In the Wee Small Hours
Year: 1955
Format: Spotify
Grade: A-
The Chairman of the Board was in the midst of a career renaissance and social turmoil at the time he made In the Wee Small Hours, considered one of the finest vocal jazz releases of all time.
As his teen idol appeal wore off, Frank Sinatra was forced to reinvent himself. First came an Academy Award-winning turn in "From Here to Eternity" followed by his first releases for Capitol Records, including Songs for Young Lovers and Swing Easy! Simultaneously, Old Blue Eyes' relationship with his second wife, Ava Gardner, was crumbling.
It was the perfect storm to create one of the first concept records. Sinatra basks in midnight melancholy throughout In the Wee Small Hours. There are no uptempo numbers here — "Moon Indigo" shows a piano flourish that seems to launch the record into a higher gear, but it stutters and dies as quickly as it arrives.
"It's a pleasure to be sad," Sinatra swoons on "Glad to Be Unhappy," a Rodgers and Hart original. "I'm so unhappy, but, oh, so glad."
Nelson Riddle's arrangements are tempered, knowing that the spotlight belongs on Sinatra and his voice.
With Wee Small Hours, the Chairman matured from teen idol into a full adult.
Tomorrow's entry: Johnny Cash, American III: Solitary Man
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