Tony Bennett - The Essential Tony Bennett [Columbia/Legacy]

Like most entries in Sony/Legacy's Essential series, 2002's The Essential Tony Bennett is an excellent, exhaustive retrospective of a lengthy, hit-filled career at Columbia. Although Bennett spent time at other labels -- particularly in the '70s -- he made his best-known and greatest recordings for Columbia, from the late '50s through the '90s, which is what provides the bulk of the material here. Though this skips through the '70s material, it does provide what amounts to Bennett at his best, whether it's on "Rags to Riches" and "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" in the '60s, or on latter-day classics like "Steppin' out with My Baby." Bennett surely recorded more great material than can fit on a two-disc, 40-track collection, but this contains the cream of the crop and it's hard to imagine a collection like this being executed better than this. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Name Credits Al Cohn Sax (Tenor) Al Ham Producer Allen Stanton Producer André Fischer Producer Bobby Hackett ? Clayton Cameron Drums Cy Coleman Conductor Danny Bennett Executive Producer, Producer Darren Salmieri A&R David Kahne Producer Didier C. Deutsch Compilation Producer Don Costa Conductor, Arranger Ernie Altschuler Producer Ettore Stratta Producer Frank de Vol Conductor, Arranger George Siravo Arranger, Conductor Glenn Osser Conductor, Arranger Gray Sargent Guitar Herman Leonard Cover Photo Howard Fritzson Art Direction Howard Roberts Producer Jimmy Rowles Piano Joe La Barbera Drums Johnny Keating Arranger, Conductor Johnny Mandel Conductor, Arranger Jorge Calandrelli Conductor Mark Unterberger Packaging Manager Mark Wilder Mastering Marty Manning Conductor, Arranger Mitch Miller Producer Paul Langosch Bass Percy Faith Conductor, Arranger Phil Ramone Producer Ralph Burns Arranger, Conductor Ralph Sharon Piano, Arranger Ray Conniff Arranger, Conductor Risa Zaitschek Noah Design Robert Farnon Conductor, Arranger Sandy Speiser Photography Seth Foster Mastering Stephen Moore Project Director Steven Berkowitz Compilation Producer, A&R Teo Macero Producer Tommy Flanagan Piano Tony Bennett Producer Torrie Zito Conductor, Arranger