Sinatra-Basie (January, 1963)  Warner Brothers 1008 [CD]

Sinatra's first collaboration with Count Basie is a very loose affair, with Frank weaving in and out of the tempo with a practiced ease that belies the artistry infusing each song.  Although some listeners might wish that these two pros had upped the tempos a bit more - as it is, Sinatra-Basie sounds like a comfortable get-together on a summer's day.  The arrangements are all mid-tempo, right in the pocket, with the occasional bluesy throwaway solo that the trademark of Count Basie's style.  I was surprised to learn that Neal Hefti was brought back a second time to arrange these numbers, but he does a fine job - a complete 180-degree turn around from the bright and brassy Sinatra and Swingin' Brass album.  The songs are all A-list, from the lazy sway of "I Won't Dance" to the torchy advice of "Learnin' The Blues."  The Basie sound is all brass and woodwinds, with the light touch of Basie's piano occasionally peeking in, which allows Sinatra's voice to really punch through.  His voice is a little rough in spots, apparently from a raucous ball game he attended the night before (good planning, Frank) but it all just adds to the whisky-sour sound that pervades the set list.  Personal favorites: the frenetic jolt of "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down (And Write Myself A Letter) with it's jazzy saxaphone solo and brief bursts of trumpet thrown out like a cannonshot, later leaning into a tribal percussion undercurrent that Sinatra skips over like a smooth stone; and the cool, cool mood and meaty woodwinds on "I Only Have Eyes For You."  I'm one of the ones who wish the tempo would jump a bit more, but this CD is many fans' favorite, and a great collaboration which would really catch fire when they hit the Sands of Las Vegas.

The Concert Sinatra (February, 1963)  Warner Brothers 47244 [CD]

This confusingly titles CD refers to the fact that these are the kinds of art songs that would be performed in a concert arena, like Carnege Hall, and it's NOT a live album of any kind.  It is though one of Sinatra's best albums, with a grand stateliness that isn't found on any of his previous discs.  Concert also marked the return of Nelson Riddle to the stable of arrangers that Sinatra had been working with since his jump to Reprise in 1960.  Riddle clearly hasn't forgotten how to write for Sinatra, even on a project as different as this one, where the songs demand a sensitivity and emotional heft not found in more mundane numbers.  Each song is taken from a Broadway show, with half of the eight tracks being a Rodgers & Hammerstein composition.  No surprise there: R&H had redefined musical theater back in 1943 with their landmark production of Oklahoma! and had been the kings of Broadway for two decades.  Sinatra clearly relishes tackling the plums of their repetoire with a new reading of the tour-de-force "Soliloquy" and the epic "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Carousel; the wistful "I Have Dreamed" lifted from The King And I, and the tragic "This Nearly Was Mine" from South Pacific.  Sinatra tears into each one, giving definitive readings with a nearly Shakespearean intensity - far surpassing his earlier attempt at "Soliloquy" from his Columbia days.  He also has fun with Rodgers and Hart's "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" from Pal Joey, and is suitably grave for Hammerstein & Kern's "Old Man River" from Showboat.  An unusual outing for Sinatra, but an epoch in his Reprise output.

Sinatra's Sinatra (April, 1963)  Warner Brothers 1010 [CD]

Sinatra was always aware that his biggest hits were owned by Capitol Records, who was making money by constantly repackaging his albums over and over again.  With the critical success of his reunion with Nelson Riddle on The Concert Sinatra it seemed like an easy call to simply re-record his classic hits with Riddle on his new label, and beat Capitol at their own rap.  Sinatra's Sinatra serves as a canny representation of Sinatra's oeuvre, even if it's not as successful as he hoped.  Sinatra's in good voice, Riddle's in top form, but the numbers don't have the crackle they did in their original versions, and some of the charts, as on "Pocketful of Miracles" have the added trick of a children's chorus, which frankly seems out of place on a Sinatra album.  But there are many high points here, (how can there not be given the material and artists involved?): "Call Me Irresponsible" is serene and authoritative, "The Second Time Around" is given a lacquer of pure irony with its inclusion, and "Nancy With The Laughing Face" is buffed up with the addition of new lyrics: ("Keep Audrey Hepburn and keep Liz Taylor/Nancy's the feature, they're just the trailer") - but fans will probably just find themselves comparing these versions to the originals, with some preferring the new arrangements, but most, I suspect, knowing that this is just Sinatra retread, and there is little point in this exercise except for the bottom line.  And when is that ever the spark for really great music?  But it's still Sinatra and Riddle, and together they don't make bad records.

Reprise Musical Repertory Theater (Finian's Rainbow, Kiss Me Kate, South Pacific, Guys And Dolls) (Released 1963; Reissued September 26, 2000)  Warner Brothers 47775 [CD]

Days of Wine And Roses, Moon River, And Other Academy Award Winners (March 1964)  Warner Brothers 1011 [CD]

Released almost eleven months after his previous album, you'd think that Frank & Nelson would've come up with something a little more ground-breaking, but what they served up instead was a pleasant album, tailor-made for cocktail parties as background music, but with little that really grabs the listener and shakes them.  It's a good concept: take award winning songs, from 1934's "The Continental" to 1964's "The Days Of Wine And Roses" and have them "Sinatra-ized."  But Frank, while doing his best, especially on a swinging "The Way You Look Tonight" and "All The Way," but he also misses the spark of the original versions on a cover of Bing Crosby's "Swinging On A Star" and sounds positively dried up on "Secret Love."  The overall problem with this concept is that the songs chosen are all fine songs, but none of them suit Sinatra's style particularly well.  They're catchy crowd-pleasers which is what made them palatable to Academy Award audiences, but few of them have the emotional depth that Sinatra and Riddle could really sink their teeth into.  Little is transformed by Frank's interpretation, and even fewer of these covers make you forget the original versions.  Even Andy Williams holds onto "Moon River", and that's a little embarrassing; since Frank could sing circles around Andy.  A good album - just not the kind of punch in the gut we expect from a Frank Sinatra album.

It Might As Well Be Swing (August, 1964)  Warner Brothers 46972 [CD]

Sinatra & Basie's second album, arranged by Quincy Jones is a sprightlier affair than their first album, which is all to the good: "Fly Me To The Moon" is a real jumper, with a brilliant arrangement that is one of the best things that Frank ever recorded; the otherwise sugary "More" is recast as a big-band swinger; and "The Best Is Yet To Come" is also a perfect reading, with Sinatra in full swagger mode.  Sinatra is more the focus on this album, so that Basie, rather than being an equal partner is simply backup - but for the album, that's good.  The first Basie-Sinatra sessions sounded too flat, as if they were being careful about everyone getting in their shots; here it's just "let's make a good album" - so the mix is better, the sound is brighter, and the singer is in better voice.  But the song selection is less than stellar: "I Can't Stop Loving You" has Sinatra tackling a country crooner, but he doesn't have the chops for it that fellow rat-packer Dino did; "Hello Dolly" is just too trite of a song for Frank to sound convincing on (not a fave song of mine anyway - no matter who's singing it); same goes for "I Believe In You" which was lifted from Frank Loesser's How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying - it's a punchy song, but as a composition it's never worked for me.  So while the album is a step up sonically from Frank & Plank's first platter, and there are some great songs here, a lot of the album is still lacking the true spark of greatness that fans expected from a pairing of these two giants.  That part's still to come at The Sands.

Softly, As I Leave You (November, 1964)  Warner Brothers 1013 [CD]

One of those Sinatra albums that fails to satisfy fans for different reasons.  By this time, the Beatles had invaded the United States bringing with them a new sound that was taking America by storm.  Frank had weathered Elvis, Buddy Holly, and other rock 'n' rollers, but the influence of John, Paul George & Ringo couldn't be denied.  So electric keyboards, drums and backup singers take the place of orchestras or jazz combos on this album, with predictably shallow results.  Softly, As I Leave You was cobbled together to try and answer the new style that was blaring out of stereos and jukeboxes.  Several different arrangers are used, with two - Billy May & Nelson Riddle, coming off the best with "Here's To The Losers" and "Come Blow You Horn" showing that Billy could make a song sound contemporary, while Riddle's setting of the sweet "Emily" is worthwhile.  However, Ernie Freeman's arrangements of "Softly, As I Leave You," "Available" and "Then Suddenly Love" all sink under the superficial trappings of so-called "contemporary" arrangments that sound far more dated now than Sinatra's earlier work.  It's a little sad to hear how lost Frank sounds here - he sings great, with powerful, gruff vocals still swimming in warmth; but the songs aren't up to par, and the album feels stitched together, rather than a cohesive unit.  Out of print and rare - but you won't hear many Sinatra fans screaming for it's re-release.  Available only as part of the Complete Reprise Studio Recordings.

Sinatra '65 (1965)  Reprise R-6167 [LP]

The only Sinatra Reprise album never to be released on compact disc, Sinatra '65 is another pop-oriented album with so-so songs being hamstrung together by anonymous arrangements (literally - no arrangers are credited on the album cover) and taken from various single and studio sessions without rhyme or reason. So while Frank gets to sing "Luck Be A Lady," it's not the hard-swinging sound you expect from the Chairman of the Board, more like "Sinatra and Humperdink - Together At Last!" Everything else here is entirely forgettable, with the droopy "Stay With Me" to the half-hearted readings on "You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me." (I mean, you can tell how bad this song is by it's title, can't you?) And the "lite" arrangements on every song make me think that it's the same mish-mash of talent that was responsible for the scattershot Softly As I Leave You album - you can simply label this "Leaving You - part II" and leave it at that. After a couple of albums like this, Sinatra seemed to come to his senses for a little while and his next album was something of a return to form, and completely new at the same time. Sinatra '65 is only available on the Complete Reprise Studio Recordings box set.