Forever Frank

                                                                                         
You can't be a guy who sings jazz and not contend with Frank. You can try but you can't get around him :)

Sinatra cuts a huge a swath through the American Songbook, bending and shaping the songs to suit his distinctive personality and phrasing,  often much with much more sensitively than we remember; the macho swagger of his public persona masking the vulnerability and romantic feeling that he brought to so much of his work.

There's been a lot of different Sinatra's over his long career. The skinny boy band singer who fired up a whole generation of bobby soxers, (and started the teen idol craze long before Elvis).  The sophisticated gentleman of his Capital Records years with his golden phrasing, impeccable taste in material and those incredible   arrangements.  And then there's the Hollywood movie star, and the Vegas Rat Pack: Sinatra always came off like a self made king, whose arrogance attitude and supreme self confidence made him a hero to generations.

All of these Sinatra's add up to artist as legend, who managed to survive the changes in public tastes, carving out a singular vision of what kind of magic is possible when an artist declares himself to the world.  

Ultimatly Frank inspires us to trust our own instincts and go our own way.

  And if that isn't Jazz , then tell me what is?

 

55 comments