Tony Bennett is one of the best singers of all time! This 85-year-old New York native has won 15 Grammy Awards, two Emmys and a Kennedy Center Honoree. Bennett has released 70 albums throughout his career and he is not showing signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Bennett released his new album, Duets II, which is a follow-up to his 2006’s Duets-An American Classic that featured Bennett performing duets with legendary recording artists including Barbra Streisand, Stevie Wonder and Elton John. Like his previous album, Duets II features Tony Bennett collaborating with a smörgåsbord of singers including Lady GaGa, Josh Groban, Carrie Underwood, Willie Nelson and the late Amy Winehouse.
Here are some of the highlights of this new album:
“The Lady Is A Tramp” with Lady GaGa:
I was pleasantly surprised with this duet because I thought Lady GaGa would need to have techno dance music in the background in any song that she performs. I was severely mistaken! This collaboration was fantastic from start to finish. Bennett and his producers did a terrific job highlighting GaGa’s versatility and this performance shows that she is capable of doing more big band and jazz classics in the future.
Final Thoughts and Grade: A terrific song and I enjoyed this collaboration. A-
“Body & Soul” with Amy Winehouse:
This duet is the first and sadly the last duet between Bennett and the late British songbird Amy Winehouse. It would have been terrific to see them perform this duet together live. Between Winehouse’s powerful vocals and Bennett’s connection to the lyrics, this is truly a song worth downloading.
Final Thoughts and Grade: This is truly a great moment on the album. A
“Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” with Michael Bublé:
One of the best upbeat collaborations that Bennett has on this album is “a passing the torch” moment between the legendary singer and rising crooner Michael Bublé. They both complement each other and I enjoy hearing them trade lyrics back and forth. It is sad that today there is not a lot of standards on mainstream Top 40 radio because this would be an excellent song I would love to hear on the radio.
Final Thoughts and Grade: What a great song from start to finish. A-
“How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” with Aretha Franklin
One of the things that Bennett and the Queen of Soul have in common is that they are both terrific duet partners. I am very surprised that this is the very first collaboration between them. Franklin opens the song and from the first time I heard her voice, I knew that the audience listening to this was in for a treat. Both multiple Grammy-winning singers are tour de forces by themselves but together they took the song and delivered an incredible performance from start to finish.
Final Thoughts: This is truly a master’s class performance delivered by two musical icons! A+
“It Had to Be You” with Carrie Underwood
Duets II demonstrates that artists can perform outside of their comfort zone to have a chance to duet with Tony Bennett. One of the best examples out of this album is Bennett’s collaboration with Carrie Underwood. There is no country-based music intertwined in this song and Underwood’s vocals go very well with the big band like background music. I could actually like to see Underwood have a song like this on her upcoming album and I enjoyed listening to this duet.
Final Thoughts: A superb duet. A
To find out more information about Duets II, see Tony Bennett’s website: http://tonybennett.com/
Just want to say your article is as amazing. The clearness in your post is simply nice and i can assume you’re an expert on this subject. Fine with your permission let me to grab your feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please keep up the rewarding work.
Thank you so much for giving everyone an extremely wonderful possiblity to read in detail from this site. It can be very enjoyable and packed with a good time for me personally and my office acquaintances to visit your web site more than three times every week to read through the newest stuff you have got. Of course, I am just actually fulfilled with the spectacular advice you serve. Certain 2 tips in this posting are surely the most beneficial I’ve ever had.
Thank you for your whole efforts on this website. My mum take interest in participating in internet research and it’s really easy to understand why. We hear all relating to the compelling manner you present very important ideas by means of your web site and as well as encourage response from the others on this content then my girl is actually discovering so much. Take advantage of the remaining portion of the year. You’re doing a terrific job.
Hi there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be okay. I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.
Hello! Would you mind if I share your blog with my facebook group? There’s a lot of people that I think would really enjoy your content. Please let me know. Thanks
Yes! I give you permission to share my blog with your facebook group! Have a great evening!
Hi there! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone 4! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts! Keep up the fantastic work!
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the page layout of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or two pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?
Howdy! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I truly enjoy reading through your articles. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same subjects? Thanks a lot!
Hi there, just turned into alert to your weblog via Google,my site is http://www.chilggoooto.com
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked submit my
comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again.
Regardless, just wanted to say wonderful blog!