Neil Spencer 

Tony Bennett, Duets: An American Classic

Old master runs crooning school for celebrity wannabes
  
  


The star-studded duets album has become a rite of passage, though often, as in Ray Charles's case, an emptily sentimental one. Bennett is too seasoned to make that mistake. Though he rounds up the usual suspects (Elton, Sting, Bono, Costello, Krall), Big Tony remains in charge. At 80, his chords aren't so nimble, but his phrasing and reading of the orchestra are effortless. Surprisingly, it's George Michael who comes closest to matching him here. For his signature 'San Francisco' the piano becomes Bennett's partner for a wintry but eloquent swan song.

 

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