Jazz historian Ted Gioia comments on Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett's 'Cheek to Cheek'

Acclaimed American music historian Ted Gioia, author of best-selling books Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire and History of Jazz, has shared his thoughts on Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett's latest collaboration Cheek to Cheek in a comment to The Washington Post.

"There is a cynical feeling in the jazz community that when a major star in popular music embraces jazz, it's because they're on the downside of their career and they're reaching for some gimmick to reestablish themselves," he said. "That's definitely not true with this Lady Gaga album, and it's definitely not true with the Bob Dylan album. Those are great artistic works. But probably more often than not, when you see a pop star embracing jazz, you should run for the hills."

Gioia continued: "It's a test of musicianship, because when you sing these old songs, you invite comparison with people who sang them in the past. So if Lady Gaga sings a standard, she's immediately compared to Frank Sinatra or Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald and that brings with it great risk. It brings with with it tremendous risk. I commend Lady Gaga for taking on that risk and I also praise her for pulling it off. I think she shows considerable talent as a jazz singer. I don't think many pop megastars of her generation could withstand the scrutiny of singing these songs live in concert, without Auto-Tune, sharing a stage with Tony Bennett and pull it off. Quite extraordinary."

Read the full article, titled "Why do pop singers like Lady Gaga keep releasing jazz albums? The upsides are tremendous" at washingtonpost.com.