In 1963, Count Basie was persuaded by producer Norman Granz to record a tribute album to singer Frank Sinatra. Though Creed Taylor was Verve's executive producer by then, Granz held onto several of his artists, including Basie and Ella Fitzgerald, after the label was sold to MGM.
By then, Sinatra and Basie had recorded and released the first of three albums together for Sinatra's Reprise label—Sinatra-Basie: An Historic Musical First (1962), arranged by Neal Hefti. Basie had also recorded This Time by Basie! Hits of the '50s & '60s in early 1963 for Reprise, arranged by Quincy Jones.
So how did More Hits of the '50s & '60s wind up on Verve? And why didn't the title reflect that it was a Sinatra tribute album, when that was clearly the case?
My guess is that Sinatra didn't want Verve and Quincy Jones out with an LP with his name on the cover competing with his first Basie album on his own label. So Granz changed it to More Hits of the '50s & '60s, and Billy Byers, who could mimic Jones's style and often took on Jones's spillover work, was hired to arrange it.
As a result, the Sinatra tribute LP became More Hits of the '50s and '60s, a sequel. Not until later, when the album was re-issued in different formats, did it begin using Sinatra's name, most notably Frankly Basie.
To listen to all the tracks on More Hits of the '50s and '60s, go here. I apologize if this isn't completely ad-free; the original YouTube link that was ad-free was taken down hours after my post went up. As a taste of the album, here's Come Fly With Me. But if you want the full album, click on the previous link in this paragraph...
By then, Sinatra and Basie had recorded and released the first of three albums together for Sinatra's Reprise label—Sinatra-Basie: An Historic Musical First (1962), arranged by Neal Hefti. Basie had also recorded This Time by Basie! Hits of the '50s & '60s in early 1963 for Reprise, arranged by Quincy Jones.
So how did More Hits of the '50s & '60s wind up on Verve? And why didn't the title reflect that it was a Sinatra tribute album, when that was clearly the case?
My guess is that Sinatra didn't want Verve and Quincy Jones out with an LP with his name on the cover competing with his first Basie album on his own label. So Granz changed it to More Hits of the '50s & '60s, and Billy Byers, who could mimic Jones's style and often took on Jones's spillover work, was hired to arrange it.
As a result, the Sinatra tribute LP became More Hits of the '50s and '60s, a sequel. Not until later, when the album was re-issued in different formats, did it begin using Sinatra's name, most notably Frankly Basie.
The tracks
- The Second Time Around
- Hey! Jealous Lover
- I'll Never Smile Again
- Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)
- This Love of Mine
- I Thought About You
- In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
- Come Fly With Me
- On the Road to Mandalay
- Only the Lonely
- South of the Border
- All of Me
The band
Count Basie (p); Al Aarons, Sonny Cohn, Rickie Fortunatus, Don Rader and Fip Ricard (tp); Henry Coker, Urbie Green, Grover Mitchell and Benny Powell (tb); Marshal Royal (as,cl); Eric Dixon (ts, fl); Frank Foster (ts); Frank Wess (ts,as,fl); Charlie Fowlkes (bs); Freddie Green (g); Buddy Catlett (b); Sonny Payne (d) and Billy Byers (arr,cond)To listen to all the tracks on More Hits of the '50s and '60s, go here. I apologize if this isn't completely ad-free; the original YouTube link that was ad-free was taken down hours after my post went up. As a taste of the album, here's Come Fly With Me. But if you want the full album, click on the previous link in this paragraph...
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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