Frank Sinatra: Come Dance With Me! / Come Fly With Me

Sinatra's most commercially successful album for Capitol is paired with Come Fly With Me, arguably superior for its ballad renditions

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These were just two of the albums Sinatra recorded for Capitol in the 50s, a period widely acknowledged to show him at his vocal peak. As a solo artist, from 1943 until his death, Sinatra recorded for just three companies – Columbia in the 1940s (primarily singles), Capitol in the 1950s (singles but primarily long-players) and Reprise from 1960 onwards (again a mixture of singles but primarily long-players).

The eight years at Capitol produced at least three all-time classic albums – In The Wee Small Hours, Songs For Swingin’ Lovers!, and Only The Lonely, all arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, his principal accompanist. He did, however, work with two other major arranger/conductors – Gordon Jenkins, who specialised in ballads and, as here, Billy May, whose forte was the bouncers.

The 24 tracks on the two albums were recorded in three sessions in late 1957 and three sessions in early 1958. The three “bonus” tracks here – again arranged and conducted by May – come from a session in 1958.

For me Come Fly offers by far the best work, with ballads like Autumn In New York, Moonlight In Vermont, London By Night and April In Paris remaining unsurpassed. There will, of course, be those who will champion Something’s Gotta Give, Day In, Day Out and Dancing In The Dark – and it has to be said that Come Dance With Me! was Capitol’s most successful Sinatra album, remaining prominent in the charts for several weeks.

Whatever, this CD will give a lot of pleasure to a lot of people for a long time and you can’t say fairer than that.

Discography
Come Dance With Me; Something’s Gotta Give; Dancing In The Dark; Just In Time; Too Close For Comfort; I Could Have Danced All Night; Saturday Night Is The Loneliest Night In The Week; Day In, Day Out; Cheek To Cheek; Baubles, Bangles, And Beads; The Song Is You; The Last Dance; Come Fly With Me; Around The World; Isle Of Capri; Moonlight In Vermont; Autumn In New York; On The Road To Mandalay; Let’s Get Away From It All; April In Paris; London By Night; Brazil; Blue Hawaii; It’s Nice To Go Travelling; Nothing In Common; Same Old Song And Dance; How Are Ya Fixed For Love (77.46)
Sinatra (v) with Billy May and his Orchestra. Los Angeles, October 1957 and March 1958.
Essential Jazz Classics EJC 5767