Product Description

Frank Sinatra remains the greatest entertainer of our age, invigorating American popular song with innovative phrasing and a mastery of range and emotion. Drawing upon recent interviews with hundreds of his collaborators as well as with "The Voice" himself, this book is the only full-length work to chronicle, critique, and celebrate his five-decade career. Friedwald examines and evaluates all the classic and less familiar songs with the same astute, often witty, perceptions that earned him acclaim for Jazz Singing. With an authoritative discography and rare photos of recording sessions and performances, Sinatra! is an invaluable resource for enthusiasts and an unparalleled guide through his vast musical legacy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #432399 in Books
• Published on: 1997-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

Customer Reviews

For Collectors Only
This is a book I first bought and read a few years ago, and from time to time still refer to it. However, be warned-this is more about Frank as the singer and musician, rather than his life story(as if there are not enough books out on that). If you are a true collector of Sinatra music, this is the book for you. It is fun to put one of his albums on and read what went on during the recording session. The book is detailed regarding who was at the session, who played on what, even who was in the room at the time, but I found it fascinating and while reading felt as if I were there. Friedwald knows his stuff and I hope he writes more books like this about other singers and/or bands. Superb!

Friedwald needs a good editor
Friedwald has been thorough: he's listened to everything, and he comments on it. At length. Sometimes this is interesting, as when he exhaustively dissects about a dozen Sinatra renditions of "Night and Day", or when he discusses Frank's various drummers.

Unfortunately, as with his earlier "Jazz Singing", Friedwald writes a self-indulgent stream-of-consciousness which is badly in need of professional editing. The book is written in a pseudo-hip musical jargon which most readers will find incomprehensible and which lacks both precision and grace. Friedwald completely ignores not only Sinatra's early singing training pre-Dorsey, but also Sinatra's own statements about wanting to bring some long-breathed bel-canto technique to popular music; he ignores Astaire's contribution to rhythmic variation in American song, and he attributes everything Italianate in Sinatra's singing to Bing Crosby, as though the clear line back via Jolson to Puccini and beyond didn't exist. Friedwald even gets Frank's top note wrong, by mis-pitching a mild F head note as being full octave too high.

Shows Sinatra was the king of more than just style
Friedwald provides an excellent overview of Sinatra's career, and does a good job of explaining the role Sinatra played in shaping American popular music. The great strength of the book is that he takes Sinatra's music seriously--praising the good stuff and criticizing the bad. This intelligent, entertaining book is also a great tool for choosing which Sinatra albums belong in your collection--although, as Friedwald writes, you may eventually want them all anyway.