I'm always looking to hear more Sinatra-like torch albums like those he recorded at Capitol in the 1950s and was perusing the thread when you stopped me in my tracks with this one. I sampled them on youtube. Onto the plastic card goes Bohren & der Club of Gore.
Apologies if it has already been posted, but Charlie Haden Quartet West's "Haunted Heart" album fits the bill, with "borrowed" vocals on some tracks.
Curtis Stigers' "Gentleman" album is worth checking out. He sings with a late night, world weary voice with a small jazz band. He's got a lot of albums out. I don't know what the rest are like, but this one, his most recent, I like a lot. Green Growing Under The Snow - YouTube
This is great stuff. Dark jazz is now a new favourite genre of mine. Thanks to the original poster and you for bringing it up again.
I know I'm not mentioning an album, but a song, so I apologize. Frank Sinatra Jr. heard The People That You Never Get To Love in the eighties, loved it and tried very hard (according to both him and the author, Rupert Holmes) to get his dad to record it, even commissioning an arrangement from Nelson Riddle. Since Sinatra Sr. unfortunately never recorded the track (maybe he did, but we never heard it, who knows?), Frank Jr. released a very good rendition many years later, in 2006.
I didn't see this coming. I streamed the album and I found myself immersed in their dark jazz and postmodern noir. Lots of Lynch/Badalamenti vibes also. I got their first three albums just after the listening session. Thank your for sharing.
Sinatra - Close to You (this one is sometimes overlooked) June Christy - The Intimate Miss Christy George Jones - The Grand Tour (incredible album - reminds me of a country version of ‘In the Wee Small Hours’) Jeri Southern - Coffee, Cigarettes & Memories Anne Phillips - Born to Be Blue Best served with single malt
I would recommend Mark Murphy's 'Once To Every Heart' album, on the Verve label. This is a late period record for Mark - recorded in 2005. It is produced by trumpeter Till Bronner (I don't know how to add the umlaut above the letter 'O' in Till's last name - but he's got one). I hope anyone interested in the album can pick it up.
Great story and great find. I'll add to it by mentioning that The People That You Never Get To Know was the title track of a 1981 album by the late Susannah McCorkle -- and that album definitely fits the bill of this thread. I assume this is the version Frank Sinatra, Jr. heard and loved:
I assume this is the version Frank Jr. first heard-—by the somgwriter, Rupert Holmes, whom he references in the liner notes to his album That Face! :
I don't think it was in Dino's nature to ever really go too dark (ala "Only The Lonely") Nevertheless, with martini in hand and an able assist from Frank himself, let it be said that he was still ready willing and able to fully embrace the night! Just check out the song titles and see if you don't sense a theme here..
Bit of a left field suggestion perhaps, but no more so than some here, but the Blue Nile and especially their album 'Hats'. If we're talking night and rain and loneliness, then the Blue Nile are for you. Singer Paul Buchanan even has a Sinatra-like sense of phrasing, I think.
Great thread with great suggestions! Glad I went down the rabbit hole and somehow stumbled upon this. Threads like these are what drew me to this forum.
I’m still seeing it. It’s Born To Be Blue by Anne Phillips: https://www.discogs.com/Anne-Phillips-Born-To-Be-Blue/master/772363.
Great thread like we don't see here much. I remember the soundtrack to the movie Trouble in Mind and think it would be a good fit. Marianne Faithful singing on a couple. I wish I had a copy and it may be hard to find.
One thing I like about Sinatra's album of McKuen songs (the conceptual A Man Alone) is that in addition to songs, he recited 3 of McKuen's poems. And the whole album has a late night noir vibe.
All 4 of David Ackles' albums, especially his debut and the masterpiece American Gothic (the other 2 being Subway to the Country and Five and Dime). His voice was deep and resonant and I can hear the Sinatra influence there. All 4 albums are predominantly dark. Although there are a couple of moments of levity, even those songs have a dark edge to them. In "Blues for Billy Whitecloud", an educated Native American, after facing racial prejudice, blows up his high school. The Beach Boys pastiche "Surf's Down" (with Dean Toorance on high harmony vocals) contains the classic line "You can't hang 10 when you've lost a little toe."
Lou Reed's bleak concept album Berlin may be a little too obvious and over-the-top but it's certainly a deeply noir album dealing with a dysfunctional marriage, spousal abuse, infidelity, S&M, drugs, children being taken away, and suicide. Bob Ezrin's production and orchestral arrangements are the dark icing on the cake.
Might I remind some people that it's good forum practice to always add text to a posted video or picture? So it can still be identified once the link is dead. Or, if the content is blocked in other countries than that of the original poster... Thanks.