Sinatra on TV: The DVDs

It's easy to forget how many TV specials Frank Sinatra taped over the decades. Let's just say it's dozens. A glance at his entry at IMBD.com can make your head spin. There are the ones you know, ones you don't and ones that you'd love to see in full if you could, like The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home, Elvis! (1960). (Actually, to view it, go here.)

Now, Eagle Rock Entertainment has released four separate DVDs that collectively feature seven TV specials and a concert spanning 17 years—from 1965 to 1981. The shows include A Man and His Music (1965), A Man and His Music Part II (1966), A Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim (1967), Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing (1968), Sinatra (1969), Sinatra and Friends (1977), The Man and His Music (1981) and Concert for the Americas (1982), the last one being a stage performance.

Here's how they are grouped in their DVD packages and a few words on the material...

A Man and His Music (1965) and A Man and His Music Part II (1966). The first features that great opening with Sinatra driving up to the studio in the dead of night, the long shadow as he walks to the studio door and the empty studio until he starts to sing I've Got You Under My Skin. Plus, the show featured all those nifty modernist sets on the sound stage. Arrangements are by Nelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins, who conducted the orchestra on different songs.

Part II also features Riddle and Jenkins, with Sinatra at his '60s peak. This one includes the fabulous podium reading of Moonlight in Vermont. There's also a groaning pop-meets-rock segment with daughter Nancy singing Downtown and These Boots Are Made for Walkin'.

A Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim (1967), Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing (1968) and Sinatra (1969). The first of the three TV specials is gorgeous, and Ella sounds like a million bucks and looks the same in a lime-green one-piece and ball gown. The orchestra is arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, except the Jobim medley, which was handled by Claus Ogerman. There also are Sinatra and Fitzgerald duets on '60s hits. The bossa portion is stunning, with Sinatra singing seated accompanied by Jobim on guitar. The final 15 minutes of the first special features Sinatra and Fitzgerald singing together in front of an large orchestra and stage-seated audience, acing song after song.

The second TV special on the DVD, Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing, features Sinatra alone and with Diahann Caroll and the Fifth Dimension. There are awkward moments, including a duet segment in which Sinatra and Carol sing spirituals. For me, this video's best moments are with the Fifth Dimension, when Sinatra joins the vocal group in their hit cover of Laura Nyro's Sweet Blindness. Sinatra blends wearing a dandified top that's priceless.

The third concert on the DVD is a mix of traditional Tin Pan Alley standards and '60s soul hits such as For Once in My Life, Going Out of My Head and Little Green Apples.

Sinatra and Friends (1977) and The Man and His Music (1981). The first DVD is a bit tedious, with guests Natalie Cole, Dean Martin, John Denver, Tony Bennett, Leslie Uggams, Robert Merrill and, perhaps the biggest surprise, Loretta Lynn. Unfortunately, it's a tad like the Chairman meets the Hollywood Squares. The material is worn and oddly staged, but Sinatra is clearly head and shoulders above his esteemed guests, which is interesting.

The second program on the DVD is a journey though Sinatra's Reprise catalog, including a segment featuring Sinatra backed by Count Basie's band at the time.

Concert for the Americas (1982). This concert was recorded in the Dominican Republic on a stage featuring one of the oddest stage backdrops for a Sinatra concert: castle-like walls with lit torches. Guests include drummer Buddy Rich and guitarist Tony Mottola.

All four DVDs have their ups and downs, depending on the material you favor. What's universal across all four, however, is that you can't take your eyes off the guy through the years. There's a casual confidence in his face and body language that transcends all performers. In those steely blue eyes, there's both warmth and danger that's inviting and foreboding. You even wind up forgiving his cringe-worthy moments, including his tweaking of George Harrison's Something—"You stick around, Jack, it might show."

JazzWax tracks: You'll find all four Frank Sinatra Collection DVDs (Eagle Rock) here, here, here and here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Sinatra singing the Theme from New York, New York from The Man and His Music (1981)...

 

Here's Come Fly With Me from A Man and His Music (1965)...

 

Here's Sinatra with the Fifth Dimension singing Sweet Blindness from Does His Thing (1968)...

 

And here's Sinatra and daughter Nancy singing Downtown and These Boots Are Made for Walkin' from A Man and His Music Part 2 (1966)...