lean to swing

the next day, i rummaged through lauren’s stash and found quite a few gems, like the carmen miranda 7” ep or the desi arnez “babalu” 45 with “brazil” on the flip, all in perfect condition. there was also a bossa nova-ish album that frank sinatra did with antonio carlos jobim on reprise back in 1967. i have mixed feelings about this collection of mostly jobim tunes; can’t make up my mind if this combo is a cool experiment in musical cross-pollination or a marketing-driven shallow cultural excursion, or both. it’s interesting that old blue eyes went with the entire francis albert sinatra moniker on the album cover, i guess either to match jobim’s name word for word, or to suggest the more “serious” nature of this undertaking, or both.

no matter. what i really focus on when i listen to this album are the strings. subtle to the point of aloofness, they never seem to really connect with anything. but as arranged by claus ogerman, they are felt in every aspect of the music, especially frankie’s voice. my previous impression of ogerman has been that of a skillful craftsman whose work is confident, precise, if not somewhat clinical. in this setting, however, ogerman’s austerity is the perfect foil for sinatra’s more theatrical tendencies, like a stern babysitter keeping a hyperactive child in check.

don’t get me wrong, i love frankie’s swaggering sense of drama and lounge lizard sentimentality, but what these strings taught or perhaps demanded from sinatra is latin lover swing rather than gangsta lean. speaking softly was never sinatra’s forte, but here, songs like jobim’s “meditacao” acquire a new urbane sheen without sacrificing their murmured pastoral romanticism, while standards like cole porter’s “how insensitive” are almost like songs that you’ve never heard before.

Posted by cellpharmer at August 4, 2004 09:58 AM

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