# Frank Sinatra



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

I am a fan of Frank Sinatra and figured that if Elvis got some attention it is time for the King of Swing to get some props too .

I like the early jazzy Sinatra the most. Not too much a fan of the duets stuff.


----------



## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

I like the world weary barfly persona of 'Drinking Again':






His laconic style really suits the music and stops it from becoming maudlin in spite of the subject matter.


----------



## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

My two favorite Sinatra songs are "Come Fly With Me" and "All My Tomorrows". Nothing else of his.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I got a kick out of Frazier's tribute to Sinatra:






I knew a professional trumpet player who said that Frank wouldn't record without Conrad Gozzo playing in the trumpet section. I've never been able to verify that, but it's a nice story.

Another tidbit, did you know he was into model trains? He had a whole room in his Palm Springs compound dedicated to his trains and had a guy he hired to curate his collection.


----------



## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

My two favorite Sinatra albums:









_Songs for Swingin' Lovers_ (arranged by Nelson Riddle)









_It Might As Well Be Swing_ - with Count Basie & His Orchestra (arranged by Quincy Jones)


----------



## aajj (Dec 28, 2014)

I'm big on the albums Songs for Swingin' Lovers and A Swingin' Affair. With Basie, "The Best is Yet to Come" and "Fly Me to the Moon."

For a Capitol collection, this is a great single disc overview.


----------



## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

My favorites of the Capitols:






































I'd like to know the Reprise albums better than I do, as it seems many are unjustly neglected and even the uneven ones will have unexpected gems.

The 1967 "Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim" album is an absolute stunner, if anyone here hasn't heard it


----------



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Thanks very much. I will explore more of the Capitol releases for sure. He has a very rich legacy.


----------



## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

I'm a Sinatra fanatic and have listened to pretty much everything of his dozens of times. The Capitol albums really are the pinnacle of his achievement and one of the pinnacles of all popular music. The Reprise albums of the 60's also have tons of brilliant material but there are occasional misses, unlike in the Capitol years. The early Columbia work is really charming as well in it's naivety and the pure smooth sound of Sinatra's voice. In my opinion, his greatest album has got to be In the Wee Small Hours.

I really have Sinatra to thank for my eventual path to classical music. The fantastic orchestral arrangements in his music blew me away and moved me to explore more of the jazz and classical fields.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Yes. I love Sinatra too. It's not just the voice, but also the diction-one can understand every word he sang.

Too bad Joan Sutherland didn't spend a few months with him. She could have learned a lot!


----------



## aajj (Dec 28, 2014)

hpowders said:


> Yes. I love Sinatra too. It's not just the voice, but also* the diction-one can understand every word he sang.*
> 
> Too bad Joan Sutherland didn't spend a few months with him. She could have learned a lot!


This had me instantly thinking of his recording of "I Get a Kick out of You" on Capitol:
"Then I suddenly turn and see your _fab-u-lous _face."


----------



## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

albertfallickwang said:


> Thanks very much. I will explore more of the Capitol releases for sure. He has a very rich legacy.





hpowders said:


> Yes. I love Sinatra too. It's not just the voice, but also the diction-one can understand every word he sang.
> 
> Too bad Joan Sutherland didn't spend a few months with him. She could have learned a lot!


My wife would agree with 100% on those observations, she loves Sinatra and also wants me to put a plug in for Ella Fitzgerald.
She says his early stuff is best (she makes pithy comments like that)


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Haydn man said:


> My wife would agree with 100% on those observations, she loves Sinatra and also wants me to put a plug in for Ella Fitzgerald.
> She says his early stuff is best (she makes pithy comments like that)


Sinatra was a pretty fine actor as well. He was terrific in From Here To Eternity as Private Maggio.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

aajj said:


> This had me instantly thinking of his recording of "I Get a Kick out of You" on Capitol:
> "Then I suddenly turn and see your _fab-u-lous _face."


Yes! He enunciated every syllable!


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

hpowders said:


> Sinatra was a pretty fine actor as well. He was terrific in From Here To Eternity as Private Maggio.


And, especially, as Marco in the original Manchurian Candidate.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

KenOC said:


> And, especially, as Marco in the original Manchurian Candidate.


Yes and a pretty fine stint in the movie version of Guys and Dolls too as Nathan Detroit.

Love those colorful, stylish mens' suits worn by all those guys.


----------



## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

hpowders said:


> Yes. I love Sinatra too. It's not just the voice, but also the diction-one can understand every word he sang.
> 
> Too bad Joan Sutherland didn't spend a few months with him. She could have learned a lot!


True- but easy with a microphone. Let him project his voice in a medium sized opera house and then we'll talk about how good his diction is!

Excellent rhythmic sense too. But not enough heart in the more emotional music, not for my taste anyway.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Figleaf said:


> True- but easy with a microphone. Let him project his voice in a medium sized opera house and then we'll talk about how good his diction is!
> 
> Excellent rhythmic sense too. But not enough heart in the more emotional music, not for my taste anyway.


Oh well, he connected with me emotionally anyway. So does a good cup of coffee.


----------



## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

hpowders said:


> Oh well, he connected with me emotionally anyway. So does a good cup of coffee.


New thread idea: 'Is Sinatra a guy thing?' I think there might be something in that theory, notwithstanding his early success with the Bobbysoxers (is that the word? Teenage female Sinatra fans from the 40s, anyway).


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Figleaf said:


> New thread idea: 'Is Sinatra a guy thing?' I think there might be something in that theory, notwithstanding his early success with the Bobbysoxers (is that the word? Teenage female Sinatra fans from the 40s, anyway).


I was going to bring the guy thing into my previous post, but I thought better to avoid it. Yes. There is something to that, I believe.
His songs were really written for middle age guys-getting older, bad breakups, drinking: saloon songs.


----------



## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Frank the bad boy was a marketing dream. Respect from guys, and lust from dolls.


----------



## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Frank was _way_ before my time. Still, I think some of his albums are 'up there', approaching Ella's songbooks.















I used to have these (wish I still did, but the LPs are long gone). Highly recommended.


----------



## OldFashionedGirl (Jul 21, 2013)

I like a lot Sinatra, though I prefer his ballads than his up-tempo songs. I especially love his album "In the Small Wee Hours."


----------



## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Quite frankly, the guy could sing.


----------



## beatnation (Feb 11, 2012)

He was an awesome singer, the whole Rat pack were so talented.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

OldFashionedGirl said:


> I like a lot Sinatra, though I prefer his ballads than his up-tempo songs. I especially love his album "In the Small Wee Hours."


Yes. Me too! I have that. It's a great album!!


----------



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Does anyone today sing as well as Frank did? Jaime Cullum? Harry Connick Jr.?


----------



## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

This is a serious point of contention between my father and I. He loves Sinatra and I say Dean Martin was far superior. We may never see eye to eye on this one. As for offspring, Frank Sinatra Jr (The Sopranos) vs Dean Martin Jr (Misfits of Science) is not so cut and dry. At least Deano Jr married the incomparable Olivia Hussey and went out in a blaze of glory.


----------



## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Good YT sound for the '66 Sands album w. Frank & Count. :tiphat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WoZZ08S4eyw#t=17


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

My favorite Sinatra is Phil Hartman.


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Bob Dylan is singing all Sinatra songs on his new album.

Also an interview with Bob Dylan on his new album with some discussion of Frank.


----------



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Florestan said:


> Bob Dylan is singing all Sinatra songs on his new album.
> 
> Also an interview with Bob Dylan on his new album with some discussion of Frank.


Thanks for the heads up.


----------



## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Albert7 said:


> Does anyone today sing as well as Frank did? Jaime Cullum? Harry Connick Jr.?


Nobody sings as well as he did. Except maybe this guy


----------



## Guest (May 20, 2015)

I have Frank Sinatra Gold 1 & 2 and another Sinatra Gold, Nothing but the Best, Greatest Love Songs and The Essential Frank Sinatra-The Columbia Years.

Strangely, none of them have my favorite Frank song "She's Funny That Way." I've heard a million versions but no one does it like him. I do his version at open mics sometimes only I do it more in the style of early Tom Waits and I leave off the last verse which I don't like.


----------



## Guest (May 20, 2015)

Actually, this is the version I do. I thought something was weird!


----------



## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

Previously I hadn't paid much attention to the last of his Capitols, The Point Of No Return, a contractual obligation / farewell album themed around songs of time passed and fading memories - but after a couple of recent plays is risen considerably in my estimation to become as essential as some of the more famous and flashier.


----------



## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Manxfeeder said:


> I knew a professional trumpet player who said that Frank wouldn't record without Conrad Gozzo playing in the trumpet section. I've never been able to verify that, but it's a nice story.


Sorry never heard that. I always though Harry 'Sweets' Edison was Frank's goto man.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Edison

Check out the studio version of this and they are talkin' to each other. Can't be 100% sure but it sounds like his muted style of playing further in the mix, on this version.


----------



## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

SimonNZ said:


> Previously I hadn't paid much attention to the last of his Capitols, The Point Of No Return, a contractual obligation / farewell album themed around songs of time passed and fading memories - but after a couple of recent plays is risen considerably in my estimation to become as essential as some of the more famous and flashier.


I love pretty much everything he did except the trash Mitch Mitchell had him record when his carear was in the doldrums before he bounced back in From Here to Eternity AND any of the Axel Stordahl arranged albums. The pace is always slower than the slowest and I just can't get any enjoyment. Frank noticed this, heard the arangements the up and coming Nat King Cole was getting and hired Nat's guy. And that's how he got to work with Nelson Riddle.

Love Sinatra and delighted Figleaf does too.

It's strange that Sintra was one of the Singers who grabbed all the attention that led to the demise of big bands but that time also featured songwriters who just weren't as talented as the previous generation of greats Porter/Gershwin/Kern/Rogers etc. the result is Frank never introduced a song that stands on it's own as a standard. This can also be seen as a tribute to his talent that he truned lesser materials into Gold.

Not sure about the guy thing. Wasn't true in his day, he was a ladies man.

Now who didn't like up tempo swinging Sinatra?


----------



## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

.............................


----------



## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Belowpar said:


> It's strange that Sintra was one of the Singers who grabbed all the attention that led to the demise of big bands but that time also featured songwriters who just weren't as talented as the previous generation of greats Porter/Gershwin/Kern/Rogers etc. the result is Frank never introduced a song that stands on it's own as a standard. This can also be seen as a tribute to his talent that he truned lesser materials into Gold.


I'm not sure I've got what you are saying, didn't he sing exactly the songs of Porter/Gershwin/Kern/Rodgers etc?
And even after the decline of the big bands he had some great material. I know his material not in depth but I know this one because it was written by one of my favorite musicians ever.




it's not very well known maybe because it's one of the darkest ballads in the american songbook, so probably it's not what we could call a standard, at least in terms of populairty but it's without a doubt a splendid song (Sinatra called it the greatest saloon song ever).


----------



## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

norman bates said:


> I'm not sure I've got what you are saying, didn't he sing exactly the songs of Porter/Gershwin/Kern/Rodgers etc?
> And even after the decline of the big bands he had some great material. I know his material not in depth but I know this one because it was written by one of my favorite musicians ever.
> 
> 
> ...


Norman thank you for your response. As usual I rushed my post so I'm sorry if it's not clear. Sinatra (I see I even spelt his name incorrectly above!) came at a turning point for music. The microphone, recordings and radio/other media made stars of singers and swept all the old ways including big bands away. Also one had become a name in a dance band or in the theatre starring in shows written by XYZ. But afeter him the Singer was the important star.

The key word in my argument is that he never INTRODUCED any standards. It's impossible to come up with a list of exactly which songs constitute the Stantdar American Songbook but I'm pone to suggestions. Frank sang many of them but they were established by others. Interesting you chose a song by the very underrated Alec Wilder. It's a new one to me. You will be aware of Wilder's book, American Popular Song, and one rule would be that if it ain't in there it's not part of the canon. Of course he doesn't include anything of his own.

After Bing and Frank, the shows, the songs and the bands were just not so important. Coincidentally or as a result, standards arguably dropped in all 3. Luckily we don't have to choose and can enjoy the best of both era's. But it seems clear to me that the new Singers didn't create songwriters with the talent to equal the previous generations.

Is that clearer?


----------



## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Belowpar said:


> Norman thank you for your response. As usual I rushed my post so I'm sorry if it's not clear. Sinatra (I see I even spelt his name incorrectly above!) came at a turning point for music. The microphone, recordings and radio/other media made stars of singers and swept all the old ways including big bands away. Also one had become a name in a dance band or in the theatre starring in shows written by XYZ. But afeter him the Singer was the important star.
> 
> The key word in my argument is that he never INTRODUCED any standards. It's impossible to come up with a list of exactly which songs constitute the Stantdar American Songbook but I'm pone to suggestions. Frank sang many of them but they were established by others. Interesting you chose a song by the very underrated Alec Wilder. It's a new one to me. You will be aware of Wilder's book, American Popular Song, and one rule would be that if it ain't in there it's not part of the canon. Of course he doesn't include anything of his own.


about this If I remember well he wrote of something like three thousand songs after having took in consideration eighteen thousand for certain technical innovations, but he was the first to recognize that a lot of excluded songs were great songs and did not appear just because often certain technical aspects (unusual intervals, interesting harmonic choices, unusual forms, rhythmic patterns) were already discussed for other songs. 
And in fact there are many famous standards or in other cases simply songs of high quality that don't appear on the book (Lazy afternoon is a famous standard and a wonderful song but there's no trace of it in the book just to make an example), not to mention the fact that with very few exceptions he choose not to talk about songs written in the second half of the century. About his own songs, I think that he was a man of such integrity that he probably thought that it wasn't correct for him to discuss his own compositions (but at least I'll be around, Moon and sand and While we're young are standards).



Belowpar said:


> After Bing and Frank, the shows, the songs and the bands were just not so important. Coincidentally or as a result, standards arguably dropped in all 3. Luckily we don't have to choose and can enjoy the best of both era's. But it seems clear to me that the new Singers didn't create songwriters with the talent to equal the previous generations.
> 
> Is that clearer?


yes, altough I'm still trying to understand if it's really true that the quality of the songwriters dropped so much (after all I can think of guys like Wilder himself, Dave Frishberg, Frank Loesser, Cy Coleman, Steven Sondehim, not to mention all the great brazilian musicians that with all the obvious stylistic differences in my mind were the real continuators of that tradition, Jobim, Edu Lobo, Dori Caymmi, Milton Nascimento, Lo Borges, Djavan, Ivan Lins, Joao Bosco, Chico Buarque, Carlos Lyra etc)


----------



## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

norman bates said:


> yes, altough I'm still trying to understand if it's really true that the quality of the songwriters dropped so much (after all I can think of guys like Wilder himself, Dave Frishberg, Frank Loesser, Cy Coleman, Steven Sondehim, not to mention all the great brazilian musicians that with all the obvious stylistic differences in my mind were the real continuators of that tradition, Jobim, Edu Lobo, Dori Caymmi, Milton Nascimento, Lo Borges, Djavan, Ivan Lins, Joao Bosco, Chico Buarque, Carlos Lyra etc)


Norman I suspect we agree on much and differ on a little.

Of those you list I rank Sondheim as one of the great musical dramatists but on Loesser as a songwriter to rank alongside Porter, Gershwin(s), Rogers & ..., Kern & & Fields etc. I saw Sinatra in 1990 and he introduced a new song by a promissing young "English" songwirter ...Elton John. Elton was then 43 and "your Song" 20 years old. He worked with what he could get, but for reasons I can't fully understand I don't think the material was as great as it possibly can be.


----------



## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Belowpar said:


> I love pretty much everything he did except the trash Mitch Mitchell had him record when his carear was in the doldrums before he bounced back in From Here to Eternity AND any of the Axel Stordahl arranged albums. The pace is always slower than the slowest and I just can't get any enjoyment. Frank noticed this, heard the arangements the up and coming Nat King Cole was getting and hired Nat's guy. And that's how he got to work with Nelson Riddle.
> 
> Love Sinatra and delighted Figleaf does too.


Haha- I think the records from the Mitch Miller years, and specifically the airplay they used to get on Radio 2 in the early nineties when I was just discovering music of that era, influenced my opinion of Sinatra considerably. Was 'Love and Marriage' one of Mitch's? It sounds like it should have been. Worst.Song.Ever!

I always liked Sinatra's movies though. High Society and Robin and the Seven Hoods are my favourites- mainly for the presence of Bing Crosby, it has to be said!


----------



## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Figleaf said:


> Haha- I think the records from the Mitch Miller years, and specifically the airplay they used to get on Radio 2 in the early nineties when I was just discovering music of that era, influenced my opinion of Sinatra considerably. Was 'Love and Marriage' one of Mitch's? It sounds like it should have been. Worst.Song.Ever!
> 
> I always liked Sinatra's movies though. High Society and Robin and the Seven Hoods are my favourites- mainly for the presence of Bing Crosby, it has to be said!


What a world you live in where Love and Marriage is the sorst song ever!

This is the one that Frank most hated. It should come with a mental health warning.






I have noted the Arranger!


----------



## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Belowpar said:


> What a world you live in where Love and Marriage is the sorst song ever!
> 
> This is the one that Frank most hated. It should come with a mental health warning.
> 
> I have noted the Arranger!


Thank you, that's hilariously bad! Got to love how the guy who makes the dog noises gets credited on the record label. You would think he'd want to remain anonymous. Perhaps 'Love and Marriage' isn't technically the worst song ever written (though it must make the shortlist) but it must be the most annoying. It's a comedy song minus the comedy, with lyrics that sound like they were written by a reluctant eight year old forced to write a poem for homework, and the whimsical accompaniment takes it to a whole new level of barf worthiness. I can't decide whether Sinatra's trademark laconic style makes it better or worse, though with material like that, he can't be blamed for phoning it in. 'Mama will bark' is actually a really good Sinatra performance in spite of the song, as his emotional disengagement is less incongruous in a novelty song than in a yearning love song. I wonder, when did _cool_ become a desirable quality in singers, a large part of whose job is to express emotion?


----------



## Guest (May 28, 2015)

Figleaf said:


> a desirable quality in singers, a large part of whose job is to express emotion?


We've only got your opinion for that. :devil:


----------



## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

One more thing if all they said about Sinatra was true then after this Mitch Miller surely woke up one morning next to the severed head of his family pooch! Then he released Frank from his Columbia contract and that's how Reprise Records was born!

I'm with you on 'cool', as in his singing is the opposite of histrionic but I feel his strength is he sings from within the lyric. For me he's never detached or emotionally disengaged as you put it.


----------



## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

Elton John and Bernie Taupin made this song specifically for Sinatra and this live version is probably the only version by Sinatra that exist. I like it very much. It's pretty much sad song. I've heard some other verions, but this one is by far the best.


----------



## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Amongst my very favourite albums are the 3 he did with the Count Basie Band. ON the first studio one he sings all choppy and rhythmic to suit but he's freer here.

I'm delighted with this find. I think 1965 was when the live recording was made and this orchestration is familiar.

(Hey it was the 60's so the cameraman has to be on drugs right?)


----------



## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Wait there's more in colour!


----------



## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

I wonder how I would look in that hat? Probably closer to "Bussetta".


----------



## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)




----------



## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

I don't get Sinatra's music. What's the attraction?


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Morimur said:


> I don't get Sinatra's music. What's the attraction?


I never cared for it myself. When I was growing up in 70s, no young people listened to Sinatra or Tony Bennett. That was the Vegas lounge music our grandparents liked. Nowadays younger people buy these records.

If I want to listen to American Songbook material, I go for the jazz singers like Billy Ekstine, Carmen McRae, Ella, Sarah Vaughan, or my late, great hometown boy, Mark Murphy. And I like the bebop singers including Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, or Eddie Jefferson. Sinatra obviously had talent. He had good phrasing and tone quality, but it still sounds like lounge music to my ears.


----------



## dieter (Feb 26, 2016)

Is that the Frank Sinatra for Violin?


----------



## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

I'm a fan of Sinatra, from his boy next door croons during the war years, to his last strokes of real genius in the late 70s.

There is something to be said about the way he sung a song. It's like Come Fly With Me, Luck Be A Lady, Call Me Irresponsible, and One More For The Road....he didn't write a note of those songs, but once he sang them, it was like the world gave him ownership. That rarely happens anymore, and when it does the world turns it noes up at it for being a cover.

The phrasing is another thing that he was light years ahead of anybody on. You've got to admire what he could do with a popular melody. He was singing songs that the world had heard almost too often, and he made them fresh again. I wasn't raised on his music. It sort of became something I grew into. Actually it was my love of Perry Como that brought me to the world of the crooner.

Anyway, I can't pick my favorite recording by Sinatra. He's had too many great moments, and I still find myself liking a new discovery from him every now and then. He had a recording career of almost 60 years, and I doubt we'll stop finding radio transcriptions and v-discs.

I find myself going back to this song quite a bit. One of the most perfect things ever recorded. Sinatra with Gordon Jenkins, and it's almost operatic.






In a parting note, I'd say that one of things that probably pushed me away from his music...was the great many people that try to walk in his shoes. You've got your Michael Bubles and your Seth MacFarlanes trying to put on that fedora and hold a glass of scotch, thinking it'll give them what Sinatra had. They just don't have that honesty that he had. They all look at Sinatra's good swinging times, but neglect to see a man trying to distract himself from his troubles. I think anybody with depression can relate to that.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Morimur said:


> I don't get Sinatra's music. What's the attraction?


Me neither, sometimes it's not even singing, more talking


----------



## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

SalieriIsInnocent said:


> There is something to be said about the way he sung a song. It's like Come Fly With Me, Luck Be A Lady, Call Me Irresponsible, and One More For The Road....he didn't write a note of those songs, but once he sang them, it was like the world gave him ownership. That rarely happens anymore, and when it does the world turns it noes up at it for being a cover.
> 
> The phrasing is another thing that he was light years ahead of anybody on. You've got to admire what he could do with a popular melody. He was singing songs that the world had heard almost too often, and he made them fresh again. I wasn't raised on his music. It sort of became something I grew into.


I agree with this. The quality of his voice alone doesn't explain it. Great phrasing, and even while young he had a kind of world weariness about him that came through in the songs. "When you've loved and lost the way Frank has..."

Of course, he recorded so much over the years, not all of it worked.


----------



## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

His voice and talent, combined with the very talented big bands/orchestras he had backing him, elevate what is usually average material into something much greater. He had plenty of misses, but when he was on, he was _on_.


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Morimur said:


> I don't get Sinatra's music. What's the attraction?


He had a hat with a wide band and under the hat he had a toupée.


----------



## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Sloe said:


> He had a hat with a wide band and under the hat he had a toupée.


Oh, well no wonder!


----------



## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

GreenMamba said:


> I agree with this. The quality of his voice alone doesn't explain it. Great phrasing, and even while young he had a kind of world weariness about him that came through in the songs. "When you've loved and lost the way Frank has..."
> 
> Of course, he recorded so much over the years, not all of it worked.


I don't think there's a better quote. Though it was meant as a gag in that film, it is true. I think Ava Gardner is responsible for Sinatra's rise in more mature and often somber music. She broke him down, and you could hear it.


----------



## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Morimur said:


> I don't get Sinatra's music. What's the attraction?


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

SimonNZ said:


> My favorites of the Capitols:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


_In the Wee Small Hours_ and _Only the Lonely_ are in my collection, too.

I have to disagree with those who think Sinatra didn't have much voice and that most of his appeal was in his famous phrasing. It's true that his phrasing was superb, but I also think he had a strong and attractive voice, which only became a bit weak in the "passaggio" area (that is to say, the area in which the singer "passes" into his high register). According to Henry Pleasants in his book _The Great American Popular Singers_, this was because Frank refused to "cover" (alter his vowels somewhat) as he went up the scale; he didn't want to sound like a classical singer. But Sinatra was a master of legato, which of course is the basis of _all_ fine singing, from classical to pop.

Just listen to the way he bathes this song in beautiful tone:






And then there's this song, from the musical of the same name. It's often associated with opera singers (Todd Duncan, the original Porgy for Gershwin, introduced it on Broadway), but Sinatra more than does it justice. The low notes are especially impressive, IMO:






As for Frank's movie roles, I love his performance in _The Man with the Golden Arm_. The character was ideally suited to him.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I've been listening to Old Blue Eyes lately. I never gave him a second thought until last year. But I bought the Capitol Years 3 CD set for all of 2.50 and it's a fantastic collection. I also picked up the Reprise Collection 4 CD, and the Columbia 4 disc set. I don't really care for the early stuff on Columbia. It's too polite, and not the mature Sinatra everyone knows. I think I bought at least six of the Capitol albums. The late 80s and early 90s Larry Walsh remastered CDs sound the best. You can still buy these new from Amazon UK or pick up used copies elsewhere.


----------



## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Marvelous recording.


----------



## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Another great album.


----------



## Luchesi (Mar 15, 2013)

I was immediately impressed by the care he took to sing accurately. Few of those empty, improvised flourishes merely because the feeling just hit him at that moment (like the other famous singers, so full of themselves, so annoying). He actually knew that singers don't IMPROVE a song, during a performance, when the composers have spent so much time on their ideas. To me, it seemed so out of character for someone like Sinatra. So refreshing.

Of course it's much much worse today with young singers and all their mindless warblings. They don't seem to know why a song is good, from the lead sheet. We have a young singer like this in our ensemble, but we don't want to lose her, so we don't complain..

What do you call a musician who drinks soda and sings at the same time?
A popsinger.


----------



## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

starthrower said:


> I've been listening to Old Blue Eyes lately. I never gave him a second thought until last year. But I bought the Capitol Years 3 CD set for all of 2.50 and it's a fantastic collection. I also picked up the Reprise Collection 4 CD, and the Columbia 4 disc set. I don't really care for the early stuff on Columbia. It's too polite, and not the mature Sinatra everyone knows. I think I bought at least six of the Capitol albums. The late 80s and early 90s Larry Walsh remastered CDs sound the best. You can still buy these new from Amazon UK or pick up used copies elsewhere.


I have the Capitol Years too. His best work imv, him and Nelson Riddle where a dream partnership, Riddles arrangements are superb. A recently passed away friend of mine had the good fortune to play in his band as a teenager (a gifted violinist/viola player) and said that Sinatra's respect for the players was wonderful.
I almost got to work at Capitol Studios, but alas the job fell through. I still regret that. The best I got was driving past it, consumed with longing when I was in LA to work at Paramount.


----------



## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

starthrower said:


> I've been listening to Old Blue Eyes lately. I never gave him a second thought until last year. But I bought the Capitol Years 3 CD set for all of 2.50 and it's a fantastic collection. I also picked up the Reprise Collection 4 CD, and the Columbia 4 disc set. I don't really care for the early stuff on Columbia. It's too polite, and not the mature Sinatra everyone knows. I think I bought at least six of the Capitol albums. The late 80s and early 90s Larry Walsh remastered CDs sound the best. You can still buy these new from Amazon UK or pick up used copies elsewhere.


For sound quality of the Capitol albums, check out this site:

http://www.11fifty.com/Site_108/Capitol_Scorecard_2.html

I have most of the MFSL SACD titles and the MFSL redbook mono "Only the Lonely", and the sound quality beats the hell out of the other versions I've owned. These albums (along with Ella's) formed the core of my dad's music library. He had the original LP releases, and I knew them by heart by the time I was 8. His two favorites were "Songs for Swingin' Lovers" and "A Swingin' Affair". When I purchased my own copies, starting in the late 70's I still enjoyed them but never felt the magic, until I bought the MFSL versions. Sinatra's voice was richer, the overall sound warmer. This was true for both the DSD and redbook layers.

By the way Matt Lutthans offers high praise for the Capitol Years set, saying (IIRC) that they were the best digital versions of Sinatra before the MFSL releases.


----------



## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

giiidols said:


> Sinatra always makes me sentimental. I like to listen to his songs during the holiday period. They bring me back to childhood. His songs were popular in my family even if I am from the UK. You may need postcode finder to spot my little town on the map. I am always filled with warmth when I listen to the music of those times. Childhood is a special period for everyone.


Yeah Sinatra reminds me as a kid of my parents slow dancing at a local restaurant  They've had their share of problems, even to the point of divorcing (and remarrying later) but they were always happiest when they were in each other's arms on the dance floor. Often to the music of Old Blue Eyes.


----------



## Die Forelle (Jul 28, 2020)

giiidols said:


> My two favorite Sinatra songs are "Come Fly With Me" and "All My Tomorrows". Nothing else of his.


"All My Tomorrows" is definitely one of my favourites as well, but I can't seem to listen to a Sinatra song without liking it.


----------

