Tony Bennett will soon turn 90 and—no surprise—his voice no longer glides as smoothly across the notes as in his youth or middle years. Bennett, however, is still exemplary, an influence on younger generations of performers and a vocalist who muses empathetically over the words he sings. On Silver Lining, he returns to a familiar format, singing with the accompaniment of a jazz pianist—in this case, Bill Charlap. The material comes from the songbook of Jerome Kern, whose melodies helped define America in the 1930s and ’40s. Bennett knows those songs well and caresses them with care.
