Music Review: Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, Cheek To Cheek

By Tyler Hodg

Tony Bennett is a clock that keeps on ticking. His career has spanned over 65 years and he shows no signs of slowing down. For his 57th studio album (!!), Bennett calls upon a familiar friend—Lady Gaga—to record a duet album of jazz standards titled Cheek To Cheek. What initially seems like an unlikely pairing is in fact something incredibly special; listening to this album is a reminder of how great these two artists truly are.

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Tony Bennett, Isn’t It Romantic?

By Melissa Bratcher

Tony Bennett‘s Isn’t It Romantic? hit my doorstep on Valentine’s Day. It is fair to say that there isn’t a finer collection of romantic, swoon-worthy songs than this. Isn’t It Romantic? is an excellent, entry level primer of Tony Bennett’s catalog for those whose interest may have been piqued by his recent Grammy win for Duets II.

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Best Of 2011: Emily Carney

Saint Winehouse
© 2010 Vicki Berndt

1. New Albums by Robyn, The Black Keys, Amy Winehouse, and Charlotte Gainsbourg

This past year boasted many new releases by some of my favorite all-time artists. Technically, Robyn’s Body Talk trilogy came out in 2010, but her career blew up stateside this year, culminating in her appearance on Saturday Night Live in December.
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Tony Bennett, The Best Of The Improv Recordings

By Paul Casey

“For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business. He excites me when I watch him. He moves me. He’s the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more. There’s a feeling in back of it.”
—Frank Sinatra in Life magazine, 1965

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Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans, Know What I Mean?

By Paul Casey

Cannonball Adderley and Bill Evans worked together on Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue. That should be enough of a reason for you to seek out and listen to Know What I Mean? As the cover reminds us, Bill Evans accompanies that fearsomely moustachioed fellow, Cannonball Adderley, who first transfixed me with his earlier Somethin’ Else album.
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The Definitive Bill Evans on Riverside and Fantasy

By Paul Casey

“I believe that all people are in possession, of what might be called a universal musical mind. Any true music speaks with this universal mind, to the universal mind in all people. The understanding that results will vary, only insofar as people have or have not been conditioned to the various styles of music, in which the universal mind speaks. Consequently, often some effort and exposure is necessary in order to understand some of the music coming from a different period or a different culture, than that to which the listener has been conditioned.

I do not agree that the layman’s opinion is less of a valid judgment of music than that of the professional musician. In fact, I would often rely more on the judgment of a sensitive layman than that of a professional, since the professional, because of his constant involvement in the mechanics of music, must fight to preserve the naivety that the layman already possesses.”
—Bill Evans

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