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With the Red Norvo Quintet: Live in Australia, 1959 (1997)

Where the lyrics of With the Red Norvo Quintet: Live in Australia, 1959 take you, and where it was really made.

Recorded in 1959 at Festival Hall in Melbourne, these tapes sat unreleased until 1997, and they capture one of the wildest stage performances Sinatra ever recorded.

Key places

Festival Hall, Melbourne (1997)

Recording site Festival Hall Melbourne — The 1959 tapes were recorded at this hall by the venue's audio engineer during two stops of Sinatra's brief Australian tour. The point marks the hall itself. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• With the Red Norvo Quintet: Live in Australia, 1959 is a live album by American singer Frank Sinatra
• Recorded in 1959 but not released until 1997, a gap of 38 years
• Captures the two stops of Sinatra's brief Australian tour of 1959
• Recorded at Festival Hall Melbourne
• Backed by the quintet of jazz vibraphonist Red Norvo
• Track listing of 18 songs, including instrumental versions of 'Perdido' and 'Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea'
• Includes a spoken track, 'Sinatra Speaks', running 1:34

Background

• Sinatra's 1959 Australian tour was short
• The tour's music was carried by Red Norvo's quintet
• Personnel: Red Norvo on vibraphone, Jerry Dodgion on flute and alto saxophone, Bill Miller on piano, Jimmy Wyble on guitar, Red Wooten on bass, John Markham on drums
• Frank Sinatra provides vocals on the album

Recording

• Tapes recorded by Max Hull, the venue audio engineer, credited as Maxwell Hull in the personnel list
• Recording took place at Festival Hall Melbourne during the two stops of the tour
• Repertoire mixes Cole Porter songs such as 'Just One of Those Things', 'I Get a Kick Out of You' and 'I've Got You Under My Skin' with standards by other writers
• Tracks include 'Come Fly with Me', 'All the Way', 'One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)' and 'Night and Day'

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

At release

• Recorded in 1959 and held back until 1997
• The tapes were not heard by the public for almost four decades after the concerts

Reappraisal

• Described as one of the wildest performances Sinatra ever recorded
• Sinatra shows great freedom in his choice of lyrics on this album
• He often switches and twists entire phrases during songs
• The looseness of the delivery is the main point of the recording
• The performance captures an unusually unpredictable side of Sinatra on stage
• The record stands apart from his studio work because of its spontaneity
• The mix of instrumental numbers and vocal songs shows the quintet and Sinatra working in open form

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Just as Sinatra begins 'I've Got You Under My Skin', a woman in the audience screams
• Between lyrics, Sinatra responds to the audience with a direct remark
• Sinatra's lyric choices often switch and twist entire phrases on this recording
• 'Sinatra Speaks' is a 1:34 spoken track on the album
• The engineer who recorded the tapes, Max Hull, is listed as Maxwell Hull in the personnel credits

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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