It is a special combination: Lady Gaga, the extravagant superstar of the 2010s, who makes an album with Tony Bennett, who is no less than sixty years older, representing a generation of American crooners that has now almost completely died out. The first time they collaborated was for Bennett's Duets II (2011), on which they sang a version of The Lady Is A Tramp. Apparently Gaga and Bennett liked
… it so much that they decided to make a full length album together, full of jazz standards. Cheek To Cheek is the result, which fortunately has become more than just a curiosity. The quality is too high for that: Bennett, Gaga as well as the orchestra and the band put their best foot forward. It's nice to hear Lady Gaga sing in a different role for once, and she stands up well here, even without the thunderous electronic productions that characterize her own music. One of the goals of Cheek To Cheek was to introduce a new generation to the classical repertoire of Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, among others, and if Lady Gaga's fans start listening to this en masse, that should certainly succeed. (IV)more
