Wilson celebrates jazzy 70th

NEW YORK — Nancy Wilson is hardly the retiring type, even though she is trying to spend more time with her grandchildren these days.

Last year, the singer retired from touring, but she continues to record — her last album "Turned to Blue" won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album earlier this year — and perform selected concert dates.

Last Friday, she found herself sharing the Carnegie Hall stage with many old friends — including three of the top vocalists on the current jazz scene, Nnenna Freelon, Dianne Reeves and Kurt Elling, as well as guest musicians such as violinist Regina Carter — for a concert called "Nancy Wilson's Swinging 70th Birthday Party," a highlight of this year's JVC Jazz Festival.

"It's really fine to let everyone know what 70 can be," said Wilson, whose birthday actually was Feb. 20, at the start of a program celebrating milestones in her 55-year career. "It doesn't get much better than this."

After Freelon spiritedly swung her way through "They Can't Take That Away From Me," the younger singer took the opportunity to thank Wilson for mentoring her years ago, calling her "an angel in my life."

Turning to the svelte, silver-haired Wilson, she quipped, "If this is what 70 is all about, I can't wait."

Elling paid tribute to the 1962 "Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley" album, considered among the best jazz vocal recordings of all time, by performing the soulful "Save Your Love for Me."

Pianist Herbie Hancock completely reharmonized Cole Porter's romantic ballad "I Love You" in honor of Wilson. Then he made a little history of his own by playing accompanist to Wilson for the first time as she sang the ballad "Old Folks" — a sentimental reflection on respect for one's elders and their memories — from her latest Grammy-winning CD.

In a particularly touching moment, Wilson asked her manager, the 95-year-old John Levy, to take a bow from his seat. Levy, a former jazz bassist, made history as the first black to work as a personal manager in the pop and jazz music industry. He has represented such stars as Wilson, Adderley, Hancock, George Shearing and Roberta Flack.

As a manager, he has been "honest and caring more about me than he did about the business," Wilson said, noting they have worked together without a contract since 1959. She then sang the emotive heartfelt ballad "I Wish I'd Met Him" to Levy.