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.

But for many decades, 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 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.

So let's take a step back in time, around the summer of 1964, when Robert, as a young man, became enamored with Sinatra. His ingenuity and some luck played a part in getting himself invited to a Sinatra/Basie 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 sort of casually 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, which I'd done before, called, the 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 of around the studio, but inside 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. I think the first one he did that night with Basie was "The Best Is Yet To Come", which he also sang for years and years. So, it was just very exciting.

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 on both specials. 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.'

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

RF: In the autumn of 1966, Frank Sinatra was at Western Recorders, where he began work on a new album with producer Jimmy Bowen, made up of ten tracks arranged by Ernie Freeman. On October 18, with an orchestra conducted by Donnie Lanier, Frank recorded what became that album's title track – That's Life.'

I saw him record the song on 18 October, 1966. At other sessions, he'd usually do 3-5 songs over a 3-hour plus session. On "That's Life" he did the one song, 2 takes, in and out of the studio in 25 minutes. Due to the success of the single a month later, they did a cover album of "That's Life", 2 sessions, both of which I attended.

THAT'S LIFE [the album] may be Frank's weakest at Reprise, partly due to Ernie Freeman's arrangements. You hear about Frank wanting to get it done and get it done quickly. On the other hand, Frank is sort of a perfectionist, where he really wants everything right. So it's kind of a dichotomy.

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.

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 there's a guy standing out at the front of the studio door, who 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 holding 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.

Note: The Dean Martin TV Show album was very popular, peaking at #34 on the Billboard 200 charts. Christmas with The Martins and The Sinatras aired on December 21, 1967, on NBC-TV.

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 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.

The above is only a short sampling of what Robert Fentress experienced in his journey attending these remarkable recording sessions. 

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