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Clint Eastwood doesn't use the word "documentary" to refer to "Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends," a show he produced for PBS' "American Masters" series. He prefers the term "celebration."

"Documentaries have been done on him before," Eastwood said from his home in Carmel, Calif. "And they've been done well. There was no reason to do another one."

Eastwood, a music lover of the highest order, opted for a wider perspective: a show that would spotlight Bennett at the same time that it paid tribute to an entire era of singers.

"He's the last of the generation of the great American songbook singers," he said. "Our goal was to give viewers a feeling for that entire era."

Eastwood credits Bennett with the idea of broadening the scope.

"During one of our interviews, he mentioned Fred Astaire and how much he admired him as a performer," he said.

"One thing leads to another and pretty soon we're pulling clips of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra."

The show was directed by Bruce Ricker, who has served as a musical consultant on Eastwood's movies. Eastwood appears on camera in what are labeled interviews but are more like friendly chats. During one segment, Eastwood sits at a piano, noodling on the keys as they talk. Another time, they're sitting outdoors when Bennett, a lifelong visual artist, pulls out a notebook and starts drawing.

"There was a barn down below a hill, and he sat there sketching it," Eastwood said. "In retrospect, I wish I had included an inset of the drawing, because it was wonderful."

One of the things he is proud of is all the archival clips in the show.

"I really like those," he said. "It gives the audience an impression of what it was like back in the '40s and '50s when you had all these wonderful singers. From Ella Fitzgerald to Peggy Lee to Sinatra and Crosby, the list is endless. There were so many great singers in those days. We don't cultivate those kinds of singers these days."

Finding footage of them wasn't hard.

"Once you put the word out there, people start calling you," Eastwood said. "[Johnny] Carson's people called us. Merv Griffin's people called us. A lot of people were coming to us with stuff."

Because he didn't want this to be a run-of-the-mill documentary, he chose a different set of people to interview than one might expect. The subjects include Mel Brooks, Don Rickles and Martin Scorsese. All of them are connected to Bennett in some fashion, but you often have to wait to see what that is. For instance, Brooks was a guest on Carson's first "Tonight Show" along with Bennett.

"Everyone we asked said they would love to be involved," Eastwood said. "I remember approaching Alec Baldwin, who did a wonderful send-up of Tony on 'Saturday Night Live.' We were just picking different people."

Another unusual aspect is the editing of montages showing Bennett singing the same song over the decades. As we sit through 50 years of him performing "Fly Me to the Moon," it's amazing how little his voice has lost over time.

Eastwood isn't about to concede that Bennett's voice has lost anything.

"I think that at 81, or whatever he professes to be these days, he's definitely at his prime. I think he's singing better than he ever has."