I started performing in 1950. I’ve seen the whole music business change, from recording in monaural to stereo, to quadraphonic to digital, but I’ve always loved recording to two-track tape. It sounds much warmer, and I like going for the warmth. It’s very intimate, friendly, and simple; it doesn’t sound metallic or electronic. I think tape captures what the ear hears more accurately than a digital recording does. Tape reproduces sound with feeling, as if it’s being performed in a concert hall; for me, it’s the most natural sound possible.
Technology took a big leap when the microphone was invented. Bing Crosby invented the art of “intimate singing,” as he was able to hold a microphone up to his mouth and sing softly. It really made the public go crazy. The point is, he used the new technology in ways that brought out the best in his technique.
The important thing to understand is that technology can’t guarantee you a good take, or transform a take that isn’t good to one that’s better. It all boils down to how you’re singing that day, how much you’ve prepared, and how much talent you have to put into it. Sometimes we lose that notion, in this era of mixing and everyone recording single instruments in different rooms at different times. But it really isn’t about the technology at all—it’s all about the performance. That’s why, when I won the Grammy for the MTV Unplugged album, I made it a point to remind the audience during my acceptance speech that “I’ve always been unplugged.”
Years ago, artists and composers just wanted to capture a good, pure performance. I met Ira Gershwin once in my life, when I was at the Chappell Music offices. “Get that song for Mr. Bennett that I’m thinking of for him,” Ira said to his assistant, Frank Military. So Frank ran off, and when he came back, he said, “Mr. Gershwin, we not only have the music, but we have a record of it. And it’s in stereo!” Gershwin turned to him. “I don’t need stereo,” he said. “I have two ears.” Instead of worrying about the recording technique, he just wanted a good performance from the artist. That was all that mattered.
A lot of performers like to show off, but it’s not about how many notes you’re playing; instead, it’s how well you can construct a meaningful interpretation of a song. As far as I’m concerned, less is always more. My art teacher, Everett Kinstler, always reminds me that he doesn’t like paintings where the artist used twenty-seven different colors. As he often says, “John Singer Sargent used only six colors.” By doing something in a minimal way, you can get closer to the feeling of it. You don’t have to search for emotion; somehow it reveals itself when you keep it simple, and the work of art or the song ends up being soulful.
I insisted on recording all the duets albums live with my partners. This is not how albums are recorded today, but it keeps the performance vibrant. These days, most artists record all the instruments separately first, and add in the vocals later. But with jazz, everybody’s in the room, and we just play spontaneously. What you hear on those CDs is exactly what we put on tape that day.
That’s how I did all my recordings over the years—in the studio and live. My favorite studio was the CBS 30th Street Studio in New York. CBS converted a grand church into a recording space, because it had the most amazing acoustics. Artists from Toscanini to Duke Ellington to Bob Dylan made their best albums there. Sadly, CBS decided to sell the building, and it was torn down to make way for an apartment complex. (With its history, it should have been designated a landmark historic site and never touched. Corporate greed is everywhere we look, but we need to appreciate our American traditions and historic contributions in a much better way.)
Frank Laico, my recording engineer at 30th Street at the time, would set up the entire orchestra with my vocal mic placed right in the center so I could hear and feel every note. We would let the tape roll, and in one or two takes, we’d be done. We would complete a whole album’s worth of material in two days, tops. That’s why those records live and breathe to this day.
Most of the duet artists were shocked that we planned on recording everything in two or three takes—most artists might take twenty-five weeks to finish one record. But not all; Elton John sat down at the piano and did “Rags to Riches” in only one take. When the Dixie Chicks came in to sing “Lullaby of Broadway” with me, one of the band members, Emily Robison, wasn’t used to the way I recorded, but when they got going, they sang so well that it felt so natural. It was the first time they’d done a swinging tune, and it wound up selling millions of records. They were very pleased with the way it came out.
Natalie Cole found the live work in the studio very different, too, but she really enjoyed it. She noted that because you can’t keep the musicians there all day long while you figure out how to work the song, you really have to be on point with your material and do all of your preparation before getting to the studio, so you can hit the ground running. Josh Groban told me how much he enjoyed not having to worry about wearing earphones. It was a relief for him just being able to feel the energy and relative pitch in the room. Willie Nelson compared the way we taped the duets to working in a small club. He said he felt as if there were people sitting with a couple of drinks in front of them out there at the tables.
Overall, the reaction to recording live has been universally positive, despite the fact that nowadays everyone uses a very different method of laying down the material. I think it all comes back to the fact that you have to have a strong performance in order to get a good take. All the technology and mixing in the world can’t create something if the talent isn’t there in the first place.
The Zen of Bennett
If you win over the audience, then you’ve got it made—regardless of what management says.
You can’t get a good take from technology, or transform a bad take into something that’s good.
It all boils down to how you’re singing that day, and your preparation for it.
