Pro singer of The Great American Songbook, Frank Lamphere, after having finished recording his album Now, THAT’S Amore in mid-2021, set out to create an entirely different studio project, an homage to none other than Frank Sinatra.
Wow!.....Now that's original!.....Who'd a thought?.....
Yeahhh righhht!.....How'd he ever come up with that one?
One could easily imagine a reader's earned sarcasm.
Rather than another typical Frank Sinatra tribute (there are tons), this would be a tribute to fifteen songs that Frank Sinatra had recorded over his monumental and genre-defining sixty-year career. To many Sinatra afficinados out there, “Frank” is a genre, all its own. “Hey, what are you doing?” Response “Listening to some Frank”.
Starting with the premise that no mortal can equal, let alone surpass the quality of Frank Sinatra’s beloved recordings and in order to not invite comparisons, Lamphere selected a group of these great songs and gave them fresh interpretations. He aptly named this album Frank Songs, My Way.
Lamphere admits that had he recorded this album earlier in his career, he may not have been capable of doing much with these tunes, that hadn’t already been done. The experience a singer or musician receives from performing hundreds even thousands of times in front of audiences in clubs and concert halls, from making recordings and all the self-analysis that goes with that; over an extended number of years, are essential to developing a unique interpretive musical style. Lamphere felt ready for the task.
Coming up with the content of this album, was accomplished in three steps.
Step one, obviously, was to select “Sinatra” recorded songs. There were more than 1200 to choose from. Both studio recordings and live versions were considered. "The Shadow of Your Smile" while this great standard was often accepted as a Tony Bennett song, since it was included on the 1966 Sinatra at the Sands LP, for album consideration purposes, it’s a “Frank” song.
Step two, given the sheer magnitude to which these Sinatra performances have engrained themselves in listeners’ hearts and minds over the decades, Lamphere’s versions needed to be very distinctive from those. Not just different, for-the-sake-of being different. Lamphere's versions had to have their own character. This was accomplished by changing the keys, altering time signatures, adjusting tempos and feel. As in the case of the iconic “Fly Me To the Moon”. The Quincy Jones arrangement of “Fly Me” that Sinatra recorded, was a mid-tempo, swinger. Lamphere dropped the key signature a half-step to B major and reverted it to a waltz (It’s original 1954 form). Like most of Lamphere's jazz recordings to date, he extends the form to allow soloing, allowing the listener to luxuriate in the song, for a bit longer. Reedman (Count Basie Band alumnus) Eric Schneider and the highly vaunted Chicago pianist Jeremy Kahn are featured soloists on Fly Me To the Moon.
The third and absolute hard-rule for album inclusion was an affinity Lamphere had to have for the song. Frank had no desire to record songs of which he wasn’t highly familiar. Even though these arrangements would differ greatly from the “Frank” versions, they will have been frequently present in Lamphere's live shows. A good example is “Strangers in the Night”; one Frank's childhood favorites and a 1966 chart dominating pop-rock song, was here transformed into a sensual, late-night, jazzy love ballad. A different song entirely!
Lamphere's goal, stay as far away as possible from Sinatra. Offer alternate, acceptable versions of “Frank” songs that so many people remember and continue to enjoy.
Frank Lamphere introduces
Frank Songs, My Way
The song My Way is the lead track on the album. My Way is an anthem of self-determination. Check out this interesting and informative article from NPR on Frank Sinatra's recording of My Way
(Above) In the actual moment, Lamphere recording his vocal of
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