Who: Frank Sinatra, coming off of the most critcally acclaimed album of his career (1955's In the Wee Small Hours).
What: The Spring to In the Wee Small Hours's Winter, this record reinterprets beloved romantic traditional standards in a hip and fashionable way, with assertive and jazzy performances by Sinatra set to energetic and sophisticated orchestrations (arranged, like In the Wee Small Hours, by Nelson Riddle). Both this album and In the Wee Small Hours focus on one theme. This one, however, isn't an epic; rather, each song is like its own little fling.
Where: Hollywood, CA.
 |
| The famous Capitol Records building in Hollywood, where the album was recorded, ca. 1950s. |
When: Hosting a dinner party.
Why: These are definitive versions of some of the most enduring songs in the Great American Songbook. This record, much like Sinatra himself, captures the optimism and exuberance of the mid-fifties U.S. While In the Wee Small Hours is Sinatra at his artistic peak, this is quintessential Sinatra—upbeat, confident, witty.
 |
| Sinatra in the studio, 1956. |
Microdose: This great take on Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin," in which the orchestra and Sinatra really play off each other, is the highlight of this record and became one of his signature performances.
Another dose: The fabulous Neneh Cherry transformed "I've Got You Under My Skin" for an AIDS benefit compliation of Cole Porter songs from 1990 entitled Red Hot + Blue.
No comments:
Post a Comment