Artist who collaborated with Tony Bennett says his life was ‘powerful at the end’ | ABCNL

artist David Khan who collaborated with

Tony Bennett and knew him well produced

three of his original albums and won a

Grammy with him thank you so much for

joining us here and of course our

deepest condolences to you on the loss

of your friend

thank thank you

of course and Dave you've produced songs

and albums with many great artists but

what was it like what was so uniquely

wonderful to work with Tony Bennett

he was a professional at a level that

you don't hardly ever see maybe three or

four times in your life

we would do a session

I was remembering today uh on the here's

to the Ladies album and he wasn't

singing his big note at the end and I

realized

he was not singing it because the

trumpet Soul wasn't good and he was

looking at it as an entire performance

and I went and talked to the trumpet

player and the trumpet player did a good

and Tony nailed his big note we were

done

everybody clapped he was just you he

just gave a complete performance and he

knew every single note that he was going

to hit and

at the same time incredibly kind person

yeah what is the memory that you're

holding on to the most right now

the first thing I thought of was a day

we were working on you showed me the way

it was an Ella Fitzgerald song

and we'd finished it uh and we were in

the studio and he called Ella and she

got on the phone and she was on the

speakers and said he played her the song

and she was crying

said thank you T I love you

it was so nice and thinking of of the

the transfer from her to him to

everybody and how everybody shared and

the level of performance uh just

you don't get to experience that very

often but it was such a touching moment

between him and her

in about the 2015 album for the ladies

that you worked on him with yes

yeah yeah what a beautiful moment a

special memory also you produced a

grammy-winning MTV Unplugged album for

Bennett it was a little different sound

for him what do you and what did he

think about that project as it was

happening and then to win a Grammy

he had a blast and he was a

we didn't know what to expect

his son Danny uh helped set that up and

has been instrumental in in Tony's

career keeping things it's an amazing

job and we got over there and and the

singer started coming out and then and

then there we were at Grammys and

at one I

but it was it was great and it was a

great tribute to him and his entire

career up to that point

and then he went on to do tons of stuff

afterwards of course

yeah when talking about his voice

specifically I mean it's something else

right to wow your own peers but composer

Alec Wilder said that there's a quality

about his voice that lets you in what a

beautiful way to describe that you agree

yes he had that special thing that maybe

four people have had in my life as

singers where he sounds loud when he's

singing very quiet

and that's it was Flawless every note

you could hear over an entire Orchestra

even when he was singing quietly and

there was also his taste I asked him

once about his singing and he said he

used to follow the trombone players

which I thought was interesting because

they were more

fluid and that was where his phrasing

was from he wasn't listening to

saxophone players he said trombone

players

it's interesting a special year there

right yes

really was carefully cultivated

throughout his life Tony's family

especially his son Danny who became his

manager opened up Tony's music to a

whole different audience can you talk

about that

yes I was working at Columbia I was head

of Anar there and that's when I met

Danny and started working with him and

Tony and Danny took the reins and

organized everything and did a fantastic

job and Tony was so grateful and it

worked out perfect with all the Duets

all the work with Gaga

all the live shows everything just

masterful and and it made his life so

powerful at the end you know all the way

through we're memorializing Tony the

musician of course but Tony the person

even former president Barack Obama said

you know he Charmed generations with his

music but he also called him a good man

what do you want people to know about

him the man

he was sweet to everyone and if he got

frustrated he always took it upon

himself just to figure it out he never

acted out on anyone else and you could

be in with a hundred piece of Orchestra

and he would walk in and everybody would

just feel okay and if there was a

problem he let it get solved and he

brought it forward in a positive way

he was just a kind to everyone you know

when you go eat at a restaurant and he

would just be the way the waiter or

waitress would just feel like

so good I was with Tony and it was so

wonderful and they're probably still

talking about it today

I'm sure they are a lasting Legacy of

course David Khan thank you so much for

joining us and what I know is is a very

difficult time for you and all of those

who are close to him yes thank you very

much

hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here

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