Frank Sinatra - The Decca Audition Sessions

Frank Sinatra popped into Decca recording studio in the early 50s. Some quick audition tracks were laid down. They rot in the vaults and are a memory of only a few sound engineers employees of Decca. When will we get to hear these tapes?

 

Wow, talk about obscure. I've never heard of these--and I don't think I've ever encountered it in any of the Sinatra books I've read. No corroborating session notes? What was laid down?

 

Have I unwittingly stumbled into an inside joke on the forum?

 

Ahh. The Beatles. Now who were they again?

 

The only reference that I ever came across was an old sound engineer, who was in Record Exchange in 1973 buying a record from the owner Helen ( Pre Bobby Sherrick era ) and told me that he did a session with Frank at Decca. He told me about a cut with I got the world on a string with completely different arrangement/orch that he had a tape of Frank singing.( not the "To Be perfectly Frank cut or early tv cut but very different )??? The only other reference that I remember was at 30 st, nyc, Columbia studio where a watch engineer told of seeing Sinatra in 1953. ( after Columbia but before Capitol ). Interesting??

 

I'm skeptical also, but Sinatra did shop around after 1952 and audition could have been done with a private master cut and brought to different companies. I only know of two mentions of people from Decca who say something interesting about the after Columbia and before Capitol Frank.. One The sound engineer fron decca in 1953 and the watch engineer at 30 st Columbia studio in NYC from 1953.

 

I once spoke to Milt Gabler (the owner of Commodore label and a key A&R man for Decca) and he told me about his effort to sign Sinatra just before Sinatra signed with Capitol. He got the final go ahead from the Decca execs just as Sinatra was on the way to the NYC airport to fly back to California and talk to Capitol. Gabler could not catch Sinatra in those pre-cell phone days. Gabler said he came "That Close!" to signing Sinatra. I said to myself (but not to Gabler) "Thank God you did not! Decca would have destroyed Sinatra's 1950's legacy.

 

First of all Sinatra would NOT have had to audition. He had only just left Columbia and had records like "The Birth Of The Blues" and "Why Try To Change Me Now" out.

Manie Sachs tried to get Sinatra on RCA Victor but their roster was full of male singers: Perry Como, Eddie Fisher, Tony Martin, Vaughn Monroe and Mario Lanza. Sachs could have forced the issue but told Sinatra he was better off going to a label that wanted him.

I find it doubtful that Decca would have considered signing him. They had just dropped Dick Haymes who was the singer closest to Sinatra's style and had a similar fall from popularity due to personal problems and the change in taste. Besides they still had Bing.

 

They still had Bing. that might sound funny but Ron makes a good point as Sinatra sales were really sagging. Despite the great performances Of Birth of the Blues and why try to change me now, Sinatra ( minus his devotees ) was sliding down. The above mention Singers plus Tony Bennett were burning up the charts. I still feel that something took place in early 1953. It was extremely easy to cut a private master to peddle back then. I always remember a very young Billy Eckstine on a private master from the 106st East Harlem place singing a different ," A cottage for sale " that is not listed in any discography, yet quite a few individuals have 78s pressed from that obscure master. whites label with Billy Eckstine typed on one side, no Orchestra.... We all know memories fade and unless we find the gems, it is just speculation from stories told 40 years ago. I have a neighbor who swears up and down that her mother took her to see Sinatra sing on Randalls island ( not verified ). After the High school gem recording found of Sinatra singing ," The song is you " from the Bronx in 1943. Shot from two different angles and in pristine shape, I will never say never, Sinatra did tons of performances and not everybody's memory can be wrong, just because it is not documented. After all, I have been collecting Sinatra for over 40 years and I had to update discographies over and over with newly found material. Still looking for the very first " I'll never smile again sessions" and the much acclaimed ( and own by a collector whose name can't be mention ) Skin 1956 sessions. Time will tell. I sold a 4/14/43 cocktail table Sinatra poster from his engagement at the Rio Bamba club on east 57 st. for $3700.oo. No one knew about that performance until I found the evidence.

 

correction 4/15/43 not 4/15/43

 

Milt Gabler is no longer alive to back up my comment on the Decca move, but I spent many hours talking to Milt years ago. Gabler was not only the founder of the Commodore label and owner of a famous music store, but also a chief A&R man for Decca Records.

Gabler's statements are accurate about the time that Sinatra was shopping for a move from Columbia. Sinatra came to NYC to talk to Gabler about a move to Decca, and was very interested. Gabler was trying to get approval from the corporate executives to give Sinatra a very sweet deal (money and ownership, possibly enough to sign him), but they were taking their time. Sinatra decided to head back to California, just as Gabler was given the go-ahead. Gabler actually tried to chase Sinatra to the airport, but missed him. No cellphones in those days!

Gabler kept telling me that he came "that close" to signing Sinatra to Decca Records. You cannot second-guess history, and "what-if's" had Sinatra decided that money and ownership of masters was enough to get him to move to Decca, regardless of arrangers (maybe Nelson Riddle may have moved too).

But when Milt Gabler told me all this, all I was thinking was "Thank God that you did NOT sign Sinatra!" I was thinking of the dismal policies of Decca to use the worst possible materials for LP Record manufacture, and to delete most everything from the catalog.

Gabler himself told me that it was official Decca policy to use low grade materials for LP manufacture because the consumers just might have to buy a second or even third copy.

Well, who knows, but I still say, "Thank God that neither Decca or RCA signed Sinatra in 1953"

However, I will say, that based on Decca's approach to match up its recording stars in duets on records, there may very well have been at least one session (four songs) of studio duets with Sinatra and Satchmo. We will never have those, and its a big price to pay, but thank you Capitol!

 

Sinatra would have considered it an insult to have to make an "audition tape" for Decca. Did he have to make one for Capitol?

Sinatra may have talked to Gabler informally...but he had an agent. What was he paying "William Morris" for if he was doing all his negotiating himself?

Decca decided to drop Dick Haymes at the end of 1952. They still had Bing. Why would they sign Sinatra? They were looking for an answer to Johnnie Ray, Guy Mitchell, Tony Bennett and Eddie Fisher as well as Nat King Cole and Billy Eckstine. They finally found one with Sammy Davis Jr. and then Al Hibbler.

 

The thing that sounds funky to me is that all of the books and articles that have been written concerning Mr. S's "dark days" lead us to believe that he was truly washed up in the music business. Even when it was announced that Capitol had just signed him Alan Livingston said the retailers at the meeting (or convention) groaned as their "response" to it. For Decca to be allegedly so interested in him and able to get to him just as Capitol snatched him up goes against everything we have been led to believe for 63 years!

 

Well, maybe that's what Livingston told Granata for the book? Maybe circumstances were a little different than has been presented to us?

I doubt an audition for Decca occurred, though. Knowing Sinatra's personality, I'm sure he'd have mentioned it in conversation with SOMEONE!

 

It's more than just the Granata book. Alan has told that story many, many times over the years. Plus other Hollywood notables from William-Morris, etc.

 

I think all that stuff about Sinatra being washed up, circa 1952-1953, with no audience, no desire and at a low ebb artistically, is a lot of "hoo-ey", invented by someone, and embraced by all of the critics (who rarely have an original thought). Even if FS himself embellished that false line to his advantage (many artists do that), it is clearly not true.

 

I don't think any of us can judge whether Sinatra, or anyone else, would have been offended by being asked to follow common practices used in the record business. If he ever actually did an "audition", it might have been to get a feeling of how the artist worked with Decca's people in their studios, and how Sinatra felt about the room and recording set-up. That makes total sense. If it was essentially a "test run" to see how artist and room and recording staff "clicked" together, why would Sinatra tell everyone about it. Sinatra had probably done such test runs many many times in his career up to that point.

And why would Sinatra leave the management of his life to some agent? He has been known his entire life for taking personal charge of many matters related to his career. I am certain that talks with Gabler were very "formal", only needing the big shot lawyers to draw up contracts. Gabler rushed to the airport with contract in hand to catch Sinatra. So you can get an image, it was LaGuardia Airport in Queens.

And all of that mythology about no one in the record business wanting to sign Sinatra is just garbage. He was still one of the biggest acts in the world, a fact quickly demonstrated by his next record. FS played along with that sometimes, because mythology never hurt anyone's publicity.

 

I don't think Frank would have been happy at another major label (Decca, RCA and Columbia were the majors in the 40s until at least the mid-50s). Capitol was not yet a major when Frank signed (the EMI deal was in '55, I think). Having just come from a miserable experience at Columbia (the last few years anyway), I think he probably thought that he wouldn't have been able to pick his arrangers and material. He probably saw Capitol as a "comer" and since he, at that point, was a "comer" too, Capitol probably appealed to him on that score. This is all conjecture of course, but it's a thought.

 

It was his agent at William Morris that pitched Sinatra to Alan Livingston at Capitol. Is it "mythology" that Manie Sachs couldn't get RCA Victor to sign Sinatra? Did RCA Victor even consider an "audition" or whatever else you want to call it?

To echo what Paul and others have said why has NO bio of Sinatra ever talked about a possible signing to Decca?

 

Except that we really was let go by his agency. He really was let go by MGM. Meet Danny Wilson bombed. His marriage really was a mess. People really didn't like him at this point. You can't just make that stuff up! There was a low-ebb.

 

If true, has anyone considered that it was FS auditioning Decca? Not the other way around? Thought-for-food.