Frank Sinatra’s 1956 album Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! is getting reissued as part of Blue Note’s acclaimed Tone Poet series. The release is out March 27th, which is also the album’s 70th anniversary.
Produced for release by Joe Harley, the new Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI), and comes packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket featuring session photos by William Claxton and Ken Veeder.
Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! was preceded by Sinatra’s 1955 melancholy masterpiece In The Wee Small Hours. For the followup, ‘Ol Blue Eyes brightened the mood with uptempo numbers. Taken together, both albums present the duality of romance, the brokenhearted lows and the joyous highs of a new romance.
Recorded at Capitol’s KHJ Studios in Hollywood, the album was once again produced by Voyle Gilmore and presented delightful Nelson Riddle arrangements of Great American Songbook standards including “You Make Me Feel So Young,” “Too Marvelous For Words,” “Love Is Here To Stay,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” and more.
Songwriter Jimmy Webb described the vocalist’s euphoric effect on listeners: “Frank seems to have co-invented a style of big-band accompaniment that just took off like some big rocket. I could see it on his face, on stage, when the band started to blow on “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” He knew we were going to a place where man had never gone before.”
Last year, Blue Note reissued In The Wee Small Hours as part of its Tone Poet Series. The acclaimed record includes vocal renditions of a variety of Great American Songbook standards, including “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,” “Mood Indigo,” “What Is This Thing Called Love?,” and “It Never Entered My Mind.” The reissue marked one of the first classic vocal albums in the Tone Poet series, which primarily focuses on instrumental jazz releases.
Buy Frank Sinatra’s Songs For Swingin’ Lovers Tone Poet edition here.
