The 1998 re-issue of SINATRA AT THE SANDS includes a previously unreleased version of "Luck Be A Lady" that was left off the original LP release due to time restrictions.
Personnel includes: Frank Sinatra (vocals); Quincy Jones (conductor); Count Basie & The Orchestra.
Includes liner notes by Stan Cornyn.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Liner Note Author: Stan Cornyn.
Arranger: Quincy Jones.
This live recording from Las Vegas finds Sinatra fully in his element. An artist of his caliber certainly needs no contextualizing element in order to come across, but you'd be hard pressed to find a better medium for Sinatra's message. Vegas in the '60s was a center of unabashed showmanship, slightly crass elegance and a bourbon-drinking, dice-rolling, pre-boomer-generation sensibility--a perfect setting to bring Sinatra's music out of the abstract and into the realm of flesh and blood. At the Sands, the center of Vegas nightlife, Sinatra is the unchallenged king, and on this album he wears the crown with grace. And, naturally, he swings.
Listen to his lengthy mid-set comedy monologue, where stories of drinking, gambling, dame trouble and his rat-pack cronies are shared with the audience in a kind of unspoken accord. Listen to his off-handed ribbing of Basie and his musicians, as if they were the Sunday-through-Wednesday house band. SINATRA AT THE SANDS is the sound of a man feeling his oats. For further proof, consult the Basie-powered versions of "One For My Baby," "My Kind Of Town" and "I've Got You Under My Skin" contained herein.
Professional Reviews
Record Collector (magazine) (p.90) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] tremendous live album -- and Sinatra's first ever at the time -- recorded in Vegas in tandem with the Basie band..."
