COLUMBIA LEGACY CD. Remastered, Expanded for CD version of original 1950 10" LP (also 7" EP & 78rpm box)"Sing And Dance With Frank Sinatra"; includes 6 previously unreleased alternate takes++

Original Artwork modified from SING and.. to SWING and...

Monaural Recordings

Orchestral Arrangements by George Siravo except tracks
15-17 Orchestra directed by Axel Stordahl
18 w/ Harry James & His Orchestra

CD SWING AND DANCE WITH FRANK SINATRA

1. Saturday Night (Is The Loneliest Night Of The Week) - ++
2. All Of Me (Version 1) ++
3. I've Got A Crush On You - ++
4. Hucklebuck, The - (featuring Herbie Haymer)
5. It All Depends On You - ++
6. Bye Bye Baby -++
7. All Of Me (Version 2) - ++
8. Should I -
9. You Do Something To Me -
10. Lover -
11. When You're Smiling
12. It's Only A Paper Moon
13. My Blue Heaven
14. Continental, The -
15. Meet Me At The Copa
16. Nevertheless (I'm In Love With You) -
17. There's Something Missing -
18. Farewell, Farewell To Love -

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Original 10" LP SING AND DANCE WITH FRANK SINATRA

Orchestra under the direction of George Siravo

1104 Lover
1106 It's Only A Paper Moon
1107 My Blue Heaven
1003 It All Depends On You (Orch directed by Hugo Winterhalter)
1103 You Do Something To Me
1102 Should I
1108 The Continental
1105 When You're Smiling

One of my absolute favorite Sinatra albums (and now CDs), which sounds nothing like any of his later Capitol or Reprise uptempo albums. When it was recorded in 1949, his voice still had much of its fuller, youthful sound, and the phrasing is not as clipped and rhythmic as it was soon to become. Nor is he as playful with the lyrics -- no "koo koo"s or "cat"s here. And certainly Siravo's arrangements sound very different from Riddle's or May's or Hefti's. But it's a masterpiece, and if you own only one album from the Columbia years, this should be it.

Also interesting to note is that this is one of the first albums to utilize overdubbing. Apparently Frank's voice wasn't in good shape during the recording sessions, so the band was recorded first and Sinatra recorded over the taped backings later. The full story is in Will Friedwald's wonderful book "The Song Is You."

PJ

DEFINITELY a favorite of mine: I remember eyeing the CD with much suspicion and thinking jeez, I dunno - it's "Swingin' Session" stuff and probably sounds like crap. (I'd just been burnt by that horrible Rogers & Hammerstein on Columbia...).

But it was love at first sound.

I agree PJ! This is THE Columbia album...man, has it held up well.

1. Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week) [Alternate Take][#]

2. All of Me [Alternate Take][#]

3. I've Got a Crush on You [Alternate Take][#]

4. Hucklebuck

5. It All Depends on You [Alternate Take][#]

6. Bye Bye Bye [Alternate Take][#]

7. All of Me [Alternate Take] {#]

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. 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


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 Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra, a record originally released in 1950. Although Sinatra's star wasn't shining as brightly in 1950 as it was in the '40s, he still was capable of turning out a charming recording, which is exactly what Sing and Dance is. Although it will never be remembered as one of his masterpieces, it's quite engaging on its own terms -- George Siravo's arrangements may not be as lush as Axel Stordahl's, but they're quite good and very enjoyable. This expanded CD collection contains all of Sinatra's 18 recordings with Siravo for these sessions, including six alternate takes. 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

[Nancy]

So this gets merged with what thread?

It's the days counter below. I'll bump some stuff & see if it helps...

[Pedro]

I just LOVE Lover. As Andrea (Munchkin) once said, it's great to hear him hit those gorgeous high notes...

'Promise you'll always continue to be miiiiiiiine...'

Pedro.

[Marty]

Huckle-bump

I just purchased this the other day, and boy, was I in for a suprise! Siravo's arrangements are top notch. I love the extended take of, "It All Depends on You" which was found in the Columbia archives.

The real treat for me is the 1946 rendition of "All of Me", which reminds me so much of the 1954 recording with the Nelson Riddle arrangement, which leads me to this: Noting many of the similarities between them, is it fair to say that Siravo's arrangement inspired Riddle later on. Riddle, after all, had used Siravo's work for "Songs for Young Lovers".

[Chuck Granata]

The complete version of "It All Depends On You" that we included on "Swing & Dance" points up how elusive some of the original recordings - and information about them are.

There was never any documentation that a longer version of the song existed. When the blue box was produced in the early 1990s, the only takes of this song we had were the shortened takes. It wasn't until a set of uninterrupted (open mike) session recordings was found that anyone realized that there was a longer take with a sax solo. What's fascinating is listening to FS, Sid Cooper, and Hugo Winterhalter work out the cuts on the spot. It's a rare glimpse into the way FS and Co. worked in the earlier years. Other open sessions on the cache of discs include "Bye Bye Baby," "I've Got A Crush On You," and "It Never Entered My Mind."

The discs that included these sessions came into my hands from a private collector who was a close friend of Alec Wilder. Wilder had the discs, and gave them to his friend many years before he died.

No open mike session discs like this have ever existed in the Columbia vault, so this group of discs was a real find in 1995.

I was wondering about how you were able to gain access to these as I was reading you book, acctually. See, as I read the book I was just purchasing, "Swing & Dance..." and so I was able somewhat to hear what it was that you were writing about.

My question is how Alc Wilder was able to gain access to these. Must of salvaged them from destruction I suppose.

[Chuck Granata]

I'm not sure how Alec Wilder got the discs, but he had a good relationship with people at Columbia in the 1940s, 50s and 60s so I can only guess that they came to him from someone there. I sure wish we had session recordings like this in the archive, or that I could somehow stumble upon more. That doesn't seem likely...

[Ronald Sarbo]

Wilder was a friend of Mitch Miller. Miller played oboe on the "Sinatra Conducts Alec Wilder" sessions.

[Chuck Granata]

Correct, Ron. I'd forgotten about their closeness when I fired off the last post. I'd bet that it was Mitch who shared them with Wilder, because he knew Alec was a big Sinatra fan.

[Mark]

Scored me this one last night. Tee hee. I'm giddy. New favorite.

[SinatraFan]

This album introduced me to Frank's Columbia years... it was the first Columbia CD I purchased... and I couldn't stop playing it.

[Mark]

I'm so very hooked on this CD right now. I must have played it through a half-dozen times today. What I'm hearing is the Columbia Frank just starting his segue into the Capitol Frank... what was is meeting what is about to be... The smooth, Columbia-voiced Frank beginning to turn into the Capitol top of the world Frank... To my ears, it's like he's dancing on the line between past and future, about to cross over, but not yet... Like Capitol Frank singing with the Columbia orchestras... just before they shed that 30s/40s 'sound,' making room for the swing sound of the 50s and early 60s.

Great, great CD. I did pick up the V-Discs, but I'm having a hard time prying this one out of my player...

[Mark]

There was no Frank album listed under 'New Posts' today to get my day started... first day in a long time that that's happened... so I went to Bob's list, closed my eyes, and clicked. After opening my eyes and getting over the initial shock of seeing a lifesized pic of Bob in what appeared to be an apron and little else, I closed that window as quick as I could and decided to click again with my eyes open, because my heart couldn't stand a second hit like that.

This one is spinning nicely in the background. I just love the quality and tone of Frank's voice on this CD. It's going to be a great day.

I was kidding about the apron. It was a kilt.

Originally Posted by Mark

I was kidding about the apron. It was a kilt.

I like to swing when I dance, Mark.