And it’s what he does again in “Love for Sale,” with the credibly jazzy Lady Gaga also bringing an innate sense of why Cole Porter remains the standard-bearer of American song.Īs a lyricist and as a composer, Porter’s voice is that of cosmopolitan sophistication and deeply etched emotion, and of the early mixture of jazz, blues, ragtime, art song and show-tune sensibilities. That’s what Bennett did, making it sound so easy and sad, in 1975. With the theatricality of a finely tuned actor and the bruised emotionalism of a spurned lover, the medley’s roller coaster ride of erudite fervor and reserved - yet passionate - sentiment exists in every one of Bennett’s vocal turns, moving from the pensive “What Is This Thing Called Love” to the flashy “Get Out of Town” with energy, tenderness and elegance at every beat. On Bennett’s 1975 album “Life is Beautiful,” the stately crooner, deep in the throes of nuanced jazz phrasing and swirling arrangements, sauntered through the epic, nearly 12 -minute “Cole Porter Medley” in a whirlwind of shadow and intensity. But not to be lost amid the send-off is how the project celebrates the eternal cool of the man many consider the best songwriter of his or any century, and why dipping into a single writer’s catalog is all the splash a great like Bennett needed to go out on. The lion’s share of the attention is going to the fact that the record is destined to be the last of Bennett’s long career, as he winds his professional duties down several years into an Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis. That duo’s dialogue about Porter as the master of American song comes to its fruition in their newly released collaborative album, “Love for Sale,” a collection of nothing but Porter covers. “They didn’t wind up doing just that, but a creative conversation was started.” “Gaga liked that idea, and thought they should reinvent that,” notes Danny Bennett.
To hear Tony Bennett’s son and longtime manager Danny Bennett tell it, a friendship ensued between his standard-bearing father and the mod-pop chanteuse Lady Gaga after their first duets album, 2014’s platinum-plated “Cheek to Cheek.” The pals always came back to Tony’s “ Cole Porter Medley,” from 1975, as the gold standard of American song and the model for a next collaboration.
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