Like
The Art of Excellence
, the album that marked
Tony Bennett
's return to recording in 1986,
Astoria: Portrait of the Artist
was a non-thematic collection of new and old songs on which
Bennett
was backed both by his regular trio, led by pianist
Ralph Sharon
, and
the U.K. Orchestra
.
's new songwriting discovery was
Charles DeForest
, three of whose songs --
"When Do the Bells Ring for Me,"
"Where Do You Go from Love,"
and
"I've Come Home Again"
-- were included, along with songs by the
Gershwins
Jerome Kern
,
standards
like
"Body and Soul,"
and even a re-recording of
's initial
Columbia
recording,
"The Boulevard of Broken Dreams."
That recording had come in 1950, and the point of
Astoria
(which featured a cover photo of the young
in the old neighborhood, with
today standing in the same spot on the back) was to celebrate that 40-year anniversary while looking into both the past and the future, a task it accomplished admirably. ~ William Ruhlmann