Search - Tony Bennett, K.D. Lang :: Wonderful World (Multichannel/Stero)

Make a Date with the Music of this Pair

Stephanie DePue | Carolina Beach, NC USA | 06/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tony Bennett and K.D. Lang duet on "A Wonderful World," (2002), a collection of songs inspired by the legendary New Orleans trumpeter/vocalist Louis Armstrong. The CD was produced by the almost equally legendary T Bone Burnett, and includes trumpet work by Scott Hamilton. As an enhanced SACD, it's got wonderful sound, if you've got the equipment to play it.



Of course, in 2002, the New York-born Bennett was 76 years old; and his voice was not what it once was: but still, the embers of it, with its smoothness, intonation and phrasing are infinitely pleasing. Critic Howard Garwood wrote of him, "He has the face you'd want on your neighborhood bar owner - seamed, rumpled, and infinitely kind.... It's the face of a man who has seen life and triumphed, and who proclaims his joy of living through one of the best sets of pipes in the business."



K.D. Lang's voice was definitely still in top form in 2002. It's a thing of unearthly, silken beauty, a voice that comes along only once in a generation: in her case, from Alberta, Canada. I remember seeing her once on late night television, early in her career, wearing the silliest cowgirl outfit and hopping up and down, and wishing I could tell her that with her voice, she didn't need to hop, she could leave that to Herman's Hermits. Of course, I couldn't, but she seems to have figured it out, anyway.



The title song, as done by this pair, boasts all the colors of the rainbow. And some of the quieter ballads are still waters running deep, indeed. Just listen, to say, "La Vie En Rose," or "If We Never Meet Again." "Exactly Like You," and "You Can Depend on Me," are also particularly lovely.



I am lucky enough to have seen this pair present this repertory in person, at New York's Radio City Music Hall, in the most striking of circumstances, to wit: late September, 2001, about two weeks after the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Center, and so much of downtown Manhattan. I already had my ticket, and anxiously watched the paper to see if they would keep the date: they did, and so did I. So did most of the ticket holders, I believe: there were empty seats, but not that many. Took ages to get through security, of course. You can believe that emotions ran high in that theater, on stage and in the audience: you could describe it as a love-in. And as for the music that came from that stage - it was simply blessed, and unforgettable. Lucky for all of us, the music, so evanescent in live performance, stays with us on this cd.



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