Duets sees Tony Bennett sharing vocal duties with a galaxy of international stars on a series of old big band classics, and while some of his co-vocalists are obvious choices (Barbra Streisand, James Taylor), others are decidedly unorthodox (Dixie Chicks, kd lang). Still, over the course of its 19 tracks, Duets works extremely well.
Some collaborations are more successful than others, of course. The Dixie Chicks do a fine job of ‘Lullaby Of Broadway’ and Diana Krall’s performance is extraordinary on ‘The Best Is Yet To Come’. Kd lang smoulders her way through ‘Because Of You’ and Elvis Costello sounds like he was born to swing on ‘Are You Havin’ Any Fun?’. On the other hand, Celine Dion’s over-wrought histrionics drag ‘If I Ruled The World’ into decidedly Disney theme tune territory: can somebody please explain to that woman that you don’t have to hit every note with a soaring vibrato!
The music throughout is exemplary, played by the Tony Bennett Quartet, alongside sumptuous strings and a bright and breezy brass section, whose lightness of touch on tracks like ‘Put On A Happy Face’ or ‘Just In Time’ is delicious. When the mood requires something a little more melancholy, however, they prove equally adept, as on ‘The Very Thought Of You’ (with Paul McCartney), ‘The Good Life’, featuring Billy Joel, or ‘How Do You Keep The Music Playing?’, where George Michael proves himself a worthy foil for ‘Old Tone’.
There’s a sense of two legendary performers having fun on tracks like ‘Rags To Riches’, where the old crooner gets to trade quips with Elton John. It must be said that Bennett’s voice is in surprisingly good shape for his age, retaining a timbre and quality that is impossible to deny. His performance alongside Sting on the melodramatic Brel-esque ‘Boulevard Of Broken Dreams’ is simply stunning, while he gives Bono a run for his money on ‘I Wanna Be Around’ (while the U2 frontman also proves that should he ever decide to quit rock music, he can do a mean lounge lizard when the mood takes him).
There’s nothing tremendously innovative about Duets in that it does exactly what you’d expect from a Tony Bennett album. But when classic songs like these are delivered with a real sense of style that seems effortless, it’s difficult not to be impressed.