Frankly, I had modest expectations for this documentary “conceived” by Tony Bennett’s son Danny, a music producer who reinvented his father as a more benevolent Frank Sinatra, smoothly introducing the Great American Songbook to younger generations.
But there are some real surprises in this Unjoo Moon-directed film centering around Bennett’s recording sessions for his 2011 “Duets II” album.
Chief among them is what turns out to be Amy Winehouse’s final recording session before her death from a drug and alcohol overdose at the age of 27. When she blows a few takes of their “Body and Soul” duet, Bennett calmly mentions Dinah Washington (who also died young) and draws out the quite possibly high Winehouse to an inspired performance.
Between duets with the likes of Lady Gaga, Aretha Franklin, Norah Jones, John Mayer and Michael Bublé, the now 86-year-old Bennett waxed philosophical about his long career and his life, including his Army service during World War II’s bloody Battle of the Bulge. Like with any great singer, it’s often the telling pauses of the man born Anthony Benedetto that say the most in “The Zen of Bennett.”