Swing and Dance with Frank Sinatra [CD]

by Frank Sinatra

Overview

When Columbia decided to reissue Frank Sinatra's early-'50s albums on CD, they did it right, choosing to expand each of the original albums with bonus tracks and release them at a budget price. Such is the case with Swing and Dance with Frank Sinatra, which is built around an eight-song, 10" record of the same name originally released in 1950 and expanded by ten stylistically related songs from long before and somewhat after the original LP sessions. Although Sinatra's star wasn't shining as brightly in 1950 as it was in the '40s, he was still capable of turning out a charming recording, which is exactly what Swing and Dance was. The CD producers reached back to similar rhythm numbers dating from five years prior to the sessions for the LP, and also from the following year. These selections include six alternate takes that are even more welcome, and all of the material features Sinatra working with arranger/conductor George Siravo, who handled the relative handful of rhythm numbers that Sinatra cut at Columbia Records, so there's a stylistic and sonic unity despite the contents being pulled together from across seven years. The original release was where -- as producer Mitch Miller put it -- the world discovered that Sinatra could swing, and the ten new additions to the original's eight songs are a match in quality for what was originally there. Opening with an outtake of "Saturday Night" (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)," Sinatra and Siravo never let the listener go, and fans of the singer and his later work for Capitol will find this album a fascinating precursor to that body of music, without a ballad in sight. Although it will never be remembered as one of his masterpieces, it's quite engaging on its own terms -- Siravo's arrangements may not be as lush as Axel Stordahl's, but they're quite good and very enjoyable. This disc is primarily for the devoted, but it's useful in illustrating that even when Sinatra wasn't at the peak of his stardom, he could record some extraordinary music. [A 1996 CD release of Swing and Dance added bonus tracks.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	07/16/1996
Label:	Columbia / Columbia/Legacy
UPC:	0074646485224

Tracks

1. Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night in the Week)
2. All of Me
3. I've Got a Crush on You
4. The Hucklebuck
5. It All Depends on You
6. Bye Bye Baby
7. All of Me
8. Should I?
9. You Do Something to Me
10. Lover
11. When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles with You)
12. It's Only a Paper Moon
13. My Blue Heaven
14. The Continental
15. Meet Me at the Copa
16. Nevertheless (I'm in Love with You)
17. There's Something Missing
18. Farewell, Farewell to Love

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Frank Sinatra   Primary Artist,Vocals
Harry James & His Orchestra   Primary Artist
The Pastels   Primary Artist
Billy Butterfield   Guest Artist,Featured Artist,Trumpet,Trumpet (Muted)
Harry James   Guest Artist,Director
George Arus   Featured Artist,Trombone
Ernie Caceres   Featured Artist,Sax (Baritone)
Ken Lane   Featured Artist,Piano
Herbie Haymer   Featured Artist,Sax (Tenor)
Bobby Hackett   Featured Artist,Guest Artist,Cornet
Wolfe Taninbaum   Featured Artist,Sax (Tenor)
Babe Russin   Featured Artist,Sax (Tenor)
Arthur Baker   Featured Artist,Clarinet
Axel Stordahl   Director,Orchestra Director
Hugo Winterhalter   Director,Orchestra Director
George Siravo   Director,Orchestra Director
Artie Baker   Clarinet

Technical Credits

Charles Granata   Producer,Liner Notes,Photography,Project Manager,Compilation Producer
Didier C. Deutsch   Producer,Compilation Producer
Jule Styne   Composer
Axel Stordahl   Composer
Seymour Simons   Composer
Andy Gibson   Composer
Harold Arlen   Composer
Jimmy Rule   Composer
Billy Rose   Composer
Larry Keyes   Transfers
Cole Porter   Composer
Joe Goodwin   Composer
Larry Shay   Composer
Bennie Benjamin   Composer
Eric Clapton   Composer
Walter Donaldson   Composer
George Gershwin   Composer
Ira Gershwin   Composer
Lorenz Hart   Composer
Lew Brown   Composer
Mark Fisher   Composer
Nacio Herb Brown   Composer
Ray Henderson   Composer
Don Wolf   Composer
Morton Downey   Composer
Arthur Freed   Composer
Buddy DeSylva   Composer
George Siravo   Arranger,Composer
George David Weiss   Composer
Gerald Marks   Composer
Harry James & His Orchestra   Performer
Harry Ruby   Composer
Bert Kalmar   Composer
Con Conrad   Composer
Jack Wolf   Composer
Ellen Fitton   Digital Mastering,Archival Restoration
E.Y. "Yip" Harburg   Composer
Richard Rodgers   Composer
Leo Robin   Composer
Roy Alfred   Composer
George A. Whiting   Composer
Herbert Magidson   Composer
Sammy Cahn   Composer
Adam Block   Project Director
Marc Cozza   Packaging,Cover Design
Matt Cavaluzzo   Transfers
Tony Sellari   Art Direction
Randall Martin   Packaging,Cover Design
Rosemary Mulligan   Packaging Manager
Ray O'Brien   Composer