Fastest-Paced Swing Effort of Ol’ Blue Eyes’ Career Mastered from the Original Master Tapes: Mobile Fidelity LP Captures Jazzy Feel, Dynamic Solos, and Non-Stop Energy of Cheery Music 1961 Affair Pairs Sinatra With Arranger Nelson Riddle: One of His Final Capitol Recordings Crooner At His Vocal Peak Throughout: Sinatra Not Only Keeps Time With Hard-Driving Band, He Leads the Parade

 

Legend has it that when Frank Sinatra initially stepped into the recording studio for the first of four sessions, he asked Nelson Riddle to speed up the tempos to the songs that landed on Sinatra’s Swingin’ Session!!! It’s safe to say that the arranger followed orders and that the results—buoyant, cheery, fun, exuberant, zesty, and wonderfully jazzy—speak for themselves. This 1961 effort remains the Chairman’s fastest, hardest-swinging set. And oh, how it swaggers.

 

Mastered from the original master tapes, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered limited edition SACD of this gem possesses a punchiness, immediacy, forcefulness, and dynamic heft that rivals even what’s heard on a pristine original Capitol pressing—provided you can even find one. The reissue will help convert your room into a studio stuffed with horn players and percussionists, with Sinatra, decked out in a trademark fedora and suit, holding court at the center of it all. Sinatra’s Swingin’ Session!!! isn’t a live album, but it hits with the gusto and tang of one.

 

Forget about incorrect rumors that state that this album was only completed due to contractual obligations and that Sinatra hurried through the material. No matter the circumstances, nothing here is tossed-off or rushed.As always, Sinatra takes it all seriously, pouring his all into each of the dozen tracks here. He wouldn’t have it any other way. Name another singer from his era (or any) that could possibly keep time with these uptempo beats and sound as if he isn’t even breaking a sweat. Needless to say, Sinatra has a blast making it all happen.

 

Riddle’s arrangements help push forward the tunes, whether they be happy standards such as “When You’re Smiling (The Whole World Smiles With You),” optimistic finger-snappers like “S’posin’,” or the evergreen “Blue Moon,” punctuated with a memorable tenor sax solo. Melodies unfurl like red ribbons on packages; grooves alternate between galloping and gallivanting; even ballads can’t resist moving to joyous rhythmic patterns.Throughout, Sinatra’s casual, uninhibited singing rises above the band, producing emotions that are at once frisky, lighthearted, pleasurable, and contagious. Dust off your dancing shoes.

 

"So if you're looking for a way "in" to Frank Sinatra, this would be a great place to start and if you're a fan this one is a great place to continue. Riddle's big band arrangements are aggressive, exuberant and high energy throughout and occasionally whimsical and light-hearted... Mobile Fidelity has done a superb job here, and which sounds better, an original or this reissue, will be system dependent. " - Michael Fremer, www.analogplanet.com, Music 9/10, Sound 9/10! 

 

 

1. When You’re Smiling 

2. Blue Moon

3. S’posin’

4. It All Depends on You

5. It’s Only a Paper Moon

6. My Blue Heaven

8. September in the Rain

9. Always

10. I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love With Me

11. I Concentrate on You

 

Mobile Fidelity believes that mastering systems should be neutral and transparent. The essential idea is to unveil all the detailed musical information on the original master recording without adding deterioration, coloration or other sonic artifacts. 

 

It is worth noting that Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab stands out as one of few record labels that independently invests in research and development of audio technology. With proprietary innovations such as GAIN 2™, general music enthusiasts and audiophiles alike have reaped the benefit of a higher consumer audio standard without investing in costly new hardware. Mobile Fidelity is pleased to work with a variety of engineering legends and companies including Tim de Paravicini, Ed Meitner, Pass Labs, Theta Digital and Sony Electronics. 

 

Our joint efforts to seek out the ultimate audio experience, has resulted in significant advances for the technology of music reproduction. 

 

GAIN 2™ Mastering Technology for Ultradisc UHR™ Hybrid SACD and Ultradisc II™ 24kt Gold CDs 

 

For over twenty years, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab has continually searched for the ultimate audio experience. During this search MFSL engineers and associates created The GAIN™ System, a proprietary mastering technology which brought warmth and ambience to the compact disc format. A few years ago - with higher resolution formats on the horizon - the vision of GAIN 2™ began. As it stands today, GAIN 2™ is one of the greatest technical advancements in analogue and digital technology in the last ten years. It consists of a series of critical modifications and new components to Mobile Fidelity's proprietary mastering chain. 

 

We feel that GAIN 2™ has come extremely close to meeting this goal. The key accomplishments of GAIN 2™ System are 1) the ability to extract all the musical information as possible through the Ultra High bandwidth analogue tape playback system with proprietary custom tape playback heads, reproducer electronics and 2) transparently capturing and storing that information with the Direct Stream Digital recording system.