Frank Sinatra Swings

Frank Sinatra didn't just do swing — he was the 20th century's most sophisticated "swinger," in a way that fully justified song titles like "I've Got the World On a String" and "Fly Me to the Moon." The skinny kid from Hoboken rose to fame fronting the nation's most popular swing bands, and tapped into that good-time essence throughout his solo career, peaking as the very embodiment of the hard-livin', hard-lovin' high life. "Blue Skies" dates to the early '40s, when Sinatra was on the mic in front of Tommy Dorsey's orchestra, while his much-loved "Theme from New York, New York," recorded in 1979, found the King of the Hill swingin' hard into his sixties.

In Next Steps, Frank sees out the '50s with fingers poppin'.

In the time between Elvis Presley's military service and the arrival of the Beatles, Sinatra hit a swingin' high point. Come Dance With Me (1959) — featuring "Too Close for Comfort" — was the most successful album of his career, earning a bunch of GRAMMYS®, and fans of swingin' Sinatra were further rewarded in '61, thanks to an impressive run of upbeat LPs released both on Capitol and Sinatra's own newly founded label, Reprise. Sinatra Swings, alternatively titled Swing Along With Me, features a snap-brimmed version of George & Ira Gershwin's "Love Walked In," while Come Swing With Me! delivers "On the Sunny Side of the Street" with peerless swagger.

In Deep Cuts, Frank reminds us he was the consummate swinger from the get-go.

After starting out as a group member of the Hoboken Four, and as a singing waiter at the Rustic Cabin in Englewood, New Jersey, Sinatra was invited — age 23 — to join Harry James' big band, and it was with James that he cut his first records: none of the crackles on "Wishing (Will Make It So)" can disguise the presence of a monumental young talent oozing with confidence. Early '60s album I Remember Tommy revisited material from his early '40s tenure with Tommy Dorsey, the man who had poached Sinatra from James, and here the Chairman of the Board salutes his swing roots, and reaches back across decades loaded with experience on "Without a Song."

Swingin' ain't what it used to be. Slick suits, stiff drinks, lovely ladies . . . those were just the trappings: Sinatra provided the gold-plated substance, by blending cool charm and old-school sex appeal with a vocal elegance that no other entertainer could match. For Frank, the big-band swing era of the '30s and '40s was the gateway to his stardusted 60-year career. Thanks to a slot on Benny Goodman's undercard, starting New Years Eve 1942, he picked up a teen following that foreshadowed Beatlemania, and after signing to Capitol Records in the '50s, he made a habit of alternating his slower material with swingin' dance tunes. Sinatra continued to breathe fresh life into swing — and into American pop — with every immaculately phrased invitation to join him in Martini-lounge nirvana. These Essentials follow Frank from his earliest visits to the studio, through his magnificent '50s comeback, to an electrifying '60s live set at the Copa Room of the Sands Hotel in Vegas (backed by Count Basie on "Luck Be a Lady"), and beyond.