This new album comes with more baggage than a Kardashian family holiday. Some fans of Lady Gaga have described it as boring, and prefer her to focus on her own material. Her critics have accused her of turning to jazz after the relative failure of her third full CD, Artpop, in a desperate bid to revive her career, Rod Stewart-style. The jazz police are also out in force, claiming that Gaga is no jazz vocalist, and that there is no chemistry between the two singers. Tony Bennett is probably beyond criticism at this stage in his career, but it has been suggested that he only took on this project at the suggestion of his son.

Most of this is utter nonsense. Lady Gaga has flirted with jazz for a number of years; in fact she met Tony Bennett after performing Nat ‘King’ Cole’s Orange Colored Sky at a charity fund raising event in New York in 2011 – some two years before the release of Art Pop. She subsequently recorded The Lady Is A Tramp on his 2011 album, Duets II. Anyone doubting her credentials as a jazz singer should check out the video. It is quite clear that she has the voice, the ability to improvise, and that the two of them had fun making the video.

Cheek To Cheek has been in the pipeline since 2012. It consists entirely of standards, and was recorded with three distinct bands – Bennett’s regular quartet, which consists of Gary Sargent on guitar, Marshall Wood on bass and Harold Jones on drums, a big band arranged by Marion Evans, and an orchestra arranged and conducted by Jorge Calandrelli. Whilst most of the songs are duets, each singer also takes two solos – Gaga singing Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye and Strayhorn’s Lush Life, with Bennett opting for Don’t Wait Too Long, and Ellington’s Sophisticated Lady.

Bennett’s voice is still in remarkably fine fettle, despite being in his eighty-eighth year. It may not be as supple as in years gone by, but he never looks to take the easy option; Sophisticated Lady is a challenging tune, and Bennett still makes it his own. Neither does Gaga shy from the challenge; Lush Life is a notoriously difficult tune to sing, but she holds her own. Listen to the way her initial optimism fades, and a world-weariness creeps into her vocal as the song progresses.

The duets are warm and playful, for the most part, with highlights including the single, Anything Goes, and They All Laughed. The album is not without its flaws, as one would expect. Whilst Gaga sounds comfortable and warm in her lower register, she occasionally sounds less relaxed on the higher notes, particularly on the uptempo tunes. Goody Goody is also somewhat painful to listen to, Gaga’s attempts at humour falling a little flat. But overall, I thought this was a highly enjoyable album. Nothing groundbreaking, for sure, but given the stated intent of both singers to help bring to jazz to a new audience, it must be considered a success.