Customer Reviews

L.A. Is My Lady (Reis)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

"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!

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.

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?!!!?!?!?

This album is something of a sleeper in the Sinatra catalogue, probably because it is not associated with his great Capitol years and usually great Reprise years. Still, apart from the gimmicky title track (which is okay, just dated), this is a nice album. Most of the songs are older and of a higher caliber. 'Mack the Knife' is a lot of fun, the 'Best of Everything' is a perfect song for FS and 'It's All Right with Me' bounces along. 'Teach Me Tonight' is another worthwhile tune. 'Stormy Weather' is okay, much lighter than the 1959 version on 'No One Cares'.

This was 1984, and the Quincy Jones Orchestra is a far cry from Nelson Riddle, Billy May and Gordon Jenkins, Sinatra's arrangers in the '50s and '60s, however. If you like something a little funkier, you will probably like this album. It is very listenable as the best later Sinatra.

Frank Sinatra hits another homerun with this 1984 album that wasn`t released on a compact disc until relatively recently!This great Sinatra cd was orchestrated by the fabulous Quincy Jones and Orchestra.This cd features such jazz musicians as george benson,bob james and lionel hampton.Recorded at A and R studios on the seventh floor of a new york city office building the Sinatra sound comes to life!Quincy Jones first takes us through a new journey with the songs L.A.Is My Lady and The Best Of Everything.Sinatra is never better singing the ballads How Do You Keep The Music Playing and Stormy Weather.Frank then adds some new twists to the old classic Mack The Knife.Theres 11 great songs on this supercharged cd.A must for all Sinatra fans!

Already owning the 20-CD Reprise set, I purchased this CD hoping for the original (1984) version of "Mack the Knife," as found on the vinyl LP. But it's not here, it's been replaced with the 1986 version (from the 20-CD set). Maybe Frank wanted the original version destroyed!

It's still a fine album, maybe not his best, but worth owning.

I first purchased this recording on vynal when it first came out in the 1980s. I think it is a smooth blend. Sinatra really swings on "Mack the Knife" and "Until the Real Thing Comes Along" and the way he altered and added lyrics highlight a rather good sense of self-depreciating humor. Sinatra's voice molds well with the 80s funkification on "LA is my Lady", and his soulfulness and meditative quality is also quite profound on "How Do You Keep the Music Playing". Even in Sinatra's later years when his voice was getting raspy, he could still carry a song due to his masterful phrasing and the meticulous care he took to choose good songs, top-notch back-up musicians, wonderful arrangers and producers.

Sinatra + Quincy Jones = a swinging good time.

Yes the album is slickly produced in the "Q" fashion and that Frank's pipes are beginning to show the effects of smoking unfiltered Camels for decades but what the hey-this cd swings.Two out of the four arrangers wrote for Basie-Frank's fav band-Frank Foster and Sam Nestico and all the tricks that are in some of the arrangements makes you wonder what a fourth latter day Basie/Sinatra session could have produced with Foster and Nestico as arrangers? Listen to Sinatra's run thru on "Mack the Knife" and think of how lame Bobby Darin's version sounds in comparison-It's like a cup of decaf vs a double shot of espresso mocha grande! The ballad side shows the beauty in Sinatra's phrasing- "How Do You Keep the Music Playing" is a throw back to early Frank at Capitol-not in terms of voice but phrasing. The arrangment of "100 Years From Today" is just as important to the song-you hear the chart complementing the music. That's what was great about this cd-as in ALL Sinatra's sessions-the mix of music,arranger,musicians,and boy singer make this an album that is pure Sinatra magic in the studio. After the this album first appeared in the mid-80's the critics hated it,but after the Duets project the same critics are hailing it a Sinatra latter day masterpiece-such fairweather fans-I was always a fan of this album great songs great band and the greatest singer ever to live.

"Q" put together a hell of a band for this recording, even hiring extra musicians because Sinatra could sing longer than some of the musicians could play. The entire album was cut "live" with singer and band together in two recording sessions, making it a great album! Forget the "quantity" in Sinatra's voice.....it's the "quality" and STYLE with which he sings these charts on this album that make it a "must own" for all Sinatra fans and anyone that likes to hear a GREAT big band. I would guess that Epstein secretly listens to this album when he's alone in his car!

Considering this is Frank's last REAL album (the two "Duets" CDs were novelty records) it deserves a place in everyone's Sinatra collection. Hearing his rendition of "After You've Gone", with the incredible band work on that song alone, makes it worth buying.