it might as well be swing

Frank Sinatra and Count Basie teamed up with Quincy Jones for this stringed swing sequel.   The Chairman of the Board brought back the Count after the success of their first collaboration 'Sinatra-Basie' with arranger Neal Hefti.  This time around Frank and Splank worked with Quincy Jones, who conducted the The Count Basie Orchestra featuring  Count Basie on piano;    Al Porcino, Don Rader, Wallace Davenport, Al Aarons, George Cohn, and Harry "Sweets" Edison on trumpets;    Henry Coker, Grover Mitchell, Bill Hughes, Henderson Chambers, and Kenny Shroyer on trombones;    Frank Foster, Charles Fowlkes, Marshall Royal, Frank Wess, and Eric Dixon on reeds;    Emil Richards on vibraphone;    George Catlett on double bass;    Freddie Green on guitar;    Sonny Payne on drums;   Gerald Vinci, Israel Baker, Jacques Gasselin, Thelma Beach, Bonnie Douglas, Marshall Sosson, Erno Neufeld, Lou Raderman, Paul Shure, and James Getzoff on violins;    Virginia Majewski, Paul Robyn, Alvin Dinkin, and Stan Harris on violas;    and Edgar Lustgarten and Ann Goodman on cellos.   The sessions were produced by Sonny Burke and engineered by Lowell Frank for Sinatra's own Reprise Records.  

The big band swing sound is tops.  The singer is tops.  The producer is tops.  This triple threat of musical giants do not disappoint.  Just try and sit still.  'It Might As Well Be Swing'!






www.sinatra.com


www.thecountbasieorchestra.com













'Fly Me To The Moon'


Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On a Jupiter and Mars

In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby , kiss me

Fill my heart with song
and let me sing forever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore

In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you

Fill my heart with song
Let me sing forever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore

In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you

In other words, I love you.




'It Might As Well Be Swing'
full album:




"Fly Me to the Moon" (Bart Howard) – 2:30
"I Wish You Love" (Léo Chauliac, Charles Trenet, Albert Beach) – 2:56
"I Believe in You" (Frank Loesser) – 2:21
"More (Theme from Mondo Cane)" (Riz Ortolani, Nino Oliviero, Marcello Ciorciolini, Norman Newell) – 3:05
"I Can't Stop Loving You" (Don Gibson) – 3:00
"Hello, Dolly!" (Jerry Herman) – 2:45
"I Wanna Be Around" (Johnny Mercer, Sadie Vimmerstedt) – 2:25
"The Best is Yet to Come" (Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh) – 3:10
"The Good Life" (Sacha Distel, Jack Reardon) – 2:30
"Wives and Lovers" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 2:50




“Stan Cornyn: What distinguishes writing for Sinatra? 
Quincy Jones: To begin with, he is so personal a singer. Nobody can imitate him. Sammy Davis, Jr. is one of his closest  friends and yet Frank is the one imitation Sammy really can’t do. He can do the mannerisms, but he cannot imitate that sound. Secondly, Frank is unusually sensitive. He is so flexible musically that he fits easily into every situation. And when he has an idea he wants to incorporate, he is able to immediately absorb the whole musical context surrounding that idea”. 

(A conversation with Mr. Jones, 1964. Notes innersleeve)