Come Dance With Me - Frank Sinatra
Sinatra was perhaps America's greatest entertainer throughout the forties and fifties. He won an Oscar and several Grammy awards, his first being with Come Dance With Me. I think everybody will agree with me that Frank Sinatra has one the most recognizable voices of all time. It's much more familiar and commong than that of Dean Martin or Bing Crosby. It's as if he's talking to an old friend and seducing a woman at a bar all rolled into one. Never do you hear him take a breath or hit a harsh consonant. Every word and syllable flows effortlessly. Each song is an easy and comfortable conversation.
The collection on this album is all arranged by Billy May, who worked with many of the great singers of the past such as Bobby Darin and Ella Fitzgerald. His band shines on this album with an upbeat and swinging attitude. Every track has the standard brass phrasing that one comes to love and dance to in these old standards. The band shines on "Day In -- Day Out" and "Just In Time", throwing every punch where possible.
The appeal of course is in that old familiar baritone voice of his. I listened to this album a few times, one of them being on a run which was a very odd experience, but I found that as a piece it is much more situational or nostalgic than cohesive. It is something you want to experience while dancing or drinking. The songs stand exceptionally on their own, but when jumbled together they get repetitive and tiring, particularly the slow and moody last track, "The Last Dance", which takes his voice to a very low and uncomfortable range. Many of the tracks become forgettable in this sequence of standards.
Sinatra is remarkable at taking any tune and making it his own as much as it is ours, but it comes out as a personal love letter to a particular time or moment. His songs are something you keep and want to dust off and re-read every once and a while. And it's not just because they are old, but because they are full of talent and sincerity.
other 1960 nominees
- Belafonte at Carnegie Hall performed by Harry Belafonte
- More Music From Peter Gunn performed by Henry Mancini
- Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 performed by Van Cliburn
- Victory at Sea, Vol. 1 performed by Robert Russell Bennett
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