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Trilogy - Record 2
_______________________________________________
RECORD TWO
THE PRESENT
New York City – August, 1979
In a cavernous CBS studio on East 30th Street, Sinatra is going about the risky business of recording songs that other performers, with styles entirely different from his, have made famous. Framed by sound partitions, he stands behind a microphone and music stand facing Don Costa, who is perched on a podium surrounded by 50 musicians.
“Ready, Frank?” asks Sonny Burke from behind a cloud of cigarette smoke in the control room.
“I’ve been ready since I was twelve.”
“We’re rolling. ‘Just The Way You Are,’ take one.”
Costa strikes up the band and it is easy to imagine the Count Basie orchestra playing this Costa chart. Anyone who says it swings is understating the case. Sinatra holds an earphone to his left ear and sways gently with the beat as he sings: “Don’t go changin’, just to try to please me. You never let me down before.”
The rendition is as warm and affirmative – and purely Sinatra – as Billy Joel’s original is in the unique style of Joel, who wrote the song as well as making a big hit record of it. Sinatra knows he can perform such songs successfully only if he is comfortable with them and sings them in a style that suits him. But selecting a tune in the first place, and then deciding how to perform it, are highly subjective choices involving trial and error. Moreover, in the wake of a big hit like “Just The Way You Are,” which pervaded the world’s airwaves in 1978, it takes an agile sensibility to conceive the song in other styles. One is under the spell of the original record. Initially, Sinatra had intended to do “Just The Way You Are” similarly to the way Joel does it, and that was his initial guidance to Don Costa. While rehearsing, however, Sinatra found that he wasn’t comfortable in the Joel style. And, with the help of pianist Falcone, he also discovered that “Just The Way You Are” works just as well as a song – and much better as a Sinatra song – if done in a swinging mode. Costa came to the same conclusion as he struggled unsuccessfully to write a Joel-like chart that was appropriate for Sinatra, and these discoveries led to the rendition that is being recorded this Wednesday evening in Manhattan.
But Sinatra isn’t satisfied just yet. Before the second take he asks Costa to “pull the tempo down a shade, just a hair’s breadth. It’s looking to do that.” Takes two, three and four are false starts. Take five is complete, and Sinatra comes into the control room to hear it. After the playback, Sinatra asks Costa to tighten up the tempo slightly at the end of the arrangement.
During take six, Sonny Burke stands before the control console, clapping and swaying to the beat. He hasn’t had this much fun since he recorded Sinatra and Basie in the Sixties. The take is complete and isn’t played back. It cannot be improved upon.
Sinatra puts his stamp equally effectively on the other songs – those such as “Love Me Tender” and “Song Sung Blue” that were identified initially with other artists, and lesser known contemporary works like “Summer Me, Winter Me,” by Marilyn and Alan Bergman and Michel Legrand; John Kander and Fred Ebb’s “New York, New York”; and “You And Me,” by Peter Allen and Carole Bayer Sager. The arrangements for “Summer Me, Winter Me,” “MacArthur Park,” and “You And Me” are Don Costa’s best ballad orchestrations since he arranged and conducted the “Sinatra And Strings” album in 1961. His strings here (including guitars) narrate with expansive beauty and originality, and his reeds and winds comment and punctuate with a deep understanding of all the emotional messages.
At the end of the third evening in New York, after hearing the last playback of “Song Sung Blue,” Sinatra walks back into the studio from the control room and is momentarily startled by a prolonged standing ovation from the fifty instrumentalists and sixteen singers. He has never been more deeply moved by applause. These aren’t groupies outside a stage door, after all. They are fellow professionals in the intimidating confines of a recording studio who are grateful for the opportunity to have helped him create joy. And there is another dimension. Many of these musicians weren’t yet born when Sinatra began making records in 1939. A few weren’t born when he made “From Here To Eternity.” For a man who occasionally worriers about appealing to young people, its nice to be assured in such a touching way that his concern is baseless.
George Harrison’s “Something,” arranged by Nelson Riddle and conducted by Vinnie Falcone, is another example of the special mastery of a song that a great artist can achieve after sustained and thoughtful performance. Sinatra made a perfectly good record of “Something” with Lenny Hayton in 1970. But he has sung it frequently since then, and the new recording is one of the deepest and most moving performances he has ever given of any song. The arrangement, too, is extraordinary.
THE PRESENT
Some Very Good Years
Orchestra and Chorus Arranged and Conducted by Don Costa
SIDE THREE
You And Me (We Wanted It All) 4:07
Lyrics & Music – Carole Bayer Sager & Peter Allen
Unichappell Music/Begonia Melodies/Irving Music, Inc./Woolnough Music, Inc.-BMI
Just The Way You Are 3:26
Lyrics & Music – Billy Joel
Impulsive Music/April Music, Inc.-ASCAP
Something** 4:42
Lyrics & Music – George Harrison
Harrisongs Music, Inc.-BMI
MacArthur Park 2:45
Lyrics & Music – Jimmy Webb
Canopy Music, Inc.-ASCAP
Theme From New York, New York* 3:26
Lyrics – Fred Ebb
Music – John Kander
Unart Music Corp.-BMI
SIDE FOUR
Summer Me, Winter Me 4:02
Lyrics – Marilyn & Alan Bergman
Music – Michel Legrand
WB Music Corp.-ASCAP
Song Sung Blue 2:47
Lyrics & Music – Neil Diamond
Prophet Music Inc.-ASCAP
For The Good Times 4:41
(Duet – Frank Sinatra with Eileen Farrell)
Lyrics & Music – Kris Kristofferson
Buckhorn Music Publishing Inc.-BMI
Love Me Tender 3:34
Lyrics & Music – Elvis Presley & Vera Matson
Elvis Presley Music-BMI
That’s What God Looks Like To Me 2:55
Lyrics – Stan Irwin
Music – Lan O’Kun
_________________________________________________
PRODUCED BY SONNY BURKE
Recorded at Columbia Recording Studios, New York City
Engineered by Frank Laico
Music Preparation by Guy Costa
* Conducted by Vinnie Falcone
** Arranged by Nelson Riddle.
Conducted by Vinnie Falcone.
Engineered by Lee Herschberg.
Conductor: DON COSTA
Contractor and Concertmaster: Joe Malin
Contractor for Chorus: Marlene Ver Planck
Chorus
Adrian Albert
Mary Sue Berry
Fran Carroll
Steve Clayton
Frank Gari
Ellie Geffert
Jerry Graff
Hilda Harris
Rosemary Jun
Bernie Knee
Chuck Magruder
Ron Marshall
Marty Nelson
Maretha Stewart
Tony Wells
Violin
Sanford Allen
Anahid Ajemian
Frederick Buldrini
Peter Buonconsiglio
Max Cahn
Martha Caplin
Peter Dimitriades
Lewis Eley
Harry Glickman
Max Hollander
Regis Iandorio
Leo Kahn
Harold Kohon
Carmel Malin
Marvin Morgenstern
Matthew Raimondi
Richard Sortomme
George Wozniak
Viola
La Mar Alsop
Julien Barber
Seymour Berman
Michael Bloom
Diann Jezurski
Richard Maximoff
Michael Spivakowsky
Rose Tillotson
Cello
Seymour Barab
Richard Bock
Julius Ehrenwerth
Jesse Levy
Melissa Meel
Kermit Moore
Alan Schulman
Bass
Frank Bruno
George Duvivier
Homer Mensch
Richard Romoff
Trumpet
Melvyn Davis
Joseph Ferrante
John Frosk
Richard Perry
Trombone
Robert Alexander
Warren Covington
Paul Faulise
John Messner
Santo Russo
French Horn
James Buffington
Joseph De Angeles
Tony Miranda
Brooks Tillotson
Woodwinds
Philip Bodner
Richard Centalonza
Sidney Cooper
Harvey Estrin
Walter Kane
Al Klink
Walter Levinsky
Mel Rodnin
Sol Schlinger
William Slapin
Harp
Margaret Ross
Guitar
Vincent Bell
Jay Berliner
Jack Cavari
Fender Bass
Russell George
Drums
Jimmie Young
Percussion
David Carey
Ted Sommer
Copyists
Guy Costa
Joseph Gottschalk
Larry Kelem
Leslie Kelem
Pat Kondek
John Mical
Steve Prisby
Albert Schoonmaker
Francis Zuback
RECORD TWO
THE PRESENT
New York City – August, 1979
In a cavernous CBS studio on East 30th Street, Sinatra is going about the risky business of recording songs that other performers, with styles entirely different from his, have made famous. Framed by sound partitions, he stands behind a microphone and music stand facing Don Costa, who is perched on a podium surrounded by 50 musicians.
“Ready, Frank?” asks Sonny Burke from behind a cloud of cigarette smoke in the control room.
“I’ve been ready since I was twelve.”
“We’re rolling. ‘Just The Way You Are,’ take one.”
Costa strikes up the band and it is easy to imagine the Count Basie orchestra playing this Costa chart. Anyone who says it swings is understating the case. Sinatra holds an earphone to his left ear and sways gently with the beat as he sings: “Don’t go changin’, just to try to please me. You never let me down before.”
The rendition is as warm and affirmative – and purely Sinatra – as Billy Joel’s original is in the unique style of Joel, who wrote the song as well as making a big hit record of it. Sinatra knows he can perform such songs successfully only if he is comfortable with them and sings them in a style that suits him. But selecting a tune in the first place, and then deciding how to perform it, are highly subjective choices involving trial and error. Moreover, in the wake of a big hit like “Just The Way You Are,” which pervaded the world’s airwaves in 1978, it takes an agile sensibility to conceive the song in other styles. One is under the spell of the original record. Initially, Sinatra had intended to do “Just The Way You Are” similarly to the way Joel does it, and that was his initial guidance to Don Costa. While rehearsing, however, Sinatra found that he wasn’t comfortable in the Joel style. And, with the help of pianist Falcone, he also discovered that “Just The Way You Are” works just as well as a song – and much better as a Sinatra song – if done in a swinging mode. Costa came to the same conclusion as he struggled unsuccessfully to write a Joel-like chart that was appropriate for Sinatra, and these discoveries led to the rendition that is being recorded this Wednesday evening in Manhattan.
But Sinatra isn’t satisfied just yet. Before the second take he asks Costa to “pull the tempo down a shade, just a hair’s breadth. It’s looking to do that.” Takes two, three and four are false starts. Take five is complete, and Sinatra comes into the control room to hear it. After the playback, Sinatra asks Costa to tighten up the tempo slightly at the end of the arrangement.
During take six, Sonny Burke stands before the control console, clapping and swaying to the beat. He hasn’t had this much fun since he recorded Sinatra and Basie in the Sixties. The take is complete and isn’t played back. It cannot be improved upon.
Sinatra puts his stamp equally effectively on the other songs – those such as “Love Me Tender” and “Song Sung Blue” that were identified initially with other artists, and lesser known contemporary works like “Summer Me, Winter Me,” by Marilyn and Alan Bergman and Michel Legrand; John Kander and Fred Ebb’s “New York, New York”; and “You And Me,” by Peter Allen and Carole Bayer Sager. The arrangements for “Summer Me, Winter Me,” “MacArthur Park,” and “You And Me” are Don Costa’s best ballad orchestrations since he arranged and conducted the “Sinatra And Strings” album in 1961. His strings here (including guitars) narrate with expansive beauty and originality, and his reeds and winds comment and punctuate with a deep understanding of all the emotional messages.
At the end of the third evening in New York, after hearing the last playback of “Song Sung Blue,” Sinatra walks back into the studio from the control room and is momentarily startled by a prolonged standing ovation from the fifty instrumentalists and sixteen singers. He has never been more deeply moved by applause. These aren’t groupies outside a stage door, after all. They are fellow professionals in the intimidating confines of a recording studio who are grateful for the opportunity to have helped him create joy. And there is another dimension. Many of these musicians weren’t yet born when Sinatra began making records in 1939. A few weren’t born when he made “From Here To Eternity.” For a man who occasionally worriers about appealing to young people, its nice to be assured in such a touching way that his concern is baseless.
George Harrison’s “Something,” arranged by Nelson Riddle and conducted by Vinnie Falcone, is another example of the special mastery of a song that a great artist can achieve after sustained and thoughtful performance. Sinatra made a perfectly good record of “Something” with Lenny Hayton in 1970. But he has sung it frequently since then, and the new recording is one of the deepest and most moving performances he has ever given of any song. The arrangement, too, is extraordinary.
THE PRESENT
Some Very Good Years
Orchestra and Chorus Arranged and Conducted by Don Costa
SIDE THREE
You And Me (We Wanted It All) 4:07
Lyrics & Music – Carole Bayer Sager & Peter Allen
Unichappell Music/Begonia Melodies/Irving Music, Inc./Woolnough Music, Inc.-BMI
Just The Way You Are 3:26
Lyrics & Music – Billy Joel
Impulsive Music/April Music, Inc.-ASCAP
Something** 4:42
Lyrics & Music – George Harrison
Harrisongs Music, Inc.-BMI
MacArthur Park 2:45
Lyrics & Music – Jimmy Webb
Canopy Music, Inc.-ASCAP
Theme From New York, New York* 3:26
Lyrics – Fred Ebb
Music – John Kander
Unart Music Corp.-BMI
SIDE FOUR
Summer Me, Winter Me 4:02
Lyrics – Marilyn & Alan Bergman
Music – Michel Legrand
WB Music Corp.-ASCAP
Song Sung Blue 2:47
Lyrics & Music – Neil Diamond
Prophet Music Inc.-ASCAP
For The Good Times 4:41
(Duet – Frank Sinatra with Eileen Farrell)
Lyrics & Music – Kris Kristofferson
Buckhorn Music Publishing Inc.-BMI
Love Me Tender 3:34
Lyrics & Music – Elvis Presley & Vera Matson
Elvis Presley Music-BMI
That’s What God Looks Like To Me 2:55
Lyrics – Stan Irwin
Music – Lan O’Kun
_________________________________________________
PRODUCED BY SONNY BURKE
Recorded at Columbia Recording Studios, New York City
Engineered by Frank Laico
Music Preparation by Guy Costa
* Conducted by Vinnie Falcone
** Arranged by Nelson Riddle.
Conducted by Vinnie Falcone.
Engineered by Lee Herschberg.
Conductor: DON COSTA
Contractor and Concertmaster: Joe Malin
Contractor for Chorus: Marlene Ver Planck
Chorus
Adrian Albert
Mary Sue Berry
Fran Carroll
Steve Clayton
Frank Gari
Ellie Geffert
Jerry Graff
Hilda Harris
Rosemary Jun
Bernie Knee
Chuck Magruder
Ron Marshall
Marty Nelson
Maretha Stewart
Tony Wells
Violin
Sanford Allen
Anahid Ajemian
Frederick Buldrini
Peter Buonconsiglio
Max Cahn
Martha Caplin
Peter Dimitriades
Lewis Eley
Harry Glickman
Max Hollander
Regis Iandorio
Leo Kahn
Harold Kohon
Carmel Malin
Marvin Morgenstern
Matthew Raimondi
Richard Sortomme
George Wozniak
Viola
La Mar Alsop
Julien Barber
Seymour Berman
Michael Bloom
Diann Jezurski
Richard Maximoff
Michael Spivakowsky
Rose Tillotson
Cello
Seymour Barab
Richard Bock
Julius Ehrenwerth
Jesse Levy
Melissa Meel
Kermit Moore
Alan Schulman
Bass
Frank Bruno
George Duvivier
Homer Mensch
Richard Romoff
Trumpet
Melvyn Davis
Joseph Ferrante
John Frosk
Richard Perry
Trombone
Robert Alexander
Warren Covington
Paul Faulise
John Messner
Santo Russo
French Horn
James Buffington
Joseph De Angeles
Tony Miranda
Brooks Tillotson
Woodwinds
Philip Bodner
Richard Centalonza
Sidney Cooper
Harvey Estrin
Walter Kane
Al Klink
Walter Levinsky
Mel Rodnin
Sol Schlinger
William Slapin
Harp
Margaret Ross
Guitar
Vincent Bell
Jay Berliner
Jack Cavari
Fender Bass
Russell George
Drums
Jimmie Young
Percussion
David Carey
Ted Sommer
Copyists
Guy Costa
Joseph Gottschalk
Larry Kelem
Leslie Kelem
Pat Kondek
John Mical
Steve Prisby
Albert Schoonmaker
Francis Zuback
