TONY BENNET, UTAH SYMPHONY, DEER VALLEY MUSIC FESTIVAL, Deer Valley Amphitheater, Saturday

DEER VALLEY — Now that he's 81 years old, the big question about Tony Bennett is this — has he still got "it?"

Mostly, yes.

The octogenarian sang to a sold-out crowd at Deer Valley Saturday night for the closing concert of the Utah Symphony's Deer Valley Music Festival.

Bennett still sings with warmth, sincerity and showmanship in all of his songs. He's a true American classic, and the crowd thrilled to hear songs he made famous, such as "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" and "Cold, Cold Heart."

It took him a few songs to get warmed up, though.

During the first few numbers, as with "Steppin' Out With My Baby," Bennett's voice was noticeably hoarse. It also took him a few numbers to adjust to where to hold the microphone so that it wasn't too far away (and not picking up his voice) or too close (so that when he belted out a loud note it sounded like yelling into the mic).

By the time he got to the rousing "Sing, You Sinners," he was into the swing of things and able to deliver the goods — although his voice wasn't as smooth as in younger days and retained a little bit of scratchy sound.

"Just in Time," "For Once in My Life," "The Way You Look Tonight" and "The Shadow of Your Smile" were among the classic American Songbook selections he chose from.

Before Bennett took the stage (which was after intermission), the Utah Symphony completely packed up and left, and Bennett sang only with a jazz-quartet accompaniment (guitar, piano, drums, bass). The quartet was very good, playing tastefully and with an obvious skill that took care to complement the singer.

Since on many of Bennett's recordings he uses a symphony as backup, it's curious that — appearing on the Utah Symphony season — he wouldn't use the orchestra that's right there. Was it so he didn't tire his voice with extra rehearsals? Is it because it's harder to vocally keep up with such a large group?

Another unusual convention was how Bennett ended the evening. The closing song was a very slow, intimate, heartfelt "Fly Me to the Moon." Following that, the audience cheered and clapped for an encore but Bennett didn't oblige.

The first half of the program, which featured the Utah Symphony with conductor David Cho, was quite good, playing a number of medleys that featured different styles of American music — big-band swing, a "hoedown," selections from "Oklahoma" and an Americana grouping that ended with the national anthem.

Cho seemed pretty nervous at the mic, sometimes mixing up words and so forth, but did just fine once he turned around and picked up the baton. Also, during the big-band medley, he kept turning around during the piece to introduce each new song featured in the medley. Maybe it was because he felt awkward (and therefore sounded awkward), but it would have been better just to play through them, since there were quite a few, and most were tunes people would have recognized anyway.

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E-mail: rcline@desnews.com