A Wonderful World

As odd a concept it may look on paper, the combination of Bennett, Lang and the songs of Louis Armstrong works surprisingly well. The tone, as befits artists of Bennett and Armstrong’s stature, is suitably reverential. Backed by a simple jazz quartet, the sound is simplistic and stylish – letting the music weave its own kind of magic. It’s the kind of stuff that Tony Bennett could sing in his sleep (and has done on the odd occasion over the past few years) but it suits him well.

The real revelation here, though, is k.d. Lang. While her own work of recent times has seen her slide dangerously close to the middle of the road, she finds new inspiration in this material and sounds the most vibrant since her memorable duet with Roy Orbison some ten years ago. Short on thrills yet high on class, A Wonderful World may not bring anything new to the party but it’s good that it turned up nonetheless.