Five Big Stars!!!!! SUPERB Bennet performances in a totally captivating set of carefully selected songwriting jewels. Spinning MESMERIZING performances, one after another, this is clearly one of Tony Bennet's best recordings and therefore an ESSENTIAL RECORDING for any fan of ballads, blues, and esoteric pop songs. Tony has a flair for finding little known tasteful songs that deserve more respect from singers and listeners. All songs are done up in fascinating Jorge Calandrelli arrangements played by a huge string laden orchestra which Jorge conducts. And yes, Ralph Sharon's amazing pianism and trio are here. Perfect!!

The beautiful opening song, "Why Do People Fall In Love?", is a soaring, lush triumph with a special surprise hidden at the end. Besides Tony, only Sarah Vaughn had the guts to sincerely tackle "So Many Stars", which got it's definitive reading from Lani Hall & Sergio Mendes, but Tony finds another wonderful slant on this cult classic. "Everybody Gets The Blues" is a 'Meeting of Titans' as Bennett and 'Brother' Ray Charles have a barrel of fun singing some very slick, humorous lyrics. "Moments Like This" is classic Bennett with Ralph Sharon's fabulous piano swinging lightly and so hard at the same time. "Moments.." had to bring a wide smile of admiration from Sinatra when he first heard it. "What Are You Afraid Of?" is after-dinner lushness of the highest order. Fred Astaire's "City of the Angels" gets the definitive reading of some clever lyrics by the great dancer. It's fun to drive around LA while listening to this very hip song. Fred (and Tony) nailed the experience!

The two 'Pieces D'Resistance' for me begin with "When Love Was All We Had" which starts off out of tempo and surges to a great crescendo. The alto saxophonist is absolutely splendid on the interlude. And the other is "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" with a spine-tingling ending as Tony pulls out all of the vocal stops. Amazing! But the entire CD is excellent. Five Big Stars!!!!!

(NOTE: There is a great foldout Annie Leibovitz photograph behind the CD photo cover. This review is written for the NEW Tony Bennett fans because the old fans bought the "Art of Excellence" CD years ago!! Welcome Aboard, new fans! You're so lucky!)

For you romantics out there, this is the best Tony Bennett album ever...in fact, one of the best albums period in any genre...The mix of Tony's voice, Ralph Sharon's piano and some of the best lyrics from the best American songwriters ever make for perfection...The nuances of Ralph Sharon's playing...and the feeling Tony puts into these love songs will make you fall in love. It's too bad Tony has kind of abandoned this type of music. It's rare and goes beyond what music is about.

The Art of Excellence is a selection of twelve songs which brings Tony's very soul to your heart. The best Why Do People Fall In Love and How Do You Keep The Music Playing, to date. Moments Like This, Forget The Woman and When Love Was All We Had are simply fantastic. You won't forget Forget The Woman and Everybody Has The Blues. 5 very big stars! Just buy it!

This is the kind of album that's best listened to with a glass of great wine in a comfortable chair. If there's a loved one nearby, "What are you afraid of?" is the cut to start with... however, if you do, you might end up not paying much attention to the rest of the album.

It's not often that I run into a record that contains more than one "peak experience." Burton Lane's rarely-performed "Moments Like This" is one of those. Between Bennett's delightful stylization and the remarkable talent of his combo combined with really amazing engineering (Ralph Sharon sounds particularly good on the Boesendorfer and Bennett's voice has an intimacy and restraint that comes through loud and clear) this album is a "Desert Island" choice for me. Bennett does justice to the Bergmans' lyrics "How do you keep the music playing" that's my personal all-time favorite performance of the song (with a nod to Barbra Streisand's return to her long-lost restraint on her version on "The Movie Album"). The strings soar on "I got lost in her arms" and it still takes my breath away after all these years.

Finally, as an avid jazz (and to a lesser degree, blues) fan who also sings, I've used "Everybody has the blues" in performance on a number of occasions to the delight of audiences. I've played this version (not composer James Taylor's) to give the bands a taste of how to stylize the song. I found it quite peculiar that Bennett left this one out of "Playin' with My Friends." I guess he and Ray Charles just wanted to do something else. "Everybody has the blues" is a romp that I'm sure astute Charles fans will buy the album for alone.

This album is among my personal "top 50" in my collection of over 1,800.

Lastly, this album should become a part of so many collections because of the delighfully peculiar intersection of Bennett's voice at the top of his game; Ray Charles' presence on the album (even more interestingly, doing a J.T. tune); and the choice of lesser-known but nonetheless delightful jazz "chestnuts" performed.

In my opinion, the review by Mr. Hibbert is lousy! He should get another job, how can he degrade this album! It's one of my very favorites. Tony's rendition of "How Do You Keep the Music Playing" is fantastic. I can close my eyes and hear him singing this song as he usually does when closing a show. And, Tony, never sings it the same twice! The song, "What Are You Afraid Of" is a favorite of both my mom and I, it's about the sexiest rendition of that song I've ever heard. Talk about bridging the generation gap! City of the Angels, Lost in Her Arms, all are fantastic.

Please disregard Mr. Hibbert's review and buy this one as his fans are the best judge of Mr. Bennett. I have a couple of this album, in the car, by my cassette radio to play and in the home unit.

Listen and Judge for Yourself! We luv Tony Bennett! Always.