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Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color (1956)

Where the lyrics of Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color take you, and where it was really made.

This 1956 Sinatra album was the first record ever made at Capitol Studios, which had only just opened beneath the Capitol Records Tower.

Key places

Where the album was recorded (1956)

Recording site Capitol Studios — The album was the first to be recorded at the then-newly opened Capitol Studios, which are under the Capitol Records Tower. Recording sessions ran from February to March 1956. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color: a 1956 album of short tone poems
• Eight notable mid-20th century Hollywood composers wrote the pieces
• Conducted by Sinatra
• Marks the first musical collaboration between Sinatra and Gordon Jenkins
• Twelve tracks, each titled with a colour and a character type, such as "Gray, The Gaunt" and "Red, The Violent"

Background

• Each composition was inspired by the poetry of Norman Sickel
• Composers: Victor Young, Gordon Jenkins, Billy May, Jeff Alexander, Alec Wilder, Nelson Riddle, Elmer Bernstein, André Previn
• Victor Young wrote two pieces, and Alec Wilder, Nelson Riddle and Jeff Alexander each wrote two
• The tone poems pair one colour with one character, a format that gives the record its concept
• The project was a collaboration between Sinatra as conductor and a group of Hollywood arrangers and composers

Recording

• The album was the first to be recorded at Capitol Studios, then newly opened and located under the Capitol Records Tower
• Sessions took place on 22 and 28 February and on 7 and 15 March 1956
• All tracks were recorded and engineered by John Palladino
• George F. Boujie plays tuba and string bass on the record
• Sinatra is credited as conductor only in the personnel list

Cover

• The source does not describe the cover art, so no further detail is given here.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born December 12, 1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants.
• Began singing professionally as a teenager with the Hoboken Four, winning Major Bowes Amateur Hour.
• Joined Harry James's band in 1939, then Tommy Dorsey's band, before going solo in 1942.

Career

• Signed with Columbia Records in 1943 and became a major star of the bobby-soxer era.
• Signed with Capitol Records in 1953; collaborated with arranger Nelson Riddle on albums such as In the Wee Small Hours and Songs for Swingin' Lovers!.
• Founded Reprise Records in 1960, releasing albums including September of My Years and the hit single "My Way".
• Won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for From Here to Eternity (1953).
• Estimated to have sold around 150 million records worldwide.
• Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997.
• Died May 14, 1998 in Los Angeles.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

Reappraisal

• The album is discussed in a chapter titled "The Colors of Ava: Tone Poems of Color and the Painful Measure of Sinatra's Passions"
• That chapter appears in A Storied Singer: Frank Sinatra as Literary Conceit, a 2002 book published by Greenwood Press
• The book's author is Gilbert L. Gigliotti
• The chapter reads the record through the lens of Sinatra's personal passions, as its title suggests
• The album is treated as a literary and conceptual object, linking Sinatra's work with the poetry that inspired the pieces
• The source contains no contemporary critical reviews of the album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album was the first recording made at Capitol Studios, which had only just opened under the Capitol Records Tower.
• Every composition in the set was inspired by the poetry of Norman Sickel.
• The record marks the first musical collaboration between Frank Sinatra and Gordon Jenkins, who wrote the "Green, The Lover" piece.
• Tuba and string bass on the session were played by George F. Boujie.
• A scholarly chapter on the record appears in a 2002 book on Sinatra as a literary figure.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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