Something 4 The Weekend # 233

Frank Sinatra: In The Wee Small Hours: "What Is This Thing Called Love?" [mp3]

What is art?

It starts with a Cole Porter tune, and somewhere along the way Ava Gardner leaves Frank Sinatra, and Frank goes into the studio, broken-hearted and probably out of his mind, and just unravels in slow motion over the course of sixteen sad ballads. Nelson Riddle figures into it somewhere, as does the dude playing clarinet, but they're not the reason Sinatra's phrasing is so peculiar, nearly pathetic. He's a broken man, and he breaks us too.

So sublime.

Hotcha! Hank