STANDARD SONGS Mom would be proud to hear Aiello's album

The 70-year-old actor-singer doesn't read music.
HARTFORD COURANT
Danny Aiello's mother always wanted him to sing.
"I see you act around the house all the time," the 70-year-old actor remembers his mother saying.
Now, with "I Just Wanted To Hear the Words," his album of standards, Aiello feels he's kept faith with his mother, Frances, who died in 1988.
The album is selling well, and somewhere, somehow, his mother knows of its success, Aiello says.
Speaking by phone from his Saddle River, N.J., home, Aiello talks about his album and fans' reaction with the sense of wonder of a 7-year-old who finds everything he wanted and more under the Christmas tree.
"I can't believe it. I cannot believe it," says Aiello, who does not read music. "They put me in a booth, and I just started to sing. I couldn't see the musicians."
The musicians, Aiello says, found his keys and filled in around his singing.
Still, the relatively unstructured recording session yielded a disc on the IN2N label that has been praised by critics and taken its place on the traditional jazz chart.
"I reached No. 4," Aiello said. His singing has been compared with that of Tony Bennett and Bobby Darin.
"People are telling other people to get this album," Aiello says.
Having previously resisted the idea, he finally agreed to record the album. "I felt this was the last time. If it didn't happen now, it will never happen."
His choices
Aiello culled the 14 songs from 80 of his favorites. "I picked the ones that left the greatest impression," he said.
Although he sings familiar tunes such as "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows," he largely steered clear of the signature songs of famous singers. For now, he's content to sing Bennett's "Rags to Riches" in the shower.
Aiello recognizes that celebrities often risk embarrassment when they step outside their areas of expertise.
For years, he refused to record because he feared he'd be accused of making a "vanity record." That happened to his friend Telly Savalas about 30 years ago. People criticized the "Kojak" star for taking a Sinatra-like pose on "Telly," he says.
And he knows there are many talented singers who can't get recording contracts, just as there are skilled actors who can't get roles. "That bothers me. It does," says Aiello.
Still, he won't apologize about getting a chance to make a record that he believes stands on its own: "My songs, in my opinion, honor the people who wrote them."