L.A. Is My Lady (Reis)

Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra & Friends | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 7, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002L6L
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #179,611 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. L.A. Is My lady

2. The Best Of Everything

3. How Do You Keep The Music Playing?

4. Teach Me Tonight

5. It's All Right With Me

6. Mack The Knife

7. Until The Real Thing Comes Along

8. Stormy Weather

9. If I SHould Lose You

10. A Hundred Years From Today

11. After You've Gone

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This album received a lot of publicity when it came out in 1984, chiefly because of the title track, a rather obvious attempt to rack up another hit along the lines of "Chicago" and "Theme from New York, New York." Much better, however, are Sinatra's renditions of standards such as "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?," "Mack the Knife," and "Stormy Weather." Sinatra's voice is showing its age, but his masterful phrasing repeatedly saves the day. Unfortunately, the musical backing (by Quincy Jones and his Orchestra, which includes such luminaries as George Benson, Lionel Hampton, and Urbie Green) is nauseatingly slick; there's very little of the give-and-take between singer and band that marked Sinatra's finest work. --Dan Epstein

Product Description

Frank's star-studded 1984 album for Reprise, first time on CD in the States! Features Quincy's killer band of George Benson, Bob James, Lionel Hampton, the Brecker Brothers, etc., as well as the title track, a West Coast answer to New York, New York . Other songs include Mack the Knife; Teach Me Tonight; How Do You Keep the Music Playing , and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "How Do You Keep The Music Playing?", February 6, 2005

By 

Rebecca*rhapsodyinblue* (CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: L.A. Is My Lady (Reis) (Audio CD)

"The listening continues behind him, as it will for decades to come. When people will still say without a doubt: This man is the best ever there's been." ~ Stan Cornyn on Frank Sinatra, 1984 Liner Notes

"How Do You Keep The Music Playing?" is such a beautiful song penned by the creative and romantic songwriting team of Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and the music was composed by Michel Legrand. This lovely song is the very highlight of this Quincy Jones-produced-and-conducted album, and I must admit that I was drawn to this CD for this particular song. Other great versions that I'd love to listen to are from George Benson and Carmen Bradford with the Count Basie Orchestra (Big Boss Band), Michael Feinstein (Romance On Film/Romance On Broadway) and Patti Austin and James Ingram (The Very Best of Patti Austin). Frank Sinatra's interpretation is simply awesome and his voice is still great considering that he was in his late sixties when he recorded this song.

Picture these great musicians doing a gig with the great Ol' Blue Eyes: George Benson, Bob James, Lee Ritenour, Ray Brown, Lionel Hampton, Steve Gadd, Marcus Miller, Michael Brecker and Ralph MacDonald, among many others. What do you get? An extremely awesome recording such as this, not to mention that they all had a great time during the recording sessions in New York. And some celebrities visited the studio -- Milt Jackson, Jimmy Webb, Roberta Flack and Michael Jackson, to name a few.

There was supposedly a track #12 on this album, another lovely song "Body And Soul" but the Chairman decided not to include it in the repertoire inspite of the Conductor's prodding. Whatever Sinatra wants, Sinatra gets! And he knew exactly what he wanted and Mr. Q couldn't say 'NO' to him.

"How do you keep the music playing and how do you make it last? How do you keep these songs from fading too fast?" By listening to the rest of the highlights over and over again -- Sammy Cahn's "Until The Real Thing Comes Along" and "Teach Me Tonight," his heartfelt rendition of "Harold Arlen's "Stormy Weather" featuring Lee Ritenour on guitar, and his outstanding rendition of Kurt Weill/Marc Blitztein's "Mack The Knife" which has the following revised lyrics:

"But with QUINCY'S BIG BAND right behind me
Swingin' hard, Jack, I know I can't lose
When I tell you all about Mack The Knife, Babe
It's an offer you can't refuse

We got GEORGE BENSON, we got NEWMAN, FOSTER
We got the BRECKER BROTHERS and HAMPTON bringin' up the rear
All these bad cats and more are in the band now
They make the greatest sounds you're ever going to hear"

Indeed, these are the greatest sounds you're ever going to hear. These are some of the most outstanding performances of Mr. Sinatra. You'll also love the CD booklet with interesting liner notes by Stan Cornyn, some black and white photos of Sinatra, Jones, Benson, James, and the finest studio musicians, as well as the song lyrics.

Very highly recommended!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Make Sure This Is In Your Sinatra Collection, November 7, 2006

By 

Scott Hart (Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: L.A. Is My Lady (Reis) (Audio CD)

It'd be a mistake to overlook this album from Sinatra. In many ways it's his last proper studio album in which he tackles some new songs and mixes in a few jazz standards. The big band backing Sinatra sound great and Sinatra's voice is deep and resonant; he was just coming off some great years of concert performances. Some critcs have praised "She Shot Me Down" and been overly critical of "LA Is My Lady." Both are highly enjoyable - for different reasons and moods. And it's just so rewarding to hear Sinatra still caring about the music and trying something new in the closing phase of a glorious musical career.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A highly underrated gem, September 5, 1999

By 

Anthony Paul "AP" - See all my reviews

This review is from: L.A. Is My Lady (Reis) (Audio CD)

LA is my Lady is the last real Sinatra album and it is great. This is the material that Sinatra was perfect for at that stage of his career. The title track admittingly is no "NY,NY" or "Chicago", but it is FUN and Frank sings the hell out of it. I believe that the title song, if released about 4-5 years earlier, would have been a hit. It's disco feel was a little late in 1984. However, the rest of the album is marvelous, with great legends playing...Lionel Hampton, the Brecker Brothers, etc. "How Do You Keep the Music Playing" is beautiful and poignant, especially for the 69 year old Sinatra. On each track, his phrasing is wholly intact, he's playful, and it's very evident that he's having a ball. 5 stars for the blues arrangement of "Stormy Weather"!!!! There is a video titled "Portrait of an Artist"; it is a behind-the-scenes making of this album. Check it out. Us diehard Sinatraphiles know that a new version of "Body and Soul" was rehearsed for this album but not included. (A bootleg has a rehearsal track of it...it's too bad it wasn't completed). On "After You've Gone" Sinatra comes in a tad early on the final 'after you've gone away'...but WHO CARES?!!!?!?!?