Tony Bennett can afford such a starry guest list

The audience of the whole world knows Anthony Dominick Benedetto as Tony Bennett, an outstanding vocalsit and an amazig interpretative songer of the XX century. On August 3 Bennett has turned eighty, and to celebrate the event he has decided to record a collection of duets. This has not been the first time, when the artist was working on a duet album: in 1993 his producers assisted him to make a collection of hits, performed together with legendary Frank Sinatra by combining different recordings. This year it has been an honor for many stars of the American and other pop music to find themselves on their studios together with Tony Bennett. The artist has insisted, that he would be personally present at all recordings even if it meant to fly across the globe. The album Duets: An American Classic has been produced by Phil Ramone, who also worked on Duets with Frank Sinatra and gives the listeners a unique opportunity to enjoy the voice of Tony Bennett in beautiful blends with the vocals of such stars as Billy Joel, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Stivie Wonder, Paul McCartney and many others. There is no doubt that with such a cotribution to the world music culture Tony Bennett really can afford such a starry guest list for his birthday party.

Duets: An American Classic could not have been called more aptly

Duets: An American Classic consists mainly of Tony Bennett’s most famous songs and those which are going to be included into the Great American Songbook. There can be found very little studio processing on the songs, for all of them have been recorded with the band playing live and all the singers actually present in the studios. To open the record an upbeat and magnificent song Lullaby Of Broadway (Duet with Dixie Chicks) has been chosen, though there are few tracks of this kind on the album. Barbra Streisand, for instance, joins Bennett on a sad and a bit flirtatious song Smile, and The Very Thought Of You is a romantic composition, performed with Paul McCartney. Another tender love song is The Shadow Of Your Smile (Duet with Juanes), whereas on track The Good Life Tony Bennett and Billy Joel sound wonderfully wise and thought provoking. A true attire of the album is Rags To Riches (Duet with Elton John), with deep philosophic lyrics, as well as one of Tony’s favorite ballads, written by Hank Williams, Cold, Cold Heart, which he sings with a country crooner Tim McGraw. Celine Dion’s vocals have become a nice means to emphasize the artist’s inimitable singing on If I Ruled The World, and one of the most touching moments is the duet with Stevie Wonder, For Once In My Life. There are all in all 19 tracks on the record, and only one (I Left My Heart In San Francisco) Bennett sings as solo. Regarding the variety of choice Duets: An American Classic could not have been called more aptly, presenting a chic collection of music for all time.

Flawlessly elegant, eternally talented

Since he has released his first record in the mid 1950s Tony Bennett has been enjoying commercial success and remaining one of the audience’s most likeable artists. Unfortunately when in the late 1970s there began the rock music era in the world, his population dropped, but a decade later Bennett’s remarkable comeback took place, and a younger fan base began to grow rapidly. His musical style and ability to improvise have never lost their uniqueness and novelty, even until the present days, that’s why Billboard Magazine has chosen Tony Bennett as a recipient for the 2006 Billboard Century Award, its higher honor, that will be presented to him in December. Now when he has reached such prone years, the singer is probably not going to quit the stage, and if you have any doubts about that, listen to Duets: An American Classic and think, who can boast such a voice at the age of 80? Tony Bennett has gathered the artists of different generations to sing with him, and obviusly they are all happy to congratulate him on his birthday, and so are we. Still flawlessly elegant, eternally talented and a man of spirit, Tony Bennett deserves the highest awards. There are three more of his hit collections to be released soon, and today Duets: An American Classic is an album to be heard by everybody.

18.10.2006