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It was recorded in New York City, where Bennett and Gaga were accompanied by a live band and jazz musicians associated with both artists. In January 2013, the album was announced by both artists and started its recording process after Gaga recovered from a hip surgery. It was inspired by Bennett and Gaga's desire to introduce the songs to a younger generation, since they believed these tracks have a universal appeal. Cheek to Cheek consists of jazz standards by popular composers such as George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, and Irving Berlin. The two first met at the Robin Hood Foundation gala in New York City in 2011, and later recorded a rendition of " The Lady Is a Tramp" together, after which they began discussing plans of working on a jazz project. It is Bennett's fifty-eighth studio album, and Gaga's fourth. Or, if she can act, she’d make a fine Reno Sweeney for some Broadway producer, as she shows here with Bennett on “Anything Goes.” As for Tony, I look forward to his next album of duets, 10 years hence, with Ariana Grande.Cheek to Cheek is the first collaborative album by American singers Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, released on September 19, 2014, by Columbia and Interscope Records. A decade or two from now, if Madison Square Garden or the Barclays Center no longer want her, Café Carlyle will be happy to have her. I hope that this isn’t a one-off for Gaga, and that she keeps at the Great American Songbook. The December-May blend when she and Bennett harmonize is surprisingly sweet. Where she really shines is on ballads, including “But Beautiful,” probably my favorite track, and also her solo take on “Lush Life,” where she navigates the subtle melody and long, complicated phrases with grace and even delicacy.
Not that I think she’s condescending to the material (the way David Bowie has in similar circumstances) it’s more, I imagine, that she’s finding her way into the music. At other times, her vocal approach verges on camp-a wink here, a hint of melodrama there. On the swingier numbers, she tends to go big, brassing it up and belting out words as if she were Christina Aguilera trying to channel Shirley Bassey. Can she sing jazz-pop standards? Yes, quite well, though here and there she seems to be on uncertain footing-not unexpectedly, perhaps. I love the way his voice skims over a pack of percussionists on “Let’s Face the Music and Dance.”Īt the risk of over-extending the boat metaphor, Gaga here serves as kind of companion speedboat, zipping playfully in and out of his wake. He’s like a well-maintained vintage yacht, sleek and powerful but never flashy-think teak deck, not helipad-unbuffeted by waves or decades. The man is almost 90, and even if his voice has lost some elasticity and gained a little husk, he still sounds great, his timbre rich, his phrasing effortless. Speaking of Tony Bennett-I don’t even know what to say. He rarely, if ever, makes non-thoughtful records. Bennett has played this game too-he has recorded with Mariah Carey, Andrea Bocelli, and Elmo, among other suspects-but his 2002 album of duets with K.D. Barbra Streisand has a new duets album of her own, Partners, where she overpowers Billy Joel, Lionel Richie, and Josh Groban I dare you to listen to her “Come Rain or Come Shine” with John Mayer. Rather, they tend to be last-gasp bank-account fillers for aging artists, like Frank Sinatra’s two Duets albums, in which, with his voice failing him in his late 70s, he barked opposite the likes of Luther Vandross, Bono, Chrissie Hynde, Jimmy Buffett, and Kenny G’s soprano sax-two of the worst albums of Sinatra’s career and also, alas, two of the most popular. (Tony: “I can’t give you anything but love”-beat-“Gaga.”)Īnother problem with duets albums is they too often serve no real musical purpose. There’s a whiff or two of that here: if I had my way, vocalists would never address each other while singing, especially when one of them is named Gaga. At least they didn’t defrost “Baby It’s Cold Outside.”ĭuets albums in general, which often have a corny, stunt quality, both partners trying too hard to sound as if they’re having the best damn time a recording studio ever saw. The song selection, which hews to obvious, well-trod duet territory, such as “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” “I Won’t Dance,” and, of course, the title song. The previous champion? Tony Bennett, at 85, three years ago with Duets II. After one week in release, the record is holding down the top spot on the Billboard 200 album chart-making Bennett, at 88, the oldest artist ever to earn that distinction. You should also know, a few quibbles aside, that it’s pretty wonderful. No, you already know it’s Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. Don’t be misled by the awful cover: Cheek to Cheek isn’t an album of duets between Georgia O’Keeffe and Linda Lovelace.