I Left My Heart In San Francisco

Eleven years after his first chart hit, Tony Bennett found his signature number in a bittersweet ode to a West Coast city penned by George Cory and Douglass Cross. The singer’s recording of “(I Left My Heart) In San Francisco” became an immediate standard, earning him a gold record as well as a pair of GRAMMY Awards. The tune was the centerpiece of Bennett’s 1962 album of the same title, a collection that reflected his newly regained sense of creative direction. Balancing romantic balladry with exuberant upbeat material, Bennett\'s at the top of his game here. Songs like “Tender Is the Night,” “Have I Told You Lately?,” and “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” are rendered with his distinct blend of suavity and sincerity. With the assistance of producer Ernest Altschuler and arranger/pianist Ralph Sharon, Bennett stretches out stylistically, embracing a bossa nova reworking of “Love for Sale” and veering into country territory for “Candy Kisses.” His smoldering take on “The Best Is Yet to Come” is at once urgent and classy. If there were any doubts that Bennett is a singer for the ages, this knockout album puts them to rest for good.

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.