Sinatra Sessions Revisited

Written by Karen Morris - told to Karen Morris by Robert Fentress 

ROBERT FENTRESS is best known as an accomplished Hollywood producer, credited and associated with the incredibly popular science fiction action feature film, Total Recall, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Robert has also been a long-time Frank Sinatra devotee, with a truly unique grasp of Sinatra's music, on par with any serious Sinatraphile.

It was a pleasure connecting with Robert about his lifelong interest in the careers of Frank Sinatra and, by association, Dean Martin. He graciously revealed his first-hand knowledge about The Chairman of the Board and the King of Cool, having been a guest at a variety of their recording sessions, and being privy to seeing both icons in their prime.

Robert, as a young man, became a fan and student of Frank's recordings. In 1973 Fentress co-produced a ten hour syndicated radio sow with Paul Compton titled "Project Sinatra." Compton, a well known L.A. disc jockey, hosted the successful show.

So, let's take a step back in time to the summer of '64 when Robert attended his first Sinatra Session.

RF: There was a DJ here in L.A. named Bob Crane [later, the star of Hogan's Heroes]. He had a radio show and he played a Sinatra/Basie song from their first album. And Bob said, 'Great news...in a few days, Frank's going to record another album with Basie.' So I called the Reprise PR department. And I said I was a writer with the Oakland Tribune (not true!) Now, remember, I'm 20 years old, or 21. I said, I'd love to go to the recording session. And they said, well, we'll call you back. And I said, well, don't call the Oakland office because I'm here in LA. I'll give you the place to call. And by God, she called about an hour and a half later and said, are you down for whatever the date was, I think June 8th? ('64). I'd never, never been to a recording session, and that was the first! And that was the night, by the way, Frank did "Fly Me To The Moon", which of course he did for the next 30 years in his career, or 20 or whatever. So, that was the first session I went to.

But what was it like being there at that Sinatra/Basie session?

RF: Well, to be honest, I was a little nervous because, you know, I was worried that I was going to be found out. But those were the days when Sinatra had, you want to call it, an audience, like 30 or 40 people, in the perimeter around the inside of the studio. And so I wasn't the only one. But Sinatra was so huge at that point, in that era in the sixties. There was an excitement from the second he walked in the studio, and he had a big entourage for most days. And then again, he was so brilliant at singing, and then they would play the songs back. 

When Frank sang into the mike, you could't hear him over the orchestra until the playback. He listened to the playback inside the studio. Two of the four songs he recoded that night were Fly Me To The Moon and The Best Is Yet To Come. Both songs he would sing on and off the remainder of his career. 

Quincy Jones was the conductor and arranger for the album. I was sitting directly to the side of his podium.

The atmosphere in the studio was electric. A few years ago I met Angie Dickinson, who was at the same session I went to. Like me, she remembered the session vividly.

Robert continued to find his way into other recording sessions with help from a professional connection, Frank Sinatra's producer, Sonny Burke.

RF: I met Sonny Burke at a TV taping in '65 when Frank was doing, if you remember, the TV special, A Man and his Music. And there was no audience at the special. And I said to Sonny, I've been a huge admirer of Frank's for years. And I'd love to go to a session. He said, 'Well, you could...we're going to do a session with Nelson, right around Thanksgiving. And that turned out to be Moonlight Sinatra.'

RF: I went to both sessions of the album, one night sitting about eight feet in back of Sinatra while he was singing. I think the Nelson Riddle arrangements are stunning, some of the best he ever did for Frank. The Sinatra - Riddle version of Moonlight Serenade is breathtaking.

1965 had been a banner year for Sinatra. Besides the Man & His Music TV special, he had 3 hit albums, all reaching the top 10 in the Billboard charts; September of My Years, Sinatra '65, and A Man And His Music. His film, Von Ryan's Express, was one of the top grossing films of the year. CBS did a one hour documentary on him, he did his first concert tour in years which was SRO, and he continued to be the biggest draw in Las Vegas.

A few days after the Moonlight sessions (November, '65) I called Sonny to thank him for getting me on the guest list. He told me Frank's next album would be a live recording with Basie at the Sands in January.

RF: In late January of '66 I went to Vegas to see two shows of Sinatra and Basie. Sonny was there producing the historic "Sinatra At The Sands" (double) album, which was an enormous success. In the night club appearances that I saw Frank over the years, he was at his most exciting when the Basie band was backing him. The band, which Frank once called the greatest band in the history of the world, seemed to lift his energy level and enthusiasm. He was having a ball on stage.

Robert mentioned seeing Frank record That's Life, on October 18, 1966.

RF: In October 18th of '66 Frank was at Western Recording Studio where I saw him record the single of That's Life with Jimmy Bowen producing and Ernie Freeman's arrangement. Six months earlier the Bowen-Freeman team put together the first #1 single in 20 years for Frank, Strangers In The Night. Due the the great success of the That's Life single, hitting #4 on the charts, Sinatra did a That's Life cover album a month later. I attended both sessions. The album may be his weakest at Reprise, partly due to the project being put on the fast track and Freeman's arrangements. However, the album became one of Frank's biggest selling albums, going up to #4 on the charts and staying in the top 200 for 66 weeks. Keep in mind this '64 - '66 period is when The Beatles were dominating the airwaves and having mammoth record sales.

There's an interview with Jimmy Bowen, when he did the single of "That's Life", and Frank was in a hurry, and Frank thought he had nailed it on the first take. And Jimmy wanted him to do a second take. And the people he was going to go out for dinner with were in the booth. But, Jimmy said no. To Frank, Jimmy said, 'You're gonna have to do it again because we need to adjust something on the arrangement, and I'd like you to do it a little tougher.' So Frank said, 'Alright. We'll do it one more time.' And Jimmy said the success of that song was because Frank was really irritated because he had to do it again. There was just an attitude to it. And then after, Frank left immediately. Jimmy worked all night doing a mix of it because he wanted to get it out in a hurry as a single. And he had it hand delivered to Frank's house. And, you know, Frank never got up early unless he was doing a film, but, Frank, at about four in the afternoon called Jimmy and said, 'That's brilliant. Thanks so much,' and hung up the phone. And so Frank knew that Jimmy was right.

With the enormous success of the That's Life single, hitting #4 on the charts, Reprise wanted a cover album. A month later Sinatra, Bowen, and Freeman recorded the That's Life album. Because it was put together quickly it's one of Frank's weakest Reprise albums, albeit one of his most successful. The album reached #6 on the charts and remained in the top 100 for 66 weeks. I was at both sessions. When he came in for the first session, Frank went over to Freeman, smiling broadly, telling the arranger thegreat reception the song received at his just concluded two week Sands engagement.

Another lucky break, as Robert was allowed entrance into the closed recording of a Sinatra/Jobim session.

RF: It was around the winter of '67. I called Sonny's secretary, who I got to know by then, who said the Sinatra/Jobim sessions were at 8pm, and told me whatever the date was in January. So I went over to the session, and Sarge Weiss, one of Frank's top aids, was standing at the front of the studio door, said, 'Oh, No, there are no guests tonight. It's a completely closed session.'

So I said, I'd talked to Sonny's secretary, and she told me to come in. And he said, 'No, it's completely closed, Frank is adamant about this.' So luckily, at that very moment, Sonny comes out of the studio and says, 'Hi, Rob.' And I said, 'Sonny, oh, I was really looking forward to this. But I guess things have changed since I talked to your secretary.' And he said, 'What do you mean?' And then he said, 'No, that's alright. It'll be fine. It's not a problem.' And he just waved me in. 

And, then I noticed there were no chairs, no folding chairs, no audience! And the only other people who were in the studio who weren't musicians were Bill Miller's son and his girlfriend, So two of them. And they put up chairs for just the three of us, you know, behind one of the musicians or something. It was unreal.

The Jobim album is one of the 2 best he did at Reprise. One of the four songs he did the night I was there (10/30/67) was a stunning rendition of Dindi. He was in superb voice for that album.

Robert recalls attending Dean's recording sessions and TV taping as well.

RF: On the Dean Martin TV Show album in '66, Dean did all 10 songs in one double session, with a 5-6 piece rhythm section backing him, Ken Lane on piano. Jimmy Bowen would add additional brass and strings at a later session without Dean. In '67 I was at NBC for the taping of The Dean Martin Christmas show with the Sinatra and Martin families as guests. The eight-minute duet of Frank and Dean was, to my mind, and to director Greg Garrison, the best duet they ever did together. The Christmas Show was #1 in the ratings for the week and the highest rated Martin show of the year.

Robert went on to share a very special story that reveals the sensitivity and humility of Frank Sinatra during a recording session of The Girls I've Never Kissed..

RF: By the time Frank recorded the song (10/30/86) this was only one of three sessions Frank did between the LA is My Lady album in '83 and the Duets album in '93. He had come from doing a Lou Rawls telethon for the United Negro College Fund. There were no other visitors except me (via Frank's long time drummer Irv Cottler). The song was written for Frank by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, who had written several of Elvis' hits, including Hound Dog and Peggy Lee's Is That All There Is. The interaction between Frank and me occurred during a 10-minute musicians' break. Frank was sitting in one of the engineer's chairs in the control room and I was standing next to the control board. As Frank was listening to the playback, the control room emptied out except for the two of us. At the end of the song I believe I said, "What a beautiful piece of music." Frank nodded and said quietly, "I just wish I could have done it justice." As I was thinking of something to say, the engineer's booth started to fill up as musicians returned to the studio. A moment in time.

Robert was fortunate to experience a humble side of Frank Sinatra's personality that most have never seen.

Far more than any other singer of his generation, I asked Robert why is there still such worldwide interest in Sinatra and his music? 

RF: It goes back to his unparalleled musical talent. His body of work at Capital and Reprise is unmatched by any other singer, past or present. His recordings have not only stood the test of time, they have becomethe definitive interpretations of the Great American Songbook.

ROBERT FENTRESS attended several other Sinatra sessions including the MY WAY album sessions in '69 and the Trilogy session in '79 when Frank recorded NEW YORK, NEW YORK.

Thanks to Robert for sharing so many marvelous musical memories!!