The Chairman Of The Board Meets Brazil's Bossa Nova Pioneer
Critics often dismiss Frank Sinatra as a mere 'pop' singer and don't afford him the respect that they give to his contemporaries. He's often accused of lacking technical vocal mastery and simply a singer who reworked a 'formula' over and over again. While Sinatra certainly knew what he liked and what worked for him, to belittle his artistry as a vocalist is unfair and displays a superficial knowledge of his body of work. Perhaps the finest example of his vocal excellence is his work with Brazilian guitarist Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Jobim is considered the founding father of Bossa Nova, and certainly deserves a bulk of the credit for popularizing the genre in North America. His collaboration with Sinatra on a samba tinged album Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim was a critical and commerical success. Sinatra had the highest respect for Jobim as an artist and liked him as a friend. He would try to work out the logistics for the two to record together at several points in his career, but it never came to pass.
"Wave", written by Jobim and arranged by Eumir Deodato, is among the best of all of the Sinatra/Jobim collaborations. It features some amazing vocal work by Sinatra, including perhaps the lowest notes he ever hit on a recording. It is said that for the rest of his life Sinatra would listen to "Wave" just to hear how good he sounds hitting the bass notes.
This song was to have been a featured track on a second collection of Sinatra/Jobim collaborations, but for some inexplicable reason it was never released as such. The story that has circulated over the years is that the Sinatra/Jobim album was all set to be released, and for some reason it was put on the back burner so that Reprise could release the concept album "Watertown" instead. As an artistic decision, it's tough to fathom the rationale if this is the case. "Watertown" sold fewer copies than any other Sinatra release on Reprise, and to call it an "acquired taste" is being charitable. Another story is that Sinatra himself nixed the release because he didn't like the cover art. The braintrust that came up with the idea of photographing the Chairman of the Board wearing a windbreaker and standing in front of a Greyhound bus could have been responsible for depriving the world of a second sublime collection of Sinatra with a bossa nova twist.
"Wave", along with the majority of the songs intended for the "Sinatra/Jobim" album finally surfaced on "Sinatra and Company" in 1970. The "b" side is some of Sinatra's ill-fated attempts to cover popular songs of the day ("Close To You", It's Not Easy Being Green", "Leaving On A Jet Plane"). These are recordings that even the most rabid Sinatra fans consider among his most forgettable work, and a stark contrast to the masterful collaboration with Jobim on the album's "A" side. "Wave" also appeared on the Reprise box set and of course of the "Complete Reprise Recordings" suitcase collection.
Will Friedwald, in his definitive book on Sinatra's music "Sinatra: The Song Is You" described the singer's work with Jobim as having "flexibility and delicacy, as if they could be blown about by a soft Brazilian breeze". This sensual and sultry song, in particular, is among the finest vocal work of Sinatra's amazing career. - 2361
Jobim is considered the founding father of Bossa Nova, and certainly deserves a bulk of the credit for popularizing the genre in North America. His collaboration with Sinatra on a samba tinged album Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim was a critical and commerical success. Sinatra had the highest respect for Jobim as an artist and liked him as a friend. He would try to work out the logistics for the two to record together at several points in his career, but it never came to pass.
"Wave", written by Jobim and arranged by Eumir Deodato, is among the best of all of the Sinatra/Jobim collaborations. It features some amazing vocal work by Sinatra, including perhaps the lowest notes he ever hit on a recording. It is said that for the rest of his life Sinatra would listen to "Wave" just to hear how good he sounds hitting the bass notes.
This song was to have been a featured track on a second collection of Sinatra/Jobim collaborations, but for some inexplicable reason it was never released as such. The story that has circulated over the years is that the Sinatra/Jobim album was all set to be released, and for some reason it was put on the back burner so that Reprise could release the concept album "Watertown" instead. As an artistic decision, it's tough to fathom the rationale if this is the case. "Watertown" sold fewer copies than any other Sinatra release on Reprise, and to call it an "acquired taste" is being charitable. Another story is that Sinatra himself nixed the release because he didn't like the cover art. The braintrust that came up with the idea of photographing the Chairman of the Board wearing a windbreaker and standing in front of a Greyhound bus could have been responsible for depriving the world of a second sublime collection of Sinatra with a bossa nova twist.
"Wave", along with the majority of the songs intended for the "Sinatra/Jobim" album finally surfaced on "Sinatra and Company" in 1970. The "b" side is some of Sinatra's ill-fated attempts to cover popular songs of the day ("Close To You", It's Not Easy Being Green", "Leaving On A Jet Plane"). These are recordings that even the most rabid Sinatra fans consider among his most forgettable work, and a stark contrast to the masterful collaboration with Jobim on the album's "A" side. "Wave" also appeared on the Reprise box set and of course of the "Complete Reprise Recordings" suitcase collection.
Will Friedwald, in his definitive book on Sinatra's music "Sinatra: The Song Is You" described the singer's work with Jobim as having "flexibility and delicacy, as if they could be blown about by a soft Brazilian breeze". This sensual and sultry song, in particular, is among the finest vocal work of Sinatra's amazing career. - 2361
About the Author:
David Glisan is a freelance writer covering MMA and boxing as well as a noted authority on music ranging from heavy metal to jazz. He contributes to many MMA news websites and provides UFC news for mainstream sports broadcast and print media. He serves as the music and entertainment editor for The Savage Science, a website covering fight sports and heavy metal music.
posted by Marcondes Allen at 1:18 AM
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