Review: “The Complete Reprise Recordings” by Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim

If you didn’t already think Frank Sinatra was one of the greatest singers of all time, you will be convinced after listening to Sinatra/Jobim: The Complete Reprise Recordings. This 20-song collaboration with bossa nova master musician Antonio Carlos Jobim includes the pair’s first album, Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim, and the “lost” second album that Sinatra killed, for reasons unknown, after a few hundred copies had already been printed.

This collection shows a different side of the Chairman of the Board.  There’s no swagger or Rat Pack bravado. Instead, he sets a different mood by singing quiet with an immense amount of passion on excellent tunes like “Wave”  and the hauntingly beautiful, “Dindi.” Other highlights include “Baubles, Bangles and Beads” (many of you might remember this was the tune playing on the boat when “Big Pussy” met his maker on the season 2 finale of The Sopranos), “Someone To Light Up My Life,” the elegant “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars,” and, of course, “The Girl from Ipanema.”

Although these songs have been released on separate collections, it’s nice to have them all on one, remastered CD with kick ass liner notes and photos.  This disc is a must for any Sinatra fan, and a great place to start for the curious.

“Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars” by Sinatra/Jobim

“The Girl from Ipanema” by Sinatra/Jobim