Tony Bennett Lady Gaga - Cheek To Cheek [CD]

TONY BENNETT & LADY GAGA CHEEK TO CHEEK - 22 SEPTEMBER The long-awaited collaborative jazz album from Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Cheek To Cheek, is today confirmed for release on 22 September via Streamline/Columbia/Interscope Records. Cheek to Cheek represents a collaboration between two legendary musical artists spanning the generations to celebrate jazz music. The classic Cole Porter song, Anything Goes, is available today on iTunes and other digital retailers as a first taste of the new record. An accompanying studio video featuring Anything Goes and footage from the recording sessions and making of Cheek to Cheek premieres online today. Cheek To Cheek features classic jazz standards sung by Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett in a combination of vocal duets and solo performances. Each song was handpicked by the artists, and the album features classic selections from the Great American Songbook including Anything Goes, It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing), Sophisticated Lady, Lush Life, and the record’s title track, Cheek To Cheek. Recorded in New York City, the record took over a year to complete and features jazz musicians associated with both artists including members of Bennett’s quartet, Mike Renzi, Gray Sargent, Harold Jones and Marshall Wood as well pianist Tom Lanier. Jazz trumpeter Brian Newman, a long-time friend and colleague of Lady Gaga also appears on the album with his NYC based jazz quintet. Jazz soloists on selected tracks include tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano and flutist Paul Horn, who passed away earlier this month. “Cheek To Cheek came out of a very organic friendship and relationship that Tony and I have built over the years and it truly was a collaborative effort,” says Lady Gaga. “It was important to Tony that this was a jazz record. I’ve been singing jazz since I was a child and really wanted to show the authentic side of the genre. We made an album of jazz classics, but it has a modern twist.” “I have been singing the Great American Songbook my entire career and all along forging a bridge between pop and jazz music,” said Tony Bennett. “Creating this album with Lady Gaga has been a beautiful experience as she is a fantastic singer and I am hoping that all her fans will embrace this music and swing along with it.” Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga first met backstage in 2011 after the two performed at the Robin Hood Foundation gala in NYC. Bennett asked Lady Gaga to sing a duet with him on his DUETS II album that he was recording. The Lady Is A Tramp was the result of that endeavor and conversations began about collaborating on a jazz project. Recently, Bennett and Gaga surprised the student body at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, a NYC public arts high school founded by Bennett, when they spoke and performed for the school on the last day of classes in June. Earlier this month, Lady Gaga surprised the Montreal Jazz Festival audience by joining Bennett on stage when he was performing at the famed jazz festival.