Duets: An American Classic

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Duets: An American Classic
Studio album by Tony Bennett
Released	September 26, 2006 (U.S.) October 30, 2006 (UK)
Recorded	2006
Genre	Jazz
Label	Columbia Records
Producer(s)	Phil Ramone
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Rolling Stone link
Tony Bennett chronology
The Art of Romance (2004)	Duets: An American Classic (2006)

Duets: An American Classic is an album by Tony Bennett, released in 2006.

The album was released in conjunction with Bennett's 80th birthday the previous month. The songs selected were mostly ones that Bennett had played a major role in introducing into the Great American Songbook.

Unlike some other celebrity duets efforts where performances were made separately and then combined by producers, such as Frank Sinatra's 1993 Duets, Bennett was physically present with each of his partners during recording, and in addition the singing was done live as the band was playing.

It debuted at #3 on The Billboard 200 selling around 202,000 copies in its first week. The album spent five consecutive weeks in the Top 10 – a great achievement considering that was released during the competitive Christmas season – and was certified Gold in less than four weeks of release.

Contents 1 Track listing 2 Target edition 3 Australian edition 4 Personnel 5 Chart performance

[edit] Track listing

1. "Lullaby of Broadway" (with the Dixie Chicks) (Al Dubin, Harry Warren) 3:03
2. "Smile" (with Barbra Streisand) (Charles Chaplin, Geoff Parsons) 4:41
3. "Put on a Happy Face" (with James Taylor) (Lee Adams, Charles Strouse) 3:15
4. "The Very Thought of You" (with Paul McCartney) (Ray Noble) 4:01
5. "The Shadow of Your Smile" (with Juanes) (Johnny Mandel, Ben Webster) 4:34
6. "Rags to Riches" (with Elton John) (Richard Adler, Jerry Ross) 2:40
7. "The Good Life" (with Billy Joel) (Sacha Distel, Ray Reardon) 3:20
8. "Cold, Cold Heart" (with Tim McGraw) (Hank Williams) 3:17
9. "If I Ruled the World" (with Celine Dion) (Leslie Bricusse, Cyril Ornadel) 2:56
10. "The Best is Yet to Come" (with Diana Krall) (Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh) 3:39
11. "For Once in My Life" (with Stevie Wonder) (Ronald Dean Miller, Orlando Murden) 3:24
12. "Are You Havin' Any Fun?" (with Elvis Costello) (Sammy Fain, Jack Yellen) 2:45
13. "Because of You" (with k.d. lang) (Arthur Hammerstein, Dudley Wilkinson) 4:04
14. "Just in Time" (with Michael Bublé) (Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Jule Styne) 2:17
15. "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (with Sting) (Al Dubin, Harry Warren) 3:23
16. "I Wanna Be Around" (with Bono) (Johnny Mercer, Sadie Vimmerstadt) 3:01
17. "Sing, You Sinners" (with John Legend) (Sam Coslow, W. Franke Harling) 2:18
18. "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" (George Cory, Douglass Cross) 3:55
19. "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" (with George Michael) (Alan Bergman, Marylin Bergman, Michel Legrand) 5:23

[edit] Target edition

A special edition of the album sold by Target Stores contains four extra tracks:

1. "I've Got the World on a String" (with Diana Krall, recorded 2000) (Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler)
2. "Steppin' Out With My Baby" (with Michael Bublé, recorded 2006) (Irving Berlin)
3. "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" (with Judy Garland, recorded 1963) (Georgy Cory, Douglass Cross)
4. "The Lady is a Tramp" (with Frank Sinatra, recorded 1988) (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers)

As well as a DVD giving a behind-the-scenes look at the process of making the album:

1. Making Duets: An American Classic - 20:52

[edit] Australian edition

The Australian edition of the album contains an extra twentieth track:

1. "Steppin' Out With My Baby" (with Delta Goodrem, recorded 2006) Irving Berlin)

[edit] Personnel

• Tony Bennett, guest artists - vocals
• Bill Charlap - piano
• Pinchas Zukerman - violin
• Lawrence Feldman - flute
• Chris Botti - trumpet
• Paul Langosch - double bass
• Gray Sargent - guitar
• Harold Jones - drums
• Johnny Mandel - arranger, conductor
• Lee Musiker - piano, arranger, musical direction
• Torre Zito - arranger
• Phil Ramone - producer
• Torrie Zito Conductor, Brass Arrangement

[edit] Chart performance

Billboard 200
Week	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13
Position	3	4	5	9	8	16	25	32	16	15	18	12	22
Total sales	202,406	330,634	435,634	502,813	556,137	607,957	647,402	685,288	796,618	872,819	966,191	1,120,536	1,277,244

UK Albums Chart
Week	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10
Position	15	21	35	48	60	58

United World Chart
Week	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11
Position	6	8	8	11	24	20	25	35	22	29	30
Total sales	228,000	379,000	501,000	588,000	655,000	742,000	816,000	886,000	1,026,000	1,134,000	1,263,000