Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!!

Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!!

General information

Artist

Frank Sinatra

Arranger

Nelson Riddle

Release date(s)

1961
1987
1996
1998

Recorded

August 22-September 1, 1960

Record Label

Capitol

Producer

Dave Cavanaugh

Product code

Track information

Discs

1

Total tracks

12 (1961 LP)
15 (1987 CD)

Length

33:51

Singles

"My Blue Heaven"
"Sentimental Baby"
"Ol' McDonald"
"You'll Always Be the One I Love"

Reception

Allmusic

4½ / 5

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Alternate cover art

Chronology

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Nice 'n' Easy (album)

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Come Swing With Me!

Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!! is Frank Sinatra's twenty-fifth studio album. This album was released in 1961 and was arranged by Nelson Riddle under Capitol Records. Swingin' Session marked the last album under Capitol Sinatra and Riddle would collaborate on, and the last album the pair would work on until Frank Sinatra's 1966 album Strangers in the Night.

Swingin' Session focuses on a brash swinging style similar to Sinatra's 1957 album A Swingin' Affair! This album, however, features different orchestration and sped up performances. The original album clocks nearly twenty-five minutes making it one of Sinatra's shortest albums. The tracks of the album focus on songs Sinatra had familiarized himself with near the end of his Columbia career and other ballads from that time.

Its CD re-release was titled "Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!! And More." This reissue of the album featured three bonus tracks, "Sentimental Baby," "Hidden Persuasion," and "Ol' McDonald." The first two were ballad arrangements recorded in September following the recording sessions of the album and the last was a swinging arrangement of the classic nursery rhyme with updated lyrics.

History

Production

Like most of Sinatra's previous Capitol records, the album was recorded at the Capitol Records Studios building in Hollywood, California. With Nelson Riddle arranging and conducting the tracks, Sinatra recorded the songs to be used in the album during four recording sessions during August and September of 1960.

• "When You're Smiling," "S'Posin," "Should I?," "You Do Something to Me," and "I Concentrate on You" were recorded on August 22, 1960.
• "It All Depends on You," "I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me," "My Blue Heaven," and "Always" were recorded on August 23, 1960.
• "September in the Rain" and "It's Only a Paper Moon" were recorded on August 31, 1960.
• "Blue Moon," "Sentimental Baby," "Hidden Persuasion," and "Ol' McDonald" were recorded on Spetember 1, 1960.

Track information

Each track in Swingin' Session follows the same rhythm, taking a classic ballad arrangement and Riddle's band swinging the song in a way never heard before. Only two songs clock out of the average two minutes, "Blue Moon" and "September in the Rain," which make for an opposite to some of Sinatra's shortest recordings of his Capitol career in songs like "You Do Something to Me" and "S'Posin."

Track listing

1. "When You're Smiling" (Mark Fisher, Joe Goodwin, Larry Shay) – 2:00
2. "Blue Moon" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) – 2:51
3. "S'Posin'" (Paul Denniker, Andy Razaf) – 1:48
4. "It All Depends on You" (B.G. DeSylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson) – 2:02
5. "It's Only a Paper Moon" (Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg, Billy Rose) – 2:19
6. "My Blue Heaven" (Walter Donaldson, George A. Whiting) – 2:03
7. "Should I?" (Arthur Freed, Nacio Herb Brown) – 1:30
8. "September in the Rain" (Harry Warren, Al Dubin) – 2:58
9. "Always" (Irving Berlin) – 2:17
10. "I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me" (Clarence Gaskill, Jimmy McHugh) – 2:25
11. "I Concentrate on You" (Cole Porter) – 2:23
12. "You Do Something to Me" (Porter) – 1:33

    CD re-release bonus tracks:

13. "Sentimental Baby" (Alan Bergman, Marilyn Keith, Lew Spence) – 2:36
14. "Hidden Persuasion" (Wainwright Churchill III) – 2:25
15. "Ol' McDonald" (Traditional, Bergman, Keith, Spence) – 2:41

Singles

The song "My Blue Heaven" was released along with the song "Sentimental Baby," a song recorded but not featured in the LP, as a single in 1961. Two other songs from the recording sessions, "Old MacDonald" and "You'll Always Be the One I Love," were released together as a single in 1960.

Reception

In comparison to A Swingin' Affair!, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic stated that Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!! "doesn't have the brassy verve of A Swingin' Affair, but Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!! does have a confident, swaggering flavor of its own that makes it nearly as enjoyable."

Sinatra's Swingin' Session peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 charts of 1961.

Personnel

Personnel
Alan Bergman	Composer
Irving Berlin	Composer
Lew Brown	Composer
Dave Cavanaugh	Producer
Buddy DeSylva	Composer
Mark Fisher	Composer
Joe Goodwin	Composer
Ray Henderson	Composer
Michael Keith	Composer
Bill Miller	Producer
Nelson Riddle	Conductor
Larry Shay	Composer
Frank Sinatra	Vocals
Lew Spence	Composer
Pete Welding	Liner Notes