Gaga, Bennett team up for jazz duets album — and advice

Tony Bennett loves to sketch. It's something he's done since the age of 5, when he would do chalk drawings on the sidewalk in Queens, where he grew up. During one recording session for "Cheek to Cheek" — his new album of jazz duets that drops on Tuesday and was recorded with, of all people, Lady Gaga — the pop megastar asked Bennett to sketch a trumpet for her. He obliged by drawing a rendering of Miles Davis' trumpet, and signed it with his family name of "Benedetto," as he does with all his works.

"The very next morning, she came into the studio and it was tattooed all the way up her arm," he tells The Post. "I couldn't believe it. She even included my family name as part of the tattoo. 'Benedetto' means 'the blessed one.' Bob Hope Americanized it for me by turning it into Bennett."

It's a mark of the deep relationship that has evolved between Gaga and Bennett over the past three years. The "Cheek to Cheek" album has been in the works since the very night they met in 2011, at a gala benefit for the Robin Hood Foundation (a charity that helps fight poverty in the city). Bennett knew next to nothing about the "Bad Romance" singer then, but remembers being amazed at how everyone in attendance adored her: "I remarked to someone at the time that she was going to be as big as Elvis."

Tony Bennett says Lady Gaga insisted on glam studio decor.Photo: Getty Images

Impressed by the natural power of her voice, Bennett suggested doing an album together, and Gaga — who is a lifelong Bennett fan and has been singing jazz since the age of 13 — was only too happy to oblige. They first teamed up for a version of "The Lady Is a Tramp" that appeared on Bennett's 2011 "Duets II" album. The hilariously flirty recording session was also captured on film and included on the documentary "The Zen of Bennett," which came out the following year.

Recording for "Cheek to Cheek" began in 2013, with both singers organizing sessions during gaps in their schedules. At the same time, Gaga's journey toward being as big as Elvis hit a rough patch. The material on last year's "ARTPOP" was disappointing and met with a muted critical reaction. It still ranked as one of the best-selling albums of the year across the world, with 2.3 million moved by January — but compared to her 15-million-selling debut, "The Fame" (2009), or even the six-million sold of 2011's "Born This Way," "ARTPOP" was famously deemed an "ARTFLOP."

"Six months ago, I didn't even want to sing anymore," Gaga told Parade magazine recently. "I couldn't sleep. I felt dead." But with Bennett, she is clearly having a blast singing the songs of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and so many other classic American songwriters. "I tell Tony every day that he saved my life."

Six months ago… I felt dead. I tell Tony every day that he saved my life. - Lady Gaga

Bennett agrees that the album was rejuvenating for Gaga. "She treated it like a vacation," he says, adding that some of the songs had a personal significance for her. "Gaga told me that the Billy Strayhorn song 'Lush Life' was like everything that ever happened to her." With lyrics such as "Only last year everything seemed so assured/Now life is awful again," it's not hard to understand how Gaga could have found personal solace in Strayhorn's melancholy lyrics.

But even during this less than glorious part of Gaga's career, Bennett recalls that Gaga's diva tendencies never left her. "I noticed that sometimes, she would whisper something to her people," he laughs. "Before I knew it, somebody would come by and lay a rug down in the studio, or change the lighting. Very subtly, she managed to change the [studio] to look like a beautiful living room! She always wanted everything to look as glamorous as possible."

Gaga is now treated like an honorary Benedetto, and Bennett himself admits there is a father-daughter dynamic to their relationship. Three albums is a solid career by today's standards, but the 28-year-old Gaga still has a ways to go before she can compete with Bennett's back catalog of around 60 releases. At the age of 88, he's showing no signs of stopping.

"Gaga knows that I've been around the block," he adds sagely. "It takes a long time to learn that less is more, and she's very astute about picking that up. When I had my first hit record, George Burns and Jack Benny told me, 'Son, you're doing all right, but it takes seven years to learn how to perform properly.' And sure enough, they were absolutely right."

Gaga had her first hit in 2008. So if she learns enough, maybe by the time 2015 rolls around, that young grasshopper will finally be as good as Tony Bennett.

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