Sinatra/Jobim: The Complete Reprise Recordings

This compilation album gathers tracks from two sets of recording sessions Frank Sinatra did with Brazilian singer/songwriter Antonio Carlos Jobim, one in 1967 and another in 1969. The first set of sessions in late January and early February 1967 resulted in the ten-track LP Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim, released later in 1967. Jobim joined Sinatra, singing on such tracks as "The Girl from Ipanema," "I Concentrate on You," and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads," with bossa nova arrangements by Claus Ogerman. The second set of sessions held in February 1969 were intended for a follow-up LP to be called SinatraJobim that got as far as having an album cover designed, but never came out. Most of the tracks were issued in 1971, during Sinatra's temporary retirement, on an album called Sinatra & Company, although a couple turned up on singles in the U.S. or overseas, and the Sinatra/Jobim duet "Off Key (Desafinado)" sat in the can for decades, not turning up until the box set The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings in 1995. Despite being separated by two years, the first ten tracks and the second ten fit well together. Sinatra sings gently and sensitively throughout. The chief difference lies in the musical backing, as the 1969 tracks were arranged by Eumir Deodato, with orchestra conducted by Morris Stoloff, and they have less of a Brazilian feel. Still, the sessions have always belonged together on a single disc, and they constitute a special niche in the Sinatra catalog. ~ William Ruhlmann