Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga: Cheek To Cheek

Tony/Lady Gaga Bennett

1. Anything Goes 2. Cheek To Cheek 3. Nature Boy 4. I Can't Give You Anything But Love 5. I Won't Dance 6. Firefly 7. Lush Life 8. Sophisticated Lady 9. Let's Face The Music And Dance 10. But Beautiful 11. It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

These two Italian-Americans have more in common than you would think. Both have been immersed in jazz from childhood – Gaga, many will be surprised to learn, won a jazz competition at school – and share a reverence for the Great American Songbook. But it’s Gaga who will benefit most from this album, which has the pair finding joyous common ground as they swing through 11 standards. She has been musically hamstrung by the common assumption that her talent begins and ends with the Auto-Tune switch; Cheek to Cheek reveals the considerable warmth and depth of her voice. She and Bennett play it absolutely straight – there are no radical reboots, just two accomplished vocalists having fun. The ballad Nature Boy is treated with the greatest delicacy – underlit by a haunting flute motif, it provides the album’s primary study in contrasts, with Bennett at his most assured and Gaga at her most vulnerable. They bond best on the uptempo tracks, though, where the 60-year age gap is immaterial. Flirting and ad libbing on Goody Goody, while Bennett keeps it suave, Gaga is a wonder. She should do this kind of thing more often. ~ The Guardian

Price: $16.98