I bought this album when a sophomore in high school. It was the second Sinatra album that I bought. It is responsible for my almost fifteen year love of the music of Frank Sinatra. After a career full of heights, he would never get this far up again. With that said only a handful of artists would reach this artistic height. This is a foot tapping, finger snapping fun time.

This album was recorded at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, ground zero for all kind of rat pack shenanigans. Sinatra is accompanied Count Basie’s Orchestra under the baton of Quincy Jones. Now Basie and his band backed up a lot of singers in the fifties and sixties. If you were a pop singer in this era, it seemed like a Basie album was important milestone. However, Sinatra and Basie together would create some of the Chairman’s most memorable music. Quincy Jones also had an amazing ability to convert the original arrangements by such greats as Nelson Riddle, Billy May, and Gordon Jenkins into arrangements that the Basie band could swing. Sinatra sounds fit and energetic and takes over every song.

From the sound of the cheesy announcer who intones “The Sands is proud to present a wonderful new show: A Man and His Music. The music of Count Basie and his great band and the man is Frank Sinatra”. Sinatra begins with a lame joke and then into Come Fly with Me. And the band and Sinatra swing

I’ve Got You Under My Skin: When Sinatra first recorded this song for the album Songs for Swinging Lovers; the band gave the arranger Nelson Riddle a standing ovation. As the legend goes, Riddle wrote the arrangement in the back seat of his car with a flashlight while his wife drove him to the session. The album version is a showcase for the arranger and his technique. This version, which was rearranged for Basie’s orchestra by Quincy Jones, remains faithful to the original and the band swings the hell out of it. But, in this version, Sinatra is unequivocally the star. At the bridge Sinatra advises the audience to run for cover. The admonition is appropriate. Of all the Sinatra songs, this version of Skin is easily one of my favorites. I never get tired of it and by now I have heard it hundreds, no thousands of times. Sonny Payne the drummer sets a pace that is nothing short of brilliant. Sinatra keeps up, and then falls backs, then speeds ahead, all the he bends the beat to his will. Try to sing along with Sinatra and you will see what a feat this performance is. This is the song that made me a fan. This one track is worth the price of the CD. Judy Garland once said that singing Basie and the Orchestra was like sing with a shotgun to your back. When Sinatra sings with Basie, he’s got the shotgun to the bands back. It shows in this song.

One For My Baby: Has Sinatra ever sung this song poorly? NO. Thirty years later when he recorded this song for his Duets album, he hit this one out of the park. With Bill Miller, his lifelong accompanist and one of the most underrated piano players, behind the piano Sinatra turns the main stage at the Sands into a saloon, a dive bar at that. If Skin is Sinatra at his swinging best then this song is Sinatra at his melancholy best. God, I wish he had done an album with just solo piano. He doesn’t need an orchestra. Just one guy and piano will suffice.

I could wax poetic on this album more, but it would be fruitless. If you’re looking for an entry-level Sinatra album then this is it. This album is full of highlights. The one lowlight, if there is such a thing, is when Sinatra talks. He just isn’t funny. Avoid the monologue at all costs. And why they would put 12 minutes of Sinatra talking about gossip columnists who no one remembers or maligning a Sammy Davis t.v. that barely lasted a year. That time could have been taken up with another instrumental or two by Basie. I guess the execs at Reprise couldn’t tell their boss that he should shut up and sing.

The remastered version, a part of the entertainer of the century series, adds a bonus track (Luck be Lady) that wasn’t on the original lp and cd releases. It also adds some background noise and some Sinatra asides that weren’t on previous releases.








Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Getting ready to go out