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What critics are saying about Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett’s new jazz album

It may be hard for some to visualize Lady Gaga even in the same room as Tony Bennett. She's best known for her outrageous looks, pop music hits and elaborate productions, while Bennett is a legend in the American music landscape with a career that spans more than 60 years of hits. Their unusual friendship started a few years ago when the crooner saw the pop star sing a version of "Orange Colored Sky" and then invited her to be on his Duets album, where they eventually sang a delightful "The Lady is a Tramp."

Tomorrow, three years after their first duet, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett will releaseCheek to Cheek, an album of jazz standards from the Great American Songbook.

With her own music, Gaga shines when she sits at the piano and just sings. On her latest album, ARTPOP, songs like "Gypsy" and "Dope" show you what kind of a raw instrument the singer would bring to a duets album with the legendary Tony Bennett.

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Among the classics included on the album are "Anything Goes," "It Don't Mean a Thing," "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" and what are possibly some of Gaga's best vocal performances: "Nature Boy" and "Lush Life." On iTunes the album includes a stunning live performance of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" while on Target's Deluxe Edition you will get "On a Clear Day" and "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered."

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Here is what some critics are saying about Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga's new albumCheek to Cheek:

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"Cheek to Cheek reveals the considerable warmth and depth of her voice. She and Bennett play it absolutely straight - there are no radical reboots, just two accomplished vocalists having fun. The ballad Nature Boy is treated with the greatest delicacy - underlit by a haunting flute motif, it provides the album's primary study in contrasts, with Bennett at his most assured and Gaga at her most vulnerable." - Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 4 stars

"It reiterates Bennett's easy charm and flawless pitch - and shows Gaga in a fascinating new light: as an authentic jazz vocalist with decent phrasing and a winning appetite for playful, sassy interjections." - Adrian Thrills, The Daily Mail, 4 stars

"Perhaps the biggest surprise on the album is Gaga's solo vocal on Billy Strayhorn's ballad 'Lush Life,' a difficult song that has troubled even the most seasoned jazz-pop singers, including Frank Sinatra. Her lower register is warm and her phrasing is heartfelt." - Marc Myers, The Wall Street Journal

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"An album of duets by a man in his eighties and a woman in her twenties might have been creepy, but there is a cheerful tone and an easy chemistry between Bennett and Gaga." - Will Hodgkinson, The Times, 4 stars

"Cheek to Cheek serves up the real thing, start to finish. If you didn't know the name of the vocalist and the kind of publicity that surrounds her, you'd surely say: Who's that swing singer, and why haven't I heard of her before?" - Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune