Tony Bennett's Carnegie Hall debut was a benefit concert for Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1961. But it was his second Carnegie concert, on June 9th 1962, that takes center stage in the legacy of live musical performances. The concert received the full Broadway treatment – it was directed by two celebrated practitioners of stage and screen - Oscar-nominated Arthur Penn and Tony-nominated Gene Saks. And although Bennett’s music is widely associated with jazz today, in 1962 he was considered a “popular music” artist, and for this reason it was a rather unusual occasion for "The Hall" – which featured its first pop concert only a year earlier, when Judy Garland performed and recorded her now legendary concert there. Mr. Bennett’s was only the second such presentation, and fittingly he was at the top of his game – artistically, and athletically – Bennett sang one song after another in clockwork fashion for the capacity audience over the course of more than two hours, with the crisp accompaniment of his favorite pianist Ralph Sharon and a full orchestra. Mr. Bennet's extraordinary popularity motivated Columbia Records to fast-track the release of the recording less than a year later although only half of the concert’s 44 songs were released.
Mr. Bennett would go on to perform at Carnegie Hall more than 20 times but the world would have to wait more than 30 years to hear the entire 1962 production, which was released in entirety, in 1997. Listen to an excerpt from Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall, here.