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Tony Bennett - Duets: An American Classic

The album was released in conjunction with Bennett's 80th birthday the previous month. The songs selected were mostly ones that Bennett had played a major role in introducing into the Great American Songbook.

Unlike some other celebrity duets efforts where performances were made separately and then combined by producers, such as Frank Sinatra's 1993 Duets, Bennett was physically present with each of his partners during recording, and in addition the singing was done live as the band was playing.

Recorded live in the studio, the CD features Tony performing duets of his best loved songs with many of the top names in music. Among these are Bono, Michael Buble, Elvis Costello, Dixie Chicks, Juanes, Billy Joel, Diana Krall, k.d. lang, John Legend, Paul McCartney, George Michael, Sting, Barbra Streisand, James Taylor and Stevie Wonder.

Instrumental musical guests on the album include trumpeter Chris Botti and violinist Pinchas Zukerman. Tony Bennett: Duets: An American Classic was recorded in three cities earlier this year: Capitol Studios in Los Angeles; Bennett Studios in Englewood, NJ and Abbey Road Studios in London.

Producer Phil Ramone supervised the live sessions in which each guest artist performed side by side with Bennett. Bennett's touring quartet provided the accompaniment for the recording sessions with additional orchestrations added with musical arrangements by Jorge Calandrelli.

Bennett's sons are involved in the project: Danny Bennett, who is the singer's manager, is the recording's Executive Producer and Dae Bennett is the audio engineer.

For many of the guest artists, the "live" approach to the sessions was a new and thrilling experience. Despite the existence of technology that allows artists to record duets without being together physically, it was essential to Bennett's recording style that each artist perform and record directly with Tony.

The CD's 19 songs, each selected by Bennett, are integral elements from Tony's hit catalog such as "I Wanna Be Around" (with Bono), "Because of You" (with k.d. lang), "The Shadow of Your Smile" (with Juanes), "Cold, Cold, Heart (with Tim McGraw) and "Rags to Riches" (with Elton John).

Also featured are some of Bennett's personal favorites including "Smile" (with Barbra Streisand), "Sing You Sinners" (with John Legend), "The Very Thought of You" (with Paul McCartney) and "Are You Havin' Any Fun?" (with Elvis Costello).

Appropriately, the recording's only vocal solo showcases Bennett performing his signature song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" accompanied only by Bill Charlap on piano.