Battle Ground musician played for Bennett

While Fred Forney didn’t have close contact with Tony Bennett, he was lead trumpet player in a big band behind the great crooner one time in the mid 1980s.

Now living in Battle Ground, Forney said he was in his late 20s and working as a professional freelance trumpeter in the Phoenix, Ariz., area when he got the call.

“In those days, you could make a living playing the trumpet,” said Forney, who has also played with talents like Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney and Mel Torme. “Show business was roaring.”

Bennett was such a pro, Forney said, he only needed one rehearsal with the local, quickly assembled band.

“We had one rehearsal, we went to dinner, we did the show,” Forney said.

While Forney had no direct contact with Bennett, he said he was inspired by the close encounter anyway.

“As a vocalist, he made you believe the lyric. His sense of rhythm and sense of swing were so great,” Forney said. “Sometimes he would float a lyric and melody, and sometimes he would swing really hard. The way he did that was just mindblowing.

“The artistic quality of the way he sang,” Forney remembered. “The class he exhibited all the time. He was first rate. Always professional.”