When I was growing up, The Righteous Brothers sang “Rock And Roll Heaven,” and the opening stanza went like this, “If you believe in forever / Then life is just a one-night stand / If there’s a rock and roll heaven / Well you know they’ve got a hell of a band, band, band.” The song went on to remind us of Janis Joplin, Jim Croce, Bobby Darin and Otis Redding, great artists who forever left their imprint upon music. I have been privileged the past couple of months in getting to know singer Sylvia Bennett, who also performed and recorded with two individuals who have forever left their imprint upon music, and by doing so, have changed the world of music forever, the late Lionel Hampton and tenor saxophonist Boots Randolph. Sylvia Bennett took time to discuss with me her current CD Songs From The Heart, Featuring: The Three Tenors, the time that she spent with both Hampton and Randolph and the influence of producer Hal S. Batt.
In the liner notes for her CD, is an excerpt from something Boots Randolph once said about Sylvia Bennett, “I can understand why Lionel Hampton loved working with Sylvia Bennett. I too like the way she sings on the beat and the wonderful clarity of her voice. She really knows how to phrase a song, and she sings from the heart.”
Bennett says, “I have had the privilege of working with legends, Boots Randolph and Lionel Hampton. There are so many talented people in the world today and for them to be able to work with me, and to feel that way about what I do, is just humbling. Sometimes words cannot really express how you feel, when somebody responds to you like that, because it means so much.”
I confessed to Bennett during our conversation, that when her CD first arrived in the mail, my initial reaction was, ‘Not another album of standards,’ but Songs From The Heart, is not just another studio regurgitation of dusty tunes, it is a very special recording, from a very gifted artist.
Bennett says, “I think that a great song will last forever, and it is timeless. It shows you the depth and the wealth of music that was created, so many years ago. The songs keep coming back over and over again, with different people interpreting them. A lot of people grew up listening to Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, who sang all of these timeless standards. Music today is going to another spot, and I feel like everything that is old, is new again. These songs were created to say so much, and yet (at the same time), they are so general, that everybody can relate to them. Just like this record, it seems that the songs cross generations. Everybody enjoys a love song, when it is done properly. When I look at a song, I don’t even think about whom else recorded it. I respond to the song, in the way that it touches my heart. It is in that way, that I am able to express myself (through these songs).”
From north to south and east to west, Sylvia Bennett’s interpretation of these timeless classics by George and Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers, Woodrow “Buddy” Johnson, and others, have struck a chord with listeners and program directors. For good measure, she included on her CD, “I Still Love You,” a tune that she co-wrote with Hal Batt.
“Anytime that you can get an album in, and you can’t help but add seven of the twelve tracks to your play list, you know you’ve got a great album! It’s a can’t miss combination of a beautiful silky voice, and the sensuous sound of three of the all time best sax men in the business, that does it,” says Paul Richards the Program Director for radio station, WHLI, in New York, when discussing Songs From The Heart.
Consider the comments from Miami’s Edward Blanco, at WDNA, “Songs From The Heart, is not just another jazz vocals album, it is a ground breaking project. Sylvia Bennett creates a perfect marriage of voice and sax, singing wonderful jazz love songs, as she is helped by a cast of luminaries. Bennett charms her way into your heart.”
There is a sensitivity, and a deep connection between Bennett, Batt and the songs that you will hear as Songs From The Heart spins, and that connection, owes its origins, in part, to lessons learned during the ten years that Bennett toured with, and recorded with, vibes legend Lionel Hampton, and the close relationship that existed between Bennett, Hampton and Batt.
