Maps of Music

The Voice of Frank Sinatra (1946)

Where the lyrics of The Voice of Frank Sinatra take you, and where it was really made.

The album was first issued as four 78 rpm discs with eight songs in total, and it later became the first pop album catalogue item at 33⅓ rpm.

Key places

Hollywood sessions for The Voice (1946)

Recording site Hollywood (Los Angeles) — The album was recorded in Hollywood, Los Angeles, with Axel Stordahl's orchestra, and flutist John Mayhew joined the July session. The pin marks the city at city-center level, not an exact studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

New York sessions for The Voice (1946)

Recording site Record Plant Studios — The New York session of the album included oboist Mitch Miller, who joined in December. The pin marks New York City at city-center level, not an exact building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The Voice of Frank Sinatra: debut studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra
• Released by Columbia Records under catalogue number C-112
• Release date: March 4, 1946
• Originally issued as a set of four 78 rpm records, eight songs in total
• Each disc carried its own Columbia catalog number: 36918, 36919, 36920, 36921
• Reached number one on the then-fledgling Billboard chart
• Credited by some critics as an early concept album

Background

• Sinatra's first album under his own name as a studio release on Columbia
• At the time the album chart showed only a Top Five ranking, a format that continued until August 1948
• Later reissued as a 10-inch LP in 1948 with the running order changed from the 78 rpm sequence
• Issued as two 45 rpm EPs in 1952 with catalogue number B-112
• Issued as a 12-inch LP in 1955 with catalogue number CL-743, with a changed running order and only five of the original tracks
• Issued as a compact disc with extra tracks in 2003

Recording

• Tracks arranged and conducted by Axel Stordahl and his orchestra
• Both recording dates used a string quartet and a four-piece rhythm section
• Flutist John Mayhew joined the July session
• Oboist Mitch Miller joined the December session
• Mitch Miller's role here was tied to his later work with Sinatra at Columbia in the early 1950s
• Sinatra recorded most of these songs again at later stages of his career

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Disc 3

Disc 4

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born December 12, 1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants.
• Began singing professionally as a teenager with the Hoboken Four, winning Major Bowes Amateur Hour.
• Joined Harry James's band in 1939, then Tommy Dorsey's band, before going solo in 1942.

Career

• Signed with Columbia Records in 1943 and became a major star of the bobby-soxer era.
• Signed with Capitol Records in 1953; collaborated with arranger Nelson Riddle on albums such as In the Wee Small Hours and Songs for Swingin' Lovers!.
• Founded Reprise Records in 1960, releasing albums including September of My Years and the hit single "My Way".
• Won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for From Here to Eternity (1953).
• Estimated to have sold around 150 million records worldwide.
• Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997.
• Died May 14, 1998 in Los Angeles.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

Reappraisal

• Certain critics have claimed The Voice to be the first concept album
• Critics place the album alongside earlier 78 rpm albums by Lee Wiley, who from 1939 released albums of 78s dedicated to the songs of a single writer
• With this release, Sinatra began his practice of tying songs together by a common mood, theme, or instrumentation

Records

• Billboard album chart: number one on release, a position it held for seven consecutive weeks in 1946
• Total of eighteen weeks on the Billboard chart in 1946
• The album chart at the time featured only a Top Five ranking
• The album became the first pop album catalogue item at 33⅓ rpm after Columbia premiered long-playing vinyl in 1948

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album holds the distinction of being the first pop album catalogue item at 33⅓ rpm, after Columbia premiered long-playing records in 1948.
• Lee Wiley started releasing albums of 78s dedicated to the songs of a single writer, such as Cole Porter, beginning in 1939.
• Those Wiley albums were a precursor to the Songbooks sets formulated by Norman Granz and Ella Fitzgerald in 1956.
• Sinatra kept the songs recorded for albums from release as singles, and even after an album's release the songs were not released as singles.
• Sinatra recorded most of the songs on this album again at later stages of his career.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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