Mariah sings beautiful on this very short duet with Tony Bennett. I also love the sections where she rounds out Tony’s tone in the upper register when they sing together. Yes there is the R&B flavoring but so what. Good singing is good singing! Mariah surprised me as well as a few other pop vocalists on Duets II album. The real standout on the album was Amy Winehouse’s Body and Soul though. She was channeling Dinah and Billie on this. Given it was her very last recording, very poignant as well. feed://www.jonraney.com/feed/

In the spirit of the famous dietary advice with that tagline, I propose this installment for musiciansListen to this…not that Listen to this: A Song for YouDonny Hathaway NOT That: A Song for YouChristina Aguilera with Herbie Hancock Sorry Herbie not into it. You’re a genius but this ain’t happening for me. Obviously Christina used Donny’s version as the basis for her own interpretation but somewhere in the middle it just became overwrought and tiresome. IMHO Herbie’s sophisticated dense jazz chords and jazz fills just sound colorless in this context. In terms of singing, for me generally, the current generation of soul based artists really need to take a lesson…