIN' OUT.

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