Label: Reprise
Producer: Sonny Burke
Art Direction: Ed Thrasher
Nationality: USA
Running Time: 28:34
His years at Capitol Records, from 1954 to 1961, are regarded as the zenith of Frank Sinatra's career. Yet although the 1960s found the singer growing audibly complacent, there are joys in the recordings he made for Reprise, the artist-friendly label he founded in '61.
The two albums he made with Count Basie are both treats, for example, but it is this unlikely little record, easily the gentlest of his career, which best shows that when he chose his material wisely, Sinatra remained a peerless interpreter of the popular song.
The fad for bossa nova had evaporated; what had previously been exotic in the hands os Stan Getz and (particulary) the voice of Astrud Gilberto had long since become cliché. But Sinatra was unconcerned by fashion; his only worry, in fact, was the lack of adequate translations available of Jobim's songs, hence the presence of three American standards next to the seven Jobim cuts.
Those who have prosecuted Sinatra for singing marginally flat have often used this set as a Exhibit A. But the flaws in his voice on tender cuts such as "Dindi" are, if not deliberate, then deliberately exposed: Sinatra may have done weary and blue throughout his life, but he never sounded this vunerable. And although he decided only relatively late to invite Jobim to join him, the album is a true collaboration. Claus Ogerman's featherlight orchestra is the first thing you notice, but the heartbeat of the record is provided by Jobim's flexible yet steady guitar.
Track Listing
01- The Grils From Ipanema(Garota de Ipanema)
02- Dindi
03- Change Partners
04- Quiet Nights Of Quite Stars (Corcovado)
05- Meditation ( Meditação)
06- If you never come to me
07- How Insensitive ( Insensatez)
08- I concentrate on you
09- Baubles, Bangles and Beads
10- Once I loved
Source: 1001 Albums you must hear before you die
