Frank Sinatra accomplished so much in his career that the fact that he virtually created the swinging style that became known as the sound of Las Vegas at its peak seems like a mere footnote to his legacy. Perhaps it is a footnote, but it's a fascinating footnote and one that still holds sway over the popular imagination, both in their perception of Sinatra and Vegas. To many, Sinatra was the brassy, high-rolling Rat Pack leader that he was in the Vegas of the '60s, and that sound and image are still what people hope to experience when they visit Las Vegas. Rhino's four-CD, one-DVD box set Sinatra: Vegas was designed with those listeners in mind. It presents five concerts – all previously unreleased – from Sinatra's various engagements in Vegas over the decades.
After his death, Frank Sinatra's children decided they wanted to stem the tide of bootlegged live material that was flooding the market by putting out legitimate versions of the same material. The bad news is how expensive these legitimate releases are. The good news is that they are easy to find, are beautifully remastered, and feature extensive liner notes that give you inside information on the shows themselves. This disc offers up an entire show from 1957, and along with a yet to be legitimately released live date with Quincy Jones' big band, it stands up as the best Sinatra date of the 1950s. Sinatra is in excellent (if uneven) voice and obviously having as good of a time as the audience and the musicians. Highlights include amazing versions of "The Lady Is a Tramp," "I Get a Kick Out of You," and "I Won't Dance," which are even more jazz-fueled than the studio recordings, and a sumptuous reading of "My Funny Valentine"…
Without argument, Frank Sinatra is the most iconic American singer of the 20th century. This whopping five-disc set issued by Reprise attempts to define Sinatra by capturing performances he made in the place that seemingly defined him, containing 61 never-before-issued tracks of the singer in concert appearances in New York from the mid-'50s through to 1990. It also includes a DVD of a performance at Carnegie Hall, taped in 1980 with 16 more performances, for a total of 77 tracks.
SINATRA: ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL is an up-close and personal examination of the life, music and career of the legendary entertainer. Told in his own words from hours of archived interviews, along with commentary from those closest to him, the documentary weaves the music and images from Sinatra's life together with rarely seen footage of Sinatra's famous 1971 "Retirement Concert" in Los Angeles. The film's narrative is shaped by Sinatra's song choices for that concert, which Gibney interprets as the singer's personal guide through his own life.
Francis Albert Sinatra was born in the month of December 1915 to Italian immigrants in the town of Hoboken. Scarcely could there be more ordinary beginnings for a man that was later to become an entertainer the world would find it difficult, if not impossible, to replace. In this DVD we present a 46 minute selection of his finest songs, written by some of the world's most influential songwriters, including such hits as 'High Hopes' and 'Old Man River' all drawn from television appearances spanning his heyday period from the 40s to the 50s.