Rat without a pack
Adrian McKinty invokes Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack in his current post (the better to bash Paul Hewson over his close-to-the-ground little head with). But Sinatra didn’t need that gang of finger-snapping nuchschleppers. Look what he could do when he got together with a real talent.
Labels: Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, music
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 1:05 AM
17 Comments:
Peter
Ella wins and its not even close.
Ella beats just about anyone. But she brings out the swing and the fun in Sinatra. He seemed to enjoy flying around on stage, and he cut loose with his singing more than he usually did.
Sinatra respected talent. It's nice to hear him sing Antonio Carlos Jobim's songs with Jobim, for example.
Unless you mean that Ella beat the Pack, not Sinatra, in which case, no shite, Sherlock.
Peter I thought your comment was a bit unfair to the Rat Pack.
Sure, Ella Fitgerald was a great talent, but Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr were also great singers and entertainers.
Although I was a generation younger than the crooners (I'm pushing 60 now), I glad I saw Sinatra, Davis and my favorite, Dino, perform live in the 1960s & 1970s.
Sinatra had a great voice and I've always thought of him as a fine character-driven story-teller.
Davis had a powerful voice (for such a small guy) and he could truly dance.
And Dino had a fine, smooth voice and he was way cooler than all of them without even trying (which really made him cool). Plus he was very funny.
In my view, they were all talented entertainers and their many fans loved them then and now.
Paul
I will bolster your case by mentioning that you'll find on YouTube a clip of Ella singing with Sammy Davis Jr. I will say, too, that Dean Martin was underrated as an actor. But the whole Rat Pack thing, at least in its post-Humphrey Bogart incarnation, was more than just a celebration of guys having fun. It was celebrity worship, and it's the Rat Pack's own fault that people remember them (other than Sinatra) more for their celebrity than for their talent.
I'm a few years younger than you are, and by the time I came on the scene, the Rat Pack had degenrated into schtick. So I missed them when they were serious about what they did.
Sinatra was redeemed by his phrasing, by his ability to swing, by the respect he had for great musicians, and by the sheer fun he had singing in that clip with Ella.
Peter,
Here is a link to Chris Botti with an updated "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" with Dean Martin on Botti's CD from last year, "Italia."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiSMSKYsWU4
Dino was smooth and way cool.
And check out Dino, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby singing and dancing in the Rat Pack's very funny crime comedy "Robin and the 7Hoods":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwCYBJe0o2M
Paul
Yikes, was that one of those duets with a dead man? I'll take a look and listen.
Bing Crosby is another guy who, despite an uncool reputation in the rock and roll era, could really sing. He does a terrific version of "Jeepers Creepers" on a Johnny Mercer tribute record that I have.
Dean M
I started to say that Dean Martin was fine in Rio Bravo.
Sammy Davis on the drums:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JDil65nfPc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
"A Message for Goldfinger," so I guess it's crime fiction-related. What was that James Ellroy story about Sammy Davis and Sinatra going to Mexico?
Not bad. And he hsd a nice, smooth speaking voice, too.
What, are you all trying to turn me into a Rat pack fan? I can't even snap my fingers.
I don't know that story, but I'm quite sure Ellroy was quitely respectful for the memories of the dead.
Peter
Glasgow joke:
Whats the difference between Bring Crosby and Walt Disney.
Bing sings and Walt disnae.
If that's typical of their humo(u)r, I'd rather have a Glasgow kiss than a Glasgow joke.
I dinnae ken how anyone could find that funny.
Thanks for that clip, Paul. Maybe it's just the quality of the clip, but Sinatra'ssinging certainly, and maybe that of the others as well, seems dubbed -- not terribly well synchronized with the video track. I wonder if that was one of Dean martin's rare apeparances with a voice smoother than his own.
Peter,
Hey, it is a free Youtube.com clip. Quite possibly a copy of a copy of a copy.
I suggest you buy or rent a good DVD copy of "Robin and the 7 Hoods," and with your interest in crime and music, you just might become a big fan of Frank, Dino, Sammy and the Rat Pack.
Happy New Year.
Paul
And a Happy New Year to you, too. I remember liking the title Robin and the Seven Hoods when I was a kid. Don't forget that I've written about Damon Runyon in this space. That, too, could predispose me toward crime, cool, and music.
Yeah, I figured the quality of thwe clip was reponsible. It did keep from figuring out who that guy with Crosby and Martin was, though. No way they've had to do that with Sinatra, so that could not have been Sinatra.
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