Last year's dual tour
between old smoothie Bennett and former torch-and-twang gal turned chanteuse
lang turned out to be a surprisingly smart pairing. It has now spawned
this album, a tribute to Tony's old pal Louis Armstrong.
While the songs
of the scratchy-voiced Satchmo may seem like a strange choice for these two
silver-tongued song stylists, it turns out to be an inspired choice. The
two take classic smoochers like "La Vie En Rose," "Exactly Like You" and "A Kiss
To Build A Dream On" and if they don't exactly reinvent the wheel with them,
they do beautiful, sultry versions together.
Bennett and lang's
scrumptious interplay on "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" is the epitome of romance
in a way that current singers like Celine Dion or Mariah Carey could never
concieve of. And even the slightly over-exposed classic "What A Wonderful
World" feels fresh in the subtly scaled back orchestral take. Beautiful
songs, well sung. You could do a hell of a lot worse. (11/02)
