Hello, Mr Bennett, sir. Tony feels insufficiently reverential. What do people call you?  Oh, I loved it. It was so different, so educational. In Singapore, for instance, as the plane lands they say: "If you're coming into this country with any drugs, the penalty is death."  That's a pretty stern warning.  Well, I think it [legalising of drugs] should be done everywhere. It eliminates the underworld.  If they had been legal in the 70s, would that have affected your experiences with drugs? (2)  As a young boy I did a lot of foolish things. I made a lot of mistakes. And you live and learn. I'm very content now. I'm just being a normal human being.  It's been 50 years since you won your first Grammy, for I Left My Heart in San Francisco. Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Charles were there at the ceremony …  That was one of the first times the Grammys were on – since then I've received 17 Grammys. I love it because it's the only time the music world has a convention, and you meet everyone that you know and love.  You must have mixed with them all.  I lived for 15 years in Los Angeles and I still can't believe that the handsomest man in the world, Cary Grant, and the greatest performer in the world, Fred Astaire, and Johnny Carson, one after another – they were all in my home at different times. I celebrated my 50th birthday with them. Unforgettable.  Did any of them do anything in your home that you've had to keep secret?  No. But once Dean Martin was in his home, having this mad party, and he was trying to study his lines for a television show so he called up the police and said: "I'm Dean Martin's neighbour and there's too much noise coming from his house. Have the police come and slow down the party." And the police came and broke the party up and he got rid of everybody in the house.  Someone once wrote: "Sinatra was hip, but Tony was cool."  I never heard that. I thought he was pretty cool. He was 10 years older than I was and he was my idol, and when he announced that I was his favourite singer, it made all of his fans come and check me out. I've been sold out ever since.  Were you nervous when you first met him?  Yeah. I respected him so much. I respected Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. Those were my heroes, and they were 10 years older than I was. To this day, I can't believe I got to meet Ella personally. Nat Cole was a great friend, and Sinatra endorsed me throughout his whole life.  In terms of the development of 20th-century music: Sinatra or Presley?  You can't compare them. Presley is country music, white music. Jazz is black music – it was invented by the blacks in New Orleans. And I'm really a jazz singer. I was impressed with Elvis – he was the handsomest guy I ever met in my life, and a very nice person, too. But the music doesn't impress me.  How does Amy Winehouse (3) compare to the Ellas and Lena Hornes and Billie Holidays?  You can't compare, but she was an authentic jazz singer, which is tremendous because jazz has been underrated. There's still so much bigotry.  You were once invited to go and sing in Harlem with Billie Holiday, but didn't go ...  It was one night when she asked me to come up and sing with her and I was with a group of people at a table, and they looked at me as if to say: "Don't go up to Harlem, it's not safe there." And it was very bigoted. I regret it to this day that I didn't go.  Is it true you were so moved by Charlie Parker the first time you saw him play live, you threw up?  Yeah, I regurgitated. It was so phenomenal, so emphatic … It was more music than I ever heard anyone play at one time. I just couldn't believe how great it was.  Do you think subsequent generations might have had that response to Jimi Hendrix or Kurt Cobain?  It's a different thing. You have to understand, Charlie Parker, that music lasts for ever. It's like Louis Armstrong – some of the records he made with different orchestras, the orchestras sound old-fashioned but Louis sounds like today, right now. Classical trumpet players in symphonic orchestras would listen to him and say, "How did he do that?" and try to learn how to play like him.  Who else has had that effect?  As an entertainer, I think Jimmy Durante (4). He was better than anybody. He tried to make people feel good. I like that. I could have retired 20 years ago, but I didn't because I like to make people feel good.  For a fun night out, Judy Garland or Lady Gaga?  Both of them are good. Lady Gaga is the Picasso of the entertainment world. She's very intelligent.  You're known as a natty dresser. But do you ever pop out in jeans and an old cardie?  I was honoured last year as the Best Dressed Man in Britain (5). It was quite a compliment. I have relaxed clothes, but people don't see me in them. I'm a painter, I have a studio and it can be messy so I wear a smock.  If you went out for a pint of milk in that smock probably nobody would recognise you.  I wouldn't do that. People who do that are ridiculous. My mum taught me as a child, even though we were very poor, she said: "Put on a nice clean white shirt and nice black pants and you'll be OK."  Which would be more painful to give up: singing or painting?  Both of them. If something happened with me physically, I would still love to spend the rest of my life painting. I've never worked a day in my life. People don't believe that, but it's true. I love what I'm doing because I'm doing the two things I love. I never felt in my whole life like, "I don't feel like doing that today". I wake up and I can't wait to paint and I can't wait to learn something about music.  How many presidents have you met?  I think about 13. No, 10. I didn't sing for Nixon, I was in Europe at the time and had to pass on the invitation.  Who was the most impressive?  President Clinton. You could walk up to him with your hands in your pocket and say,:"Hi, Bill." You don't say "Mr President", you don't bow. He's a regular person.  You once described your experience in the second world war as "a front seat in hell".  It's legalised murder. I'm anti-war. Life is more beautiful than that. Guys who create wars should get their hands slapped.  Did you have a difficult childhood?  Yeah, we grew up during the Depression. My mother worked a penny a dress to put food on the table for her three children because my father died when I was very young. It was very tough.  How do you keep up with your wife, by the way? I've read that she's variously 33 and 40 years younger than you … (6)  We get along beautifully. We started schools all over America, we now have 17 where we support the performing arts (7). She's a magnificent person and I love everything about her.  She must keep you young.  Sony Music releases The Classics on 18 November.  (1) He has just, age 87, been performing in Shanghai  (2) Bennett nearly died from drug abuse in the late 70s  (3) Just before Winehouse's death, she and Bennett recorded a duet together  (4) The Schnoz died in January 1980  (5) Bennett was one of GQ's Men of the Year in 2008  (6) Susan Crow was born in 1966, although some sources say she is 53-4  (7) He founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in 2001
The jazz crooner on partying with Dean Martin, meeting 10 US presidents, and why Charlie Parker made him puke