Artist of the Month: Frank Sinatra

By Bruce Janu -

Frank Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915.  This month would have been his 106th birthday.

I have been a Sinatra fan all my life. I am not sure where that came from, though. Sure, Sinatra was played at my house as a kid. My grandparents often had big band music playing at their house, too. 

But it wasn't until college when I truly became a fan.  I even saw him in concert in 1991.

When I first started teaching, I tried to impart my love of Sinatra's music onto my students. I placed extra credit Frank Sinatra questions on every test and distributed Frank Sinatra extra credit tokens for good work.

Plus, I created the Frank Sinatra Detention Club. If a student got a detention, then they would have to listen to 30 minutes of Sinatra (and me, singing along). 

It was a slow news day in September of 1992. A reporter had contacted me a few days earlier because there was a blurb put in the school board minutes about my detention club. Little did I know that my Frank Sinatra Detention Club story was going to be front page news in Chicago Sun-Times. The following day: nationally on the front page of USA Today. Calls started coming in. The story was one the wire. I did interviews in Canada, Tokyo and other places. Jay Leno even made a joke about me on the Tonight Show. The joked bombed. 

This was my 15 minutes of fame. 

Photo by Rex Chapman, Chicago Sun-Times (1992)


I haven't given detentions in years. But the "Club" lives on in a radio program that I do for Vinyl Voyage Radio. 

Why Sinatra? That's a hard question to answer. There is a certain "coolness" about Sinatra. He was a product of his times, for sure.  And much of his persona would most certainly not be acceptable today. But as a singer, he was unparalleled. In fact, he approached songs first as poems. He first read them without the music, and then listened to the accompaniment. He couldn't read music, and so his approach was always centered on the emotion of the lyrics. And he had a way of bringing that out in the song itself.

As a fan, here are my TOP FIVE Sinatra tunes:

5. "The Wave"
This is just an all around groovy song that screams late 60s Bossa Nova. 

4. "McArthur Park"
This song is pretty stupid. Except when Sinatra does it. He cut out the corny "someone left the cake out in the rain" lyrics, and what is left is sublime.

3. "Summer Wind"
Best. Summer. Song. Ever. 

2. "One More for My Baby"
Sinatra was known, for much of his career, as a "saloon singer." And this is the best.

1. "Cycles"
Hands down, this is my favorite Sinatra tune. When he sings, "And Friday, I got fired" you can just feel it.

Check out our specially created Spotify Playlist.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Artists of the Month: Jerry Butler and Betty Everett

By Bruce Janu -
Image
My first exposure to Jerry "The Iceman" Butler came from a K-Tel commercial for an album called Superbad   in 1973 that I saw when I was a kid. I didn't know much about him at the time.  It wasn't until I was much older that I became a fan. Although Jerry Butler was born in Mississippi, he moved with his family to Chicago in 1941, and grew up in the  Cabrini Green housing projects. It was in church where he met Curtis Mayfield. Together, in 1958, they joined with three other singers to form "Jerry Butler and the Impressions." After leaving the group a couple of years later, Jerry Butler went solo and received the moniker "The Iceman" from a Philadelphia DJ, to highlight his cool, baritone voice. The name stuck. Betty Everett, too, was born in Mississippi. At the age of 18, she moved to Chicago in 1957 to pursue a music career. In 1964, she produced a hit single. You probably know it, because it has been covered by many people including Linda Ronsta...
Read more

"Race Music" and the Beginning of Rock and Roll

By Bruce Janu -
Image
Last month we highlighted Elvis Presley. He may have been the “King of Rock and Roll,” but in no way did he invent the music. In fact, he merely copied the music that had been invented and played in the Black community for years.   Not to diminish the importance of Elvis, though. He would eventually develop his own style. But more importantly, he introduced Rock and Roll to a whole new audience. Billboard , January 1, 1949 Public Domain Like Blues and Jazz before it, Rock and Roll music was developed by Black musicians in Black communities. But it was not known as Rock and Roll, however. It was, at the time, called “rhythm and blues,” or “R & B.” Which, according to Little Richard , stood for “real Black.” To White America, however, it was called “Race Music.” Major record labels refused to record it. White-owned establishments did not put the music in their juke boxes. White performers did not record the music, either. At least, not yet. This was a pattern that had played o...
Read more