Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga: Cheek To Cheek Released On Tuesday, September 23 (PRNewsFoto/Interscope Records)
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett gave fans a preview of their collaboration this week, with the release of their cover of Cole Porter song, “Anything Goes.”
The track, from the full jazz Streamline/Columbia/Interscope album due for release September 23, is available for download at iTunes.com/CheekToCheek.
A studio video featuring “Anything Goes” and footage from the recording sessions and moments during the making of Cheek to Cheek is currently available on YouTube and VEVO, and can be viewed below.
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga first met backstage in 2011 following a performance at the Robin Hood Foundation gala in New York City, where Bennett asked Lady Gaga to sing a duet with him of “The Lady is a Tramp” on his DUETS II album. That was the start of their collaboration.
Cheek To Cheek was recorded over a year in New York City. The album will feature classic jazz standards sung by Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, in a combination of vocal duets and solo performances.
The artists chose each track on the album, which 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.”
“I have been singing the Great American Songbook my entire career and all along forging a bridge between pop and jazz music. 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,” Bennett said.
In addition to Gaga and Bennett, the record features jazz musicians associated with both artists, including members of Bennett’s quartet, Mike Renzi, Gray Sargent, Harold Jones and Marshall Wood and Tom Lanier. Other musicians on the album include Jazz trumpeter Brian Newman and his NYC-based jazz quintet, a long-time friend and colleague of Lady Gaga.
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,” Lady Gaga commented about the project.
“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.”
Photographs were taken by Steven Klein, who added to the artistic design for the album packaging. The first official image released from Cheek To Cheek, is featured on the “Anything Goes” cover art.
Recently, Bennett and Gaga made a surprise appearance at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, a NYC public arts high school founded by Tony Bennett, when they spoke and performed for the student body on the last day of classes in June.
Earlier this month, Gaga surprised the Montreal Jazz Festival audience by joining Bennett on stage when he was performing at the famed jazz festival. In addition to releasing the new track, this week they also taped a television special that will air on PBS later this fall. The two appeared this week on the TODAY SHOW to officially announce their upcoming album.
