Tony Bennett's jazz art

An oil painting of jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie by singer Tony Bennett.

As a young student growing up in Astoria, Queens, Bennett nurtured artistic expression both through music and art.

"All my relatives said, 'We love the way you sing, and we like the way you paint,'" Bennett told CBS News' Anthony Mason. "So it created a passion in me to sing and paint. And to this day, every day, I study music and art. And I love it."

John Coltrane and Miles Davis

John Coltrane and Miles Davis, in gouache and India ink, by Tony Bennett.

Bennett attended the High School of Industrial Art in Manhattan, not far from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he studied the works of masters like Rembrandt.

"I had a wonderful teacher who said, 'You know, you're a very good singer,'" Bennett told CBS News' Anthony Mason. "And he got all the other teachers mad at him, 'cause [I'm] supposed to be studying art, not music!"

Following the war, Bennett took vocal classes at the American Theatre Wing, and launched a staggeringly successful singing career. But painting was never far behind.

Candido Camero

Cuban-born percussionist Candido Camero, in a watercolor by Tony Bennett.

Monty Alexander

Monty Alexander performs in an oil painting by Tony Bennett.

Louis Armstrong

An oil and scratchboard portrait by Tony Bennett - what better medium for the great Satchmo?

"The gentleman who was the king, who taught us all how to entertain properly, was a fella called Louis Armstrong," Bennett said. "And to this day he's my biggest influence. I listen to his records and I feel so good and I feel, I want to sing like this also. I like that tempo. I like how much feeling he's putting behind it."

Central Park Jam Session

"Central Park Jam Session," a watercolor by Tony Bennett.

Bennett's Studio

At his New York City art studio, Tony Bennett displays his works for singer Lady Gaga and CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason.

"I paint every day," Bennett said. "And I have wonderful teachers: Everett Kinstler, who's a great portrait painter, and Charles Reid, who is a fantastic painter."

Ralph Sharon

Ralph Sharon, who was Tony Bennett's music director. "We were in Little Rock, Arkansas," Bennett recalled, "and we were on our way to San Francisco for the first time. He said, 'I found this song that some friends of mine wrote. Why don't we try it out?'

"I was rehearsing in the afternoon in this nightclub. And the bartender said, 'I don't wanna interrupt you two fellows, but if you ever record that, I'm gonna be the first guy to buy the record.' And we felt a little encouraged! And when I got to San Francisco at rehearsal, I started singing it, everybody ran up to me and said, 'You've gotta record this song.'

"Most artists that are connected with one famous thing, they get upset: Why should it just be one thing? What about all the other things that I do? But I feel different. I love 'San Francisco,' the song. I sing it every night like it was the first time I ever sang it."

Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn

An oil painting of composers Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn by Tony Bennett.

Frank Sinatra

In a 1965 Life magazine interview Frank Sinatra (left) said, "For my money, Tony Bennett's the best in the business."

"He changed my career," Bennett told Mason. "All of his fans wanted to find out about what he was talking about. And from that day on, I've been sold out everywhere in the world."

He recalled advice the Chairman of the Board gave the young Bennett, who at that time had only his first hit record, and an offer to do a summer replacement TV show: "I had never met him. When I got in his dressing room he said, 'What's it all about, kid?' (He kept calling me kid his whole life!) I said to him, 'I'm completely nervous. I'm going on network television. And I'm frightened.' And he gave me the best device: 'If people see that you're frightened, they're gonna come up closer and help you even more.'

"And he changed my whole attitude. The public is not an enemy. They're your friends. You perform for them, and the more you perform for them, the more they go for it. He taught me how to perform just with that one sentence."

Doug Richardson

A sketch of Doug Richardson.

Duke Ellington

Bennett's favorite artwork is this watercolor of Duke Ellington, subtitled, "God Is Love."

Ella Fitzgerald

This watercolor and gouache of singer Ella Fitzgerald is one of three Tony Bennett artworks in the collection of the Smithsonian. He also has a painting at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio.

"So I have this other career going of paintings, and I just love it," he told CBS News' Anthony Mason.

"Yeah, it's great to have two things that you love, to be able to go back and forth between," said Mason.

"I'm gettin' away with it!" Bennett laughed.

"Jazz Sketch"

"Jazz Sketch" by Tony Bennett.

Sammy Cahn

Lyricist Sammy Cahn, whose contributions to the Great American Songbook include "Come Fly With Me," "It's Been a Long, Long Time," and "Three Coins in the Fountain."

Paul Horn

Jazz flautist and New Age music artist Paul Horn performed on Tony Bennett's latest album, a collaboration with Lady Gaga of jazz standards, "Cheek to Cheek." Horn passed away this past summer at age 84.

Pori Jazz Festival

A work by Tony Bennett for the Pori Jazz Festival in Pori, Finland.

"The whole world loves jazz," Bennett said. "The best music that ever came out of America is American jazz.

Monty Alexander

A sketch of Monty Alexander by Tony Bennett.

Quincy Jones

Composer and music producer Quincy Jones, in a watercolor by Tony Bennett.

Bennett signs his paintings with his birth name, Benedetto.

Louis Prima

A watercolor of Louis Prima, "The Chief of New Orleans," by Tony Bennett.

Jazz

"I'm 88 -- I know everybody doesn't realize that. But I just really feel that I can get better as I get older, if I'm lucky enough to. I'm very healthy right now and I'm hoping to stay healthy, and if I get that lucky, I'm convinced that I can get better as I get older."