Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s highly anticipated collaborative album, Cheek to Cheek, was released today.  In addition to famous show tunes (Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes”) and pop music hits (Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)”),  the celebrated Billy Strayhorn standard and Reservoir catalog track “Lush Life” is featured as one of Cheek to Cheek‘s twelve or sixteen tracks.

As she does with anything she touches, Gaga puts a unique spin on “Lush Life”, combining evidence of traditional vocal performance training with her more typically heard emotional grit.  A slew of music and culture publications have praised the album, commenting on the success of Tony Bennett’s artful restraint juxtaposed with Gaga’s spectacle-driven performance style.  See Idolator’s handy round-up of reviews here.

With next year marking the centennial year of the late composer Billy Strayhorn, it’s heartening to see holdovers from past musical eras and contemporary artists alike paying homage in the best way a musician can hope for–by keeping his compositions in the minds of music lovers long after he’s gone.

UPDATE 10/2/14: Cheek to Cheek debuted at #1 on both Billboard’s overall and jazz album countdowns in its first week, proving the everlasting relevance of “Lush Life” and the album’s other timeless hits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZu484l6l2s&feature=emb_title