Francis A. & Edward K.
Sinatra with the Duke Ellington orchestra, arranged by Billy May and mostly at slow tempos.
Frank Sinatra, 1967
- Released
- 1967
- Recorded
- 11 and 12 December 1967
- Studio
- Western Recorders, Hollywood
- Label
- Reprise
- Producer
- Sonny Burke
The plan was to record a mix of standards and originals, but only one original, Ellington's I Like the Sunrise, made it onto the album. Billy May wrote the arrangements, and every performance is at a slow tempo except Come Back to Me. Lee Herschberg engineered the sessions at Western Recorders in Hollywood, where tracks 3, 4, 6 and 8 were recorded on 11 December and tracks 1, 2, 5 and 7 on 12 December.
DownBeat's Dan Morgenstern gave it four stars and called Indian Summer the album's masterpiece, singling out Johnny Hodges's solo, along with contributions from Cootie Williams and Paul Gonsalves. He added that it would have been a great album if Sinatra had been in top voice. Jonathan Scull put it on his 1996 Stereophile list of Records to Die For.
Track listing
- Follow Me3:56
- Sunny4:15
- All I Need Is the Girl5:01
- Indian Summer4:14
- I Like the Sunrise5:02
- Yellow Days5:00
- Poor Butterfly4:29
- Come Back to Me3:22
Personnel
- Frank Sinatra vocals
- Duke Ellington piano
- Billy May arranger, conductor
- Johnny Hodges alto saxophone
- Paul Gonsalves tenor saxophone
- Cootie Williams trumpet
- Harry Carney baritone saxophone
- Sam Woodyard drums
- Sonny Burke producer
- Lee Herschberg engineer
More from Frank Sinatra
Songs for Young Lovers (1954), In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin' Lovers! (1956), Only the Lonely (1958), Come Fly with Me (1958), Nice 'n' Easy (1960), Sinatra-Basie: An Historic Musical First (1962), September of My Years (1965), Sinatra at the Sands (1966), Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim (1967), Watertown (1970), Trilogy: Past Present Future (1980), Duets (1993)
Sources
- Francis A. & Edward K., Wikipedia