Frank Sinatra and Count Basie
Inside Basie
Los Angeles, CA
2-3 Oct 1962
Artisan ART 604-2 (liberated bootleg)

Silver CD > EAC > FLAC(8) > you

Session outtakes for the Sinatra-Basie album

  1. Nice Work If You Can Get It
  2. Please Be Kind
  3. I Won't Dance
  4. Learnin' the Blues
  5. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter
  6. I Only Have Eyes for You
  7. My Kind of Girl
  8. Pennies from Heaven
  9. The Tender Trap
10. Looking at the World Through Rose Colored Glasses
11. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter

The sound of this music unmistakably shows Basie's influence - big bouncing rhythm that Sinatra struggles to keep up with at times. I always found it interesting that less than one year after he was 'allowed' to form his own record label (Reprise), Frank chose to team up with Count Basle for one of the best albums of his entire career. Frank chose the Count - let the soak in a moment before you read on.

Sinatra also collaborated with Duke Ellington but frankly, I like the influence of The Count more than The Duke. Basie's music has always been much more accessible to the common person (me) - straightforward, simple yet memorable melodies, easy to follow bridges, etc. Anyway, the 1962 album, Sinatra-Basie, came out much better than what you'll hear on these studio rehearsals but here, you hear Sinatra's less polished attempts as he learns to sing w/ Basie. Sinatra wasn't Ella but still, I did find this a bit surprising since he'd had a long mentioning from Tommy Dorsey. Regardless, I regard this period as perhaps the peak of the entire Sinatra canon - it was great classic timeless crooner music that was saddled in between his early big band era (whose sound seems dated now) and the smaltzy Vegas-style crap (My Way) that came a few years later.  . . . . . but to each his own.

This disc consists of excerpts from sessions for the classic Reprise album, Sinatra-Basie. It has outtakes, incomplete takes, false starts, tempo changes,  instructions, etc. To the best of my knowledge, it contains absolutely no officially released material. To optimize one's listening experience, I recommend that you take these songs and interleave them in front of the commercial (final) version of the song.
 
I've listed these as song titles but you should know that each one contains all the mistakes and starts. Most of the time, you eventually get the full version of the song but it's buried within each track.  For example, track 1, Nice Work If You Can Get It, is about 5:30 minutes long. And somewhere in that 5:30, you get the 2:30 full song   ;-)    But the sound itself is beautiful - it rivals the commercial release by Reprise.

This sort of material is going to be of interest primarily for hard-core fans or those who enjoy the creative process that must usually be followed. But the rewards of these sessions are often worth the effort to delve into them. You can hear alternate arrangements and corrections that are made. "Now let's make a record. Play those notes for me again." Casual listeners will probably be more satisfied with any of the more typical, commercialize Sinatra concerts.

Like the other 1962 album, Sinatra and Swingin' Brass, the band conducted by Neil Hefti and his influence is felt as he brings out the pop in the Basie orchestra. Still, it's Sinatra that you want to hear and hear him you will - he is in excellent vocal form - beautiful texture that moves flawlessly from tenor to baritone. Indeed, Sinatra and Basie together produced a very potent commercial CD that proved so successful, that they collaborated 2 more times.   .  .  but IMHO, this was the best for them.  

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