Sinatra/Jobim

[Rudy]

Since a few of us have the three 'unreleased' Sinatra/Jobim tracks...anyone care to comment on them?

First thing that crosses my mind--with these three tracks, and the seven from Sinatra & Co., why didn't they just make another short 10-song album out of it and make it another Sinatra/Jobim album? These three songs beat anything else on the flip side of Sinatra & Co..

As it stands, I took the 10 original Sinatra/Jobim tracks, added the seven from Sinatra & Co., then followed those with the three remaining tracks in this order:

"Bonita" I'd only discovered recently when I bought the Jobim Composer Series CD on the Warner Archives label. (That CD is very similar to the Sinatra sessions--if you enjoyed those, you'd like this CD.) The treatment by Sinatra just sends it over the top! Has to be one of my top 3 favorites from the songs they did together! With tracks like this, you'd wonder why they would include fluff like "Change Partners" on the original Sinatra/Jobim album.

"Song Of The Sabia" I don't really care for. Not that Sinatra does a bad job on it, but the song itself just seems to wander about aimlessly.

"Desafinado" has some vocal rough edges (almost sounding "unfinished"), but other than that, ends out the set nicely. Possibly understandable why they didn't include this on the official album...could be the producer(s) thought Jobim's voice was a little too rough in comparison to Sinatras. (Although for us, that's part of Jobim's charm. )

-= N =-
NP: Michael Franks, Sleeping Gypsy (which features the song "Antonio" about his friend, a certain Mr. Jobim )

 

[William]

Agreed on "Bonita"; definitely one of the very best songs Frank and Tom did together. The bass flute intro that Deodato cooked up is spine-chillingly beautiful. My first time hearing that song was on Sergio's pre-Brasil '66 album The Great Arrival, where it was an instrumental arranged by Dick Hazard. It has the same haunting quality as the Sinatra/Jobim version, with Hazard making characteristic use of the ultra-high range of the violins.

For all the rough edges of "Desafindo", I have to say I'd take it over Sinatra's version of "Wave" any day. Even Tom's singing here is better than that horrible horrible low note that Frank attempts to hit in "Wave."

I was introduced to "Sabia" on Jobim's album Stone Flower, where he sings it in Portuguese. I also thought the tune kind of wandered around aimlessly at the time, but I changed my mind about it when I heard Frank's English version. For me, it's one of those tunes that needs a good lyric to make it a memorable tune -- once I heard it in English I started liking it a lot more. I love the sequence of lyrics that finishes the coda of the song--"All the plans I made, to deceive myself," and so on. Something about the maturity of Gimbel's lyric is really moving.

And of course I owe a big thanks to Harry for sending me a CD of these three tracks from the Sinatra/Reprise suitcase.


- William
NP: Sinatra/Jobim: "Song Of The Sabia"

 

[Rudy]

Agreed on "Bonita"; definitely one of the very best songs Frank and Tom did together. The bass flute intro that Deodato cooked up is spine-chillingly beautiful.

It's one of those arrangements where you hold your breath the entire time.

For all the rough edges of "Desafindo", I have to say I'd take it over Sinatra's version of "Wave" any day. Even Tom's singing here is better than that horrible horrible low note that Frank attempts to hit in "Wave."

That's a point! That progression down to the low note just feels awkward. I don't mind the roughness of "Desafinado" at all, either. I just wonder if it would have been released on one of these albums if it'd had another vocal take.

I was introduced to "Sabia" on Jobim's album Stone Flower, where he sings it in Portuguese.

I still need to get that one! I should probably grab it on CD before it goes out of print...

And of course I owe a big thanks to Harry for sending me a CD of these three tracks from the Sinatra/Reprise suitcase.

Ditto.

-= N =-
NP: Jean-Luc Ponty, Life Enigma (title track)

 

[Brasil_Nut]

Sinatra and Mathis. Two different performers. Both have worked with a couple of great Brasilian writers and musicians: Sinatra with Jobim; Mathis with Mendes.

Although I'm not a great fan of Mathis, I did see him in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago with my Mom. I'm here to say that recordings don't do that man justice. He's incredible on stage. "I'm not a talker, I'm a singer..." he said, "and that's just what I'm going to do for you this evening..."

Half way through the show, he performed "Make This City Ours Tonight" in Portuguese...it was, for lack of a better word, awful. The rest of the show was magical, the Brasilian material was not.

Compared to when I saw Sinatra at the Circle Star Theater, you have a master complimenting a master...Sinatra and Jobim. Almost as if the material was written for Sinatra, he made it come alive. He also paid tribute to Jobim, calling him "One of the greatest composers of all time..." Quite a compliment. I've heard Jobim make similar comments about Sinatra. They had a great admiration for one another.

In regard to Mathis and Mendes, I've heard that there were creative differences when they worked together. To me, this was reflected in the way he performed the Brasilian material.

The pairing of Jobim and Sinatra were a match made in heaven.

Jon...the "Brasil Nut"

 

[William]

I was introduced to "Sabia" on Jobim's album Stone Flower, where he sings it in Portuguese.

I still need to get that one! I should probably grab it on CD before it goes out of print...

Stone Flower was reissued domestically by Sony/Columbia just a few months ago as part of their excellent "CTi Relaunch" series, so it can be found for cheap (probably less than $10 used). The album was recorded in the same sessions as Tide, with a similar electric sound. (ST is a far far better album than Tide, though. Creed Taylor kept the good stuff for CTi and let A&M release the leftovers.)


Back to Sinatra/Jobim sessions, do people here generally prefer the first set of duets (1967, Claus Ogerman-arranged) or the second (1969, Deodato-arranged)? Personally I lean toward the 1967 album, because for whatever reason it sounds less "poppy" to me and has a more European/classical sensibility (due mostly to Ogerman's influence). On the downside, I don't care for the inclusion of the three non-Jobim songs all that much. The 1969 sessions have the advantage of being all Jobim material, but lack the exquisitely transparent, floating sound of Claus Ogerman's arrangements. It's a tough call... both have a lot of strong points.


- William

 

[Harry]

I like all three of these "new" tracks, and agree that "Bonita" is the best of the bunch. It's hard to understand why a record like that would be so effectively buried all these years. The other two are a perfect fit for the rest of the '69 tracks, and the whole 20 tracks make an overall excellent CD.

As for preference between the two sessions, I think I'd give the edge to the latter Deodato material. I guess that's the "pop-music guy" in me.

Harry
...happy to have help resurrect those three tracks, online...

 

[Rudy]

The album was recorded in the same sessions as Tide, with a similar electric sound. (SF is a far far better album than Tide, though. Creed Taylor kept the good stuff for CTi and let A&M release the leftovers.)

Tide I've never cared for--even the title track is just "Wave" played sideways to some noodling melody line. (Reminds me more of a missing improvisational section to "Wave" than anything else.) Rest of the tracks, aside from "Tema Jazz", just sound half finished.

Back to Sinatra/Jobim sessions, do people here generally prefer the first set of duets (1967, Claus Ogerman-arranged) or the second (1969, Deodato-arranged)?

This is a tough question! I like both eras, pretty much for the two different reasons (styles) you've mentioned! On the '67, I prefer the more restrained vocal approach by Sinatra. He's still somewhat restrained on the '69, until you flip to side two of the LP (or hit track #8), when his "Vegas" style slaps you in the face like a cold, wet dish rag. Also on the '67, Ogerman's style is cool and dark, where Deodato's on the '69 is warmer.

On the downside, I don't care for the inclusion of the three non-Jobim songs all that much.

Even so, they're still better than Sinatra's other "Vegas-ey" recordings during this era.

All three of the extra tracks date from 1969. I'm almost curious to know what Ogerman would have done with a track like "Bonita" which is already a somewhat darker melody to begin with.

-= N =-

 

[Rudy]

...happy to have help resurrect those three tracks, online...

IMHO, Reprise has a golden opportunity to remaster and package all of these Sinatra/Jobim tracks onto one full-priced CD. I'm curious to know if there's some kind of contractual obligation to keep the albums "as-is", though.

I know they've really milked the Sinatra/Basie repertoire, though. Two studio albums, then Live At The Sands, and even a full Basie-only CD that features the charts they played as the warm-up set to Sinatra's appearance at the Sands. (The set wasn't CD length, but IIRC, they used tapes from a few different "Sands" dates to include more charts on the CD.)

-= N =-

 

[jimac51]

I would suspect any new configurations of Sinatra/Reprise material must go through Tina Sinatra. There have been mixed results with some material since Frank died. Artanis(Sinatra backwards),a label distributed by DCC,brought gold versions of some material the family owns,including a much-bootlegged Rat Pack concert and the soundtrack(not the studio versions)of "Robin & the 7 Hoods". Paying premium prices for Frank & Dino make politically incorrect jokes about Sammy Davis Jr. semed a bit much and this material re-surfaced through Capitol when the remake of "Oceans 11" came out late last year. It's hard to say what the family would like to see-Tina has said in the past that too much material was available and she would have liked to put some on moratorium much the way Disney does with their catrtoons. However,since 1998(and scheduled before Frank died) much of both the Capitol and Reprise material has been remastered and a couple of compilations have some to light. IMHO,a Bossa Nova Frank album would have made sense maybe ten years ago,with the non- Brazilian "Sinatra & Co." material sprinkled about as bonus tracks or a legitimate "rareties" album be fleshed out with more material only available in the complete Reprise box. If they were going to all of put the studio bossa nova stuff out,why not an audio version of the Sinatra/Jobim material done for TV? Maybe the SACD-era ahead will bring new ways to package this material. Mac