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Trilogy - Record 1
________________________________________________
RECORD ONE
THE PAST
Los Angeles – September, 1979
Outside the recording studio on Sunset Boulevard the temperature hovers just under 90 degrees. Brush and forest fires are sprinkling soot on this seedy and vaguely menacing stretch of Hollywood from a sky that has turned from beige to rust to black as the sun has set. It is a Nathanael West sort of evening, and thus is a perfect foil for the magical contrast one finds inside the studio. For inside, it is unmistakably a Mabel Mercer sort of evening. Frank Sinatra, Billy May, a 12-voice choir and a 55-piece orchestra are making a record of “My Shining Hour,” an extraordinary song composed for the Fred Astaire film “The Sky’s The Limit” in 1943.
“I can’t believe we never got to this one – I’ve been wanting to do it for 35 years,” says Sinatra, puffing on a Camel regular in the control room and recalling that one of his classics, “One For My Baby,” is from the same Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer score.
“My Shining Hour” sounds easy to perform but, in fact, is quite difficult and has trapped many singers. Mabel Mercer has kept it alive through the years almost singe-handedly. In addition to being a technical challenge, it is a song of such purity, grace and simple elegance that it reveals instantly any pretense, any superficial flourish, any trick in which the singer or arranger might be tempted to indulge. Sinatra and May both are equal to the occasion. Sinatra sings clearly and gently, with passion that is openhearted and yet slightly understated. May’s orchestration is delicate, economical and lovely. But even these people have to work hard at it. There is more than the usual amount of preliminary rehearsal, acoustic tinkering, section-balancing, level-checking and throat-clearing. Finally the master tape rolls. Take one is a false start. Take two is complete but Sinatra is struggling a bit. “To the top.” Take three is complete, and he comes in and listens to it. Good but not good enough. Take four is a false start. Take five is complete but ragged. Take six aborts at an unsynchronized ritard on the phrase, “…an angel watching o’er me.” On take seven Sinatra conducts May conducting the orchestra through the ritard. Close. “One more.” Take eight is complete and is played back. May and Burke look pleased and hopeful. Sinatra, concentrating hard, reveals no emotion until the end. He looks up, smiles, sighs, and says, “That’s a-nice.” Indeed.
Many of the vocal and instrumental attitudes in the “Shining Hour” recording are present in the Sinatra-May rendition of Vincent Youman’s ballad “More Than You Know,” written for a show called “Great Day” which flopped on Broadway in 1929. The structure and harmonies of “More Than You Know” were quite advanced for that period. As Billy May says, “It had a big edge on ‘Button Up Your Overcoat.’” “More Than You Know” is highlighted by a Chuck Findley flugelhorn improvisation that strolls unobtrusively alongside Sinatra and conveys in its own way the same message he is singing.
Sinatra finds “The Song Is You” irresistible. This is his fourth recorded version of it and May’s second collaboration with him. In the Forties, Sinatra performed the song as the elegant drawing-room ballad that Kern and Hammerstein had in mind when they wrote it for “Music In The Air” in 1932. In 1959, Sinatra and May recorded it up-tempo with a brass ensemble sound that didn’t employ strings. Now, Sinatra swings the song more than ever and is complimented by a lively, animated conversation among open and muted trumpets, trombones, saxophones and clarinets, with strings adding color and legato contrasts.
“It Had To Be You” was an early pick for “Trilogy.” It was the favorite song of the late Johnny Mercer, Sinatra’s close friend and favorite lyricist. However, it wasn’t written by Mercer but by Isham Jones, in whose band Gordon Jenkins used to play. Billy May’s arrangement here evokes the early Forties, as do his charts for “I Had The Craziest Dream” and “But Not For Me.” The period flavor, however, doesn’t overwhelm any of the arrangements; they contain string and wind passages that are entirely contemporary.
“They All Laughed,” which the Gershwins composed for “Shall We Dance” in 1937, displays Sinatra’s and May’s sense of humor like no other song in this collection. Sinatra sings with abandon and glee, and May’s arrangement is a romp – filled with imagination and surprises which I won’t spoil by enumerating here.
A word about solos and other individual performances: In addition to Chuck Findley on “More Than You Know” and “It Had To Be You,” one finds exquisite work by trumpeter Charlie Turner on “I Had The Craziest Dream,” and by trombonist Dick Nash on “It Had To Be You” and “But Not For Me.” And throughout the album, like a steady breeze at Sinatra’s back, is the outstanding piano work of Vinnie Falcone, Sinatra’s regular pianist and concert conductor (they call him Vincent at the Met), as well as the excellent playing of Sinatra’s other regulars: guitarist Al Viola, drummer Irv Cottler, and bassist Gene Cherico.
What one hears on Part One of “Trilogy” is the result not only of careful song selection and superior musicianship but also of considerable fine-tuning by Sinatra during the recording process. On these sooty September evenings he is re-recording several renditions that he and May had completed two months earlier that seemed perfectly acceptable then. But after listening repeatedly to cassettes of the July sessions, Sinatra decided he could do better. He changed a few keys, slowed a few tempos, and generally gained firmer internal command of the songs, especially those he hadn’t recorded previously. The experience reminded Billy May of their 1963 recording of “Luck Be A Lady” for which he had written a very fast arrangement. Sinatra loved it, but asked that May slow the tempo slightly. Billy did, and an excellent record became an unforgettable one. The new re-recordings also recall Sinatra’s decision, late one night in February, 1976, to redo “Send In The Clowns” accompanied only by a piano. He had recorded it with a full orchestral arrangement in the spring of 1973 for the “Blue Eyes” album, but after singing it in concert halls around the world for the next two and a half years, the song had become a part of him in a way that it hadn’t in 1973. His command of it on the second record is striking, even chilling.
Such unrelenting attention to the nuances of the recorded repertoire is another manifestation of Sinatra’s artistry which is occasionally burdensome to him but is an integral element of his greatness.
THE PAST
Collectibles of the Early Years
Orchestra and Chorus Arranged and Conducted by Billy May
SIDE ONE
The Song Is You 2:39
Lyrics – Oscar Hammerstein II
Music – Jerome Kern
T.B. Harms Company-ASCAP
But Not For Me 3:50
Lyrics – Ira Gershwin
Music – George Gershwin
New World Music Corp.-ASCAP
I Had The Craziest Dream 3:13
Lyrics – Mack Gordon
Music – Harry Warren
Bregman, Vocco & Conn Inc.-ASCAP
It Had To Be You 3:53
Lyrics – Gus Kahn
Music – Isham Jones
Warner Bros. Inc.-ASCAP
Let’s Face The Music And Dance 2:50
Lyrics & Music – Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin Music Corp.-ASCAP
SIDE TWO
Street Of Dreams 3:32
Lyrics – Sam M. Lewis
Music – Victor Young
Miller Music Corp.-ASCAP
My Shining Hour 3:21
Lyrics – Johnny Mercer
Music – Harold Arlen
Harwin Music Co.-ASCAP
All Of You 1:42
Lyrics & Music – Cole Porter
Chappell Music-ASCAP
More Than You Know 3:22
Lyrics – William Rose & Edward Eliscu
Music – Vincent Youmans
Miller Music Corp. / Intersong Music-ASCAP
They All Laughed 2:49
Lyrics – Ira Gershwin
Music – George Gershwin
Chappell Music-ASCAP
__________________________________________________
PRODUCED BY SONNY BURKE
Recorded at United Western Studios, Hollywood, California
Engineered by Ed Green and Lee Herschberg
Music Preparation by Vern Yocum
Conductor: BILLY MAY
Contractor: Carl L. Fortina
Chorus
Sue Allen
Dick Bolks
Bill Brown
Kathrine Louise Brown
Vangie Carmichael
Peggy Clark
Alan Copeland
Alan Davies
Walt Harrah
Ron Hicklin
Tom Kenny
Karen Kenton
Gene Merlino
Julie Rinker Miller
Gene Morford
Loulie Jean Norman
Michael Redman
Terry Stillwell
Bob Tebow
Jackie Ward
Jim Wheeler
Linda Wheeler
Jerry Whitman
Dave Wilson
Small Group
Sue Allen
Dick Bolks
Gene Merlino
Mike Redman
Concertmaster: David Frisina
Violin
Israel Baker
Harris Goldman
James Getzoff
Glenn Dicterow
Marvin Limonick
Joseph Stepansky
Sheldon Sanov
Norman Carr
Robert Sushel
Mary Debra Lundquist
David D. Turner
Harry Bluestone
Marshall Sosson
Stanley Plummer
Judith Aller-Talvi
Daniel Shindaryov
Rochelle Abramson
Jennifer Small
Viola
Pamela Goldsmith
Louis Kievman
Archie Levin
Linn Subotnick
Allan Harshman
Barbara Simons
Cello
Douglas L. Davis
Raymond J. Kelley
Christine Ermacoff
Mary C. Lane
Ronald B. Cooper
Bass
John Allen Hornschuch
Gene V. Cherico
Meyer Rubin
Trumpet
John Audino
Charles B. Findley
Uan Rasey
Charles Henry Turner
Robert Findley
John McClanian Best
Trombone
William R. Watrous
Charles C. Loper
William C. Booth
James M. Self
Richard Nash
Lloyd Ulyate
Tuba
John Thomas Johnson
Woodwinds
Wilbur Schwartz
Ted Nash
Jules Jacob
Gene Cipriano
John E. Lowe
Robert Steen
Piano
Vincent J. Falcone, Jr.
Harp
Verlye Mills
Guitar
Alfred Viola
Drums
Irving Cottler
Percussion
Dale L. Anderson
RECORD ONE
THE PAST
Los Angeles – September, 1979
Outside the recording studio on Sunset Boulevard the temperature hovers just under 90 degrees. Brush and forest fires are sprinkling soot on this seedy and vaguely menacing stretch of Hollywood from a sky that has turned from beige to rust to black as the sun has set. It is a Nathanael West sort of evening, and thus is a perfect foil for the magical contrast one finds inside the studio. For inside, it is unmistakably a Mabel Mercer sort of evening. Frank Sinatra, Billy May, a 12-voice choir and a 55-piece orchestra are making a record of “My Shining Hour,” an extraordinary song composed for the Fred Astaire film “The Sky’s The Limit” in 1943.
“I can’t believe we never got to this one – I’ve been wanting to do it for 35 years,” says Sinatra, puffing on a Camel regular in the control room and recalling that one of his classics, “One For My Baby,” is from the same Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer score.
“My Shining Hour” sounds easy to perform but, in fact, is quite difficult and has trapped many singers. Mabel Mercer has kept it alive through the years almost singe-handedly. In addition to being a technical challenge, it is a song of such purity, grace and simple elegance that it reveals instantly any pretense, any superficial flourish, any trick in which the singer or arranger might be tempted to indulge. Sinatra and May both are equal to the occasion. Sinatra sings clearly and gently, with passion that is openhearted and yet slightly understated. May’s orchestration is delicate, economical and lovely. But even these people have to work hard at it. There is more than the usual amount of preliminary rehearsal, acoustic tinkering, section-balancing, level-checking and throat-clearing. Finally the master tape rolls. Take one is a false start. Take two is complete but Sinatra is struggling a bit. “To the top.” Take three is complete, and he comes in and listens to it. Good but not good enough. Take four is a false start. Take five is complete but ragged. Take six aborts at an unsynchronized ritard on the phrase, “…an angel watching o’er me.” On take seven Sinatra conducts May conducting the orchestra through the ritard. Close. “One more.” Take eight is complete and is played back. May and Burke look pleased and hopeful. Sinatra, concentrating hard, reveals no emotion until the end. He looks up, smiles, sighs, and says, “That’s a-nice.” Indeed.
Many of the vocal and instrumental attitudes in the “Shining Hour” recording are present in the Sinatra-May rendition of Vincent Youman’s ballad “More Than You Know,” written for a show called “Great Day” which flopped on Broadway in 1929. The structure and harmonies of “More Than You Know” were quite advanced for that period. As Billy May says, “It had a big edge on ‘Button Up Your Overcoat.’” “More Than You Know” is highlighted by a Chuck Findley flugelhorn improvisation that strolls unobtrusively alongside Sinatra and conveys in its own way the same message he is singing.
Sinatra finds “The Song Is You” irresistible. This is his fourth recorded version of it and May’s second collaboration with him. In the Forties, Sinatra performed the song as the elegant drawing-room ballad that Kern and Hammerstein had in mind when they wrote it for “Music In The Air” in 1932. In 1959, Sinatra and May recorded it up-tempo with a brass ensemble sound that didn’t employ strings. Now, Sinatra swings the song more than ever and is complimented by a lively, animated conversation among open and muted trumpets, trombones, saxophones and clarinets, with strings adding color and legato contrasts.
“It Had To Be You” was an early pick for “Trilogy.” It was the favorite song of the late Johnny Mercer, Sinatra’s close friend and favorite lyricist. However, it wasn’t written by Mercer but by Isham Jones, in whose band Gordon Jenkins used to play. Billy May’s arrangement here evokes the early Forties, as do his charts for “I Had The Craziest Dream” and “But Not For Me.” The period flavor, however, doesn’t overwhelm any of the arrangements; they contain string and wind passages that are entirely contemporary.
“They All Laughed,” which the Gershwins composed for “Shall We Dance” in 1937, displays Sinatra’s and May’s sense of humor like no other song in this collection. Sinatra sings with abandon and glee, and May’s arrangement is a romp – filled with imagination and surprises which I won’t spoil by enumerating here.
A word about solos and other individual performances: In addition to Chuck Findley on “More Than You Know” and “It Had To Be You,” one finds exquisite work by trumpeter Charlie Turner on “I Had The Craziest Dream,” and by trombonist Dick Nash on “It Had To Be You” and “But Not For Me.” And throughout the album, like a steady breeze at Sinatra’s back, is the outstanding piano work of Vinnie Falcone, Sinatra’s regular pianist and concert conductor (they call him Vincent at the Met), as well as the excellent playing of Sinatra’s other regulars: guitarist Al Viola, drummer Irv Cottler, and bassist Gene Cherico.
What one hears on Part One of “Trilogy” is the result not only of careful song selection and superior musicianship but also of considerable fine-tuning by Sinatra during the recording process. On these sooty September evenings he is re-recording several renditions that he and May had completed two months earlier that seemed perfectly acceptable then. But after listening repeatedly to cassettes of the July sessions, Sinatra decided he could do better. He changed a few keys, slowed a few tempos, and generally gained firmer internal command of the songs, especially those he hadn’t recorded previously. The experience reminded Billy May of their 1963 recording of “Luck Be A Lady” for which he had written a very fast arrangement. Sinatra loved it, but asked that May slow the tempo slightly. Billy did, and an excellent record became an unforgettable one. The new re-recordings also recall Sinatra’s decision, late one night in February, 1976, to redo “Send In The Clowns” accompanied only by a piano. He had recorded it with a full orchestral arrangement in the spring of 1973 for the “Blue Eyes” album, but after singing it in concert halls around the world for the next two and a half years, the song had become a part of him in a way that it hadn’t in 1973. His command of it on the second record is striking, even chilling.
Such unrelenting attention to the nuances of the recorded repertoire is another manifestation of Sinatra’s artistry which is occasionally burdensome to him but is an integral element of his greatness.
THE PAST
Collectibles of the Early Years
Orchestra and Chorus Arranged and Conducted by Billy May
SIDE ONE
The Song Is You 2:39
Lyrics – Oscar Hammerstein II
Music – Jerome Kern
T.B. Harms Company-ASCAP
But Not For Me 3:50
Lyrics – Ira Gershwin
Music – George Gershwin
New World Music Corp.-ASCAP
I Had The Craziest Dream 3:13
Lyrics – Mack Gordon
Music – Harry Warren
Bregman, Vocco & Conn Inc.-ASCAP
It Had To Be You 3:53
Lyrics – Gus Kahn
Music – Isham Jones
Warner Bros. Inc.-ASCAP
Let’s Face The Music And Dance 2:50
Lyrics & Music – Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin Music Corp.-ASCAP
SIDE TWO
Street Of Dreams 3:32
Lyrics – Sam M. Lewis
Music – Victor Young
Miller Music Corp.-ASCAP
My Shining Hour 3:21
Lyrics – Johnny Mercer
Music – Harold Arlen
Harwin Music Co.-ASCAP
All Of You 1:42
Lyrics & Music – Cole Porter
Chappell Music-ASCAP
More Than You Know 3:22
Lyrics – William Rose & Edward Eliscu
Music – Vincent Youmans
Miller Music Corp. / Intersong Music-ASCAP
They All Laughed 2:49
Lyrics – Ira Gershwin
Music – George Gershwin
Chappell Music-ASCAP
__________________________________________________
PRODUCED BY SONNY BURKE
Recorded at United Western Studios, Hollywood, California
Engineered by Ed Green and Lee Herschberg
Music Preparation by Vern Yocum
Conductor: BILLY MAY
Contractor: Carl L. Fortina
Chorus
Sue Allen
Dick Bolks
Bill Brown
Kathrine Louise Brown
Vangie Carmichael
Peggy Clark
Alan Copeland
Alan Davies
Walt Harrah
Ron Hicklin
Tom Kenny
Karen Kenton
Gene Merlino
Julie Rinker Miller
Gene Morford
Loulie Jean Norman
Michael Redman
Terry Stillwell
Bob Tebow
Jackie Ward
Jim Wheeler
Linda Wheeler
Jerry Whitman
Dave Wilson
Small Group
Sue Allen
Dick Bolks
Gene Merlino
Mike Redman
Concertmaster: David Frisina
Violin
Israel Baker
Harris Goldman
James Getzoff
Glenn Dicterow
Marvin Limonick
Joseph Stepansky
Sheldon Sanov
Norman Carr
Robert Sushel
Mary Debra Lundquist
David D. Turner
Harry Bluestone
Marshall Sosson
Stanley Plummer
Judith Aller-Talvi
Daniel Shindaryov
Rochelle Abramson
Jennifer Small
Viola
Pamela Goldsmith
Louis Kievman
Archie Levin
Linn Subotnick
Allan Harshman
Barbara Simons
Cello
Douglas L. Davis
Raymond J. Kelley
Christine Ermacoff
Mary C. Lane
Ronald B. Cooper
Bass
John Allen Hornschuch
Gene V. Cherico
Meyer Rubin
Trumpet
John Audino
Charles B. Findley
Uan Rasey
Charles Henry Turner
Robert Findley
John McClanian Best
Trombone
William R. Watrous
Charles C. Loper
William C. Booth
James M. Self
Richard Nash
Lloyd Ulyate
Tuba
John Thomas Johnson
Woodwinds
Wilbur Schwartz
Ted Nash
Jules Jacob
Gene Cipriano
John E. Lowe
Robert Steen
Piano
Vincent J. Falcone, Jr.
Harp
Verlye Mills
Guitar
Alfred Viola
Drums
Irving Cottler
Percussion
Dale L. Anderson
