In the twentieth century, Frank Sinatra was not only a legend of the music world, but he was also involved in every aspect of the American culture: he hosted TV shows, acted in films and even won the Oscar. His songs have become the classics of the style ‘swing’, a couple of generations of Americans were raised on his songs. His name has long become synonymous with good taste in music and symbol of the classical culture of the first half of the twentieth century.
With only his performance, Sinatra was able to immerse the listener into the atmosphere of celebration. Almost all of his songs have a festive mood and the listeners can submerge into the world of his pleasant voice. Mostly he sang solo, but we have heard some of his duets with other famous performers.
Frank Sinatra and jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald have had a couple of collaborations. These songs are considered to be one of the most impressive and significant in musical history. But we cannot help but mention the fact that these two performers could give the world and the culture of music so much more. Despite the fact that this duo was a frequent guest of the American shows, Sinatra and Fitzgerald never recorded an album. It has been stated that just like Frank Sinatra, Miss Fitzgerald attained a remarkable level of artful simplicity, letting her jazz enrich pop's simplicity without subverting it. (Rockwell)
The duo of Sinatra and jazzman Louis Armstrong is usually discussed as a significant phenomenon in the culture. They both were called geniuses during their lifetimes. One of the most interesting things is that you can hear in the songs how two talents can complement each other and emphasize the peculiarities of the colleague’s voice.
For the singer Dinah Shore, her duet with Sinatra was an unimaginable start of her career. He was already famous when he decided to perform with a new artist. They were frequent guests of radio. One of the most famous performances was on the Command Performance when Sinatra’s ‘rival’ – Bing Crosby joined them and they had a friendly banter about who is a better singer. ‘The Crosby-Sinatra rivalry was good business for both singers’. (Moses)
Since the late fifties, Sinatra started performing in Las Vegas with the team of singers and actors under the name of the Rat Pack. It also included Dean Martin, Joe Bishop, Peter Lawford and others. The group had supported John F. Kennedy during his presidential campaign of 1960. By the way, it was Sinatra who introduced the actress Marilyn Monroe to Kennedy. Frank was friends with Kennedy, even before that he was acquainted with Franklin D. Roosevelt, who personally invited the actor to have some tea at the White house in 1944. His relations with the mafia and criminal leaders were often discussed in the media. The press published a photo where Sinatra is seen in a friendly company of a mob family of Carlo Gambino. Another mafia boss Lucky Luciano got a gold cigarette case with an inscription from Frank which was found after his death. Supposedly, the character of singer Johnny Fontaine from the famous novel ‘Godfather’ was written off Frank Sinatra. Johnny in the novel protects Vito Corleone, the same way Sinatra was loyal to his friends who were considered to be not the cream of the crop. He was also known to perform for a lot of mafia gatherings. (Rojek 76)
In the beginning of his career, Frank Sinatra was not as open to every style and way of performing as he was by the end of his life. At first, he was not sure he even liked rock’n’roll. Once he realized how well the audience responses to the performer, he was creatively open to experiments such as an artist Elvis Presley. The result of the interchange is a project in which they sing songs to each other. This collaboration was not only praised and acclaimed, but gave hope to new aspiring singers. It is still considered to be one of the best renditions of both of the singers’ works.
Frank Sinatra always had a special place in the music industry. Despite his collaboration with jazz musicians and rock musicians, he had his own, very special, way. He was always apart from them even when he was performing on one stage with such great artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Elvis Presley. On one side were all these musicians, and on the other one - Sinatra. Perhaps it was the unique manner of performance of his, that was not allowing to define him. We cannot define him as an artist or as a man based on our assumptions on the photos of him with the mafia bosses and performances with different artists. His uniqueness and talent can only be appreciated if we love music selflessly.
Works Cited
Moses, Paul. An Unlikely Union. 2015. Print.
Rockwell, John. "Half a Century of Song with the Great Ella". Nytimes.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.
Rojek, Chris. Frank Sinatra. Cambridge: Polity, 2004. Print.
