Cheek To Cheek & other great videos to watch

Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga Cheek To Cheek Live! Watching this video makes me think that every artist should look forward to being 84 years old and still performing as well as Tony Bennett. The man is truly fantastic, still with powerful tones and impeccable phrasing. Even more incredible is the fact that Lady Gaga who once hatched herself from an egg and had a meat dress in her wardrobe, is right up there with Bennett, matching him note for note, her Ella tones both sexy and sweet and looking her most glamorous ever.

Taped live at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City, this is the video version of the hit album of the same title that featured this once unlikely pair together. One of the best recordings of its kind, Cheek To Cheek won the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Album last week. Everybody instantly fell in love with the album, rediscovered Bennett, and rediscovered to an even higher degree the talented Lady Gaga. And because of her, Gaga fans all over the world are discovering the music of the great American songbook.

But if you think the album is great, wait till you see the video. It is even better and includes Gaga singing a drop-dead version of Cher’s hit from the ’60s Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down). Included are Anything Goes, Cheek To Cheek, They All Laughed, Lady’s In Love With You, Nature Boy, Goody Goody, How Do You Keep The Music Playing, Bewitched Bothered And Bewildered, Firefly, I Won’t Dance, Don’t Wait Too Long, I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Lush Life, Sophisticated Lady, Let’s Face The Music And Dance, Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye, But Beautiful and It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing all done live.

Whitney Houston Live, Her Greatest Performances. My first reaction to this DVD was, this took a lot of work. I can just imagine the  hours spent going through thousands of TV footage to find the right ones and then negotiating with owners for the license to release each  cut. The next was that this was done with a lot of love. Only somebody who truly felt deep affection for the departed diva could have taken such pains to make sure she is presented here at her best.

And no wonder. The DVD was produced by Clive Davis. He was the legendary music mogul who steered the young Whitney to become one of the biggest singers of all time. He was there in the highs and lows of her life. In fact, he was helping Whitney prepare for another comeback when she died three years ago. Clive is still at it. Telling the world how wonderful Whitney was. Judging from what I see and hear in this all restored and re-mastered DVD, she really was.

Featured are performances from her first TV appearance singing Home in The Merv Griffin Show in 1989 to her 2009 performance of I Didn’t Know My Own Strength in The Oprah Winfrey Show. In between are How Will I Know at The Brit Awards 1987; One Moment In Time at The 31st Annual Grammy Awards, 1989; Greatest Love Of All and I Wanna Dance With Somebody from the Arista Records 15th Anniversary Concert in 1990; I’m Every Woman and I Will Always Love You from The Concert For A New South Africa in 1994; When You Believe with Mariah Carey at The 71st Annual Academy Awards 1999; and others.

Here are other concert videos you might want to check out.

Love In Venice, The 10th Anniversary Concert by Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra. This is classical music for the masses and you will get what I mean when you see thousands of people enjoying the concert in the beautiful outdoor theater in Venice. How the audience reacts to the music is most heartwarming. Rieu, a well-known violinist and conductor, is also an able host and he has put together a commercial repertoire of popular arias and light classical pieces.

Among the selections performed by the orchestra and chorus, plus the competent soloists are Besame Mucho, Funiculi Funicula, Granada, The Beautiful New Danube, Ode To Joy and Nessun Dorma.

The Piano Guys: Live at Red Butte Garden. If you are ever in Utah, I think you should make sure you visit the Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake City. The place is stunning and made for a wonderful setting for this delightful outdoor concert by The Piano Guys. You know The Piano Guys, Jon Schmidt on piano and Steven Nelson on cello and their friends. They are big Internet stars, who have several hit albums and as this DVD proves, they also put up a really good show that is fun, moving and utterly enjoyable. Even the kids will love this.

Watch them do their own clever takes on What Makes You Beautiful, Without You, Rolling In The Deep, A Thousand Years, Bring Him Home and their clever mash-ups, Beethoven’s 5 Secrets, Code Name Vivaldi, Cello Wars, Over The Rainbow/ Simple Gifts, The Cello Song and Titanium/ Pavane.