FRANK: THE VOICE, A NEW SINATRA BIOGRAPHY BY JAMES KAPLAN

It's been 13 years since Frank Sinatra died and he continues to be known and remembered by millions of people across the globe.  His music is still very popular as witnessed by TV re-runs of his music shows.  Sinatra even has his own radio station on XM radio called Seriously Sinatra that has a strong following of his fans who now can hear their favorite Sinatra songs all day and night if it pleases them. And his music still sells well today! This new book written by James Kaplan covers Sinatra's life from 1915 to 1954. I understand that it's the author's intention to write a second book covering the balance of Sinatra's life from 1954 until 1998. As a Sinatra fan, I had much interest in reading this period of Sinatra's life especially since I have read most of the other major biographies on Sinatra's life.  To get right to the point, if you are a Sinatra fan, you will enjoy this book.  That said, I did not find a lot of new stuff in this book, mostly a rehash of the stories and information I already knew. But I do think the chapters on Frank's early years did provide a better understanding of what would become the Sinatra personalities.  Yes, I think most of us know that Sinatra had many personalities, like "the good, the bad and the ugly".  Like many of the world's great artists, you have  to judge their talent and art separate from the personality from their art. Sinatra like most great artists was possessed by his art.  This can be clearly seen when reading about his early life and career.  Sinatra was convinced he not going to be just another singer.  Sinatra lived inside his music and its lyrics.  Kaplan shares the story of how before Sinatra would sing a new song, he would print out the lyrics and spend the next couple of weeks reading the lyrics as if he was reading a poetry.  He wanted to know precisely what the writer was trying to say.  Only after fully understanding the lyric would Sinatra work with the orchestra to record the song.  The result of this approach produced recordings that make audiences feel that Sinatra was always singing about his own life experiences.  It's clear that Frank's personality and character was frequently ugly, to say the least.  However, this is a statement that would fit many of the most gifted artists in our history. In order to love Sinatra you need to just focus on his music which became the best popular music ever recorded in the world.

The 10 Top Selling Jazz R & B/Soul Ballads

I am always looking for information about the music buying habits of today's music consumers.  The other day I found an iTunes site that listed all of the music that iTunes currently sells by sub-groups. I first came across a list that was entitled "Adult Music" expecting to find singers and songs from the Great American Songbook but no... the list was for songs with lyrics that might not be appropriate for younger listeners.  I did not know any of the songs so I searched on.   I found two other lists that did contain songs I recognized.  I want to talk about the first list that was titled "R & B/Soul Ballads". I was surprised to discover that the number one selling song was my all time favorite Golden Oldie, "In The Still Of The Night" by the Five Satins. Can you believe that a rock & roll song that was recorded over 50 years ago is the number one R & B/Soul Ballad song sold by iTunes in 2010. I loved it in the sixties and still love it today. Of the top 10 best selling songs, there was only one that I was not familiar with, "Pledging My Love" by Johnny Ace.  It seems that Johnny Ace was a noted R & B singer in the fifties who committed suicide back stage on Christmas Eve in 1954. Mr Ace still commands interest from music fans to this day.  Take a look at the list below and share any comment about the top 10 or other candidates you think should have made this list.

                                TOP 10 BEST SELLING R&B/SOUL BALLADS BY iTUNES


1. "IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT"- THE FIVE SATINS


2. "WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN"- PERCY SLEDGE


3. "I'VE BEEN LOVING YOU TOO LONG"- OTIS REDDING


4. "WHAT'S GOING ON"-MARVIN GAYE


5. "PLEDGING MY LOVE"- JOHNNY ACE


6. "I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU"-THE FLAMINGOS


7."CHAINS OF LOVE"-BIG JOE TURNER


8. "LET'S STAY TOGETHER"- AL GREEN


9. "STAND BY ME"-BEN E KING


10. "Ooo BABY BABY"-SMOKEY ROBINSON & THE MIRACLES

Top 10 Christmas Songs Sold On iTunes In 2010

I thought it would be interesting see what were the biggest selling Christmas songs on iTunes this year. I was surprised and glad to see that "White Christmas" was still Number One on the list.  This is great news because it means lot of young people have become fans of this wonderful song. It is also telling that the number 10 best selling Christmas Song was "Donde Esta Santa Claus" by Augie Rios. The hispanic music market continues to grow and will continue to pick up market share going forward. 

Top 10 Christmas Songs Sold On iTunes 

    1.  White Christmas By Bing Crosby

            2.  The Chipmunk Song-The Chipmumks

                                3.  Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer-Various Artists

                            4.  I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus-Jimmy Boyd

 5.  Jingle Bell Rock=Bobby Helms

         6.  The Christmas Song-Nat King Cole

                       7.  Snoopy's Christmas-The Royal Guardsman

              8.  Here Comes Santa Claus-Gene Aultry

                              9.  The Little Drummer Boy-Harry Simeone Chorale

          10. Donde Esta Santa Claus-Augie Rios 

Amazon Takes Only A Tiny Bite Out Of Apple

I recently read that the research firm NPD Group reported that iTunes now controls 66.2% of online music sales.  In just a few short years, iTunes has taken over a massive amount of the online market and it is not over yet.  However, they are getting some intense competition from Amazon who is now in second place with 13.3% of the online market.  In an attempt to take market share from iTunes, Amazon has been selling selected CDs below cost in order to attract customers.   Still even with lower prices than iTunes, Amazon sales only grew 2.3% compared to 3.0% for iTunes. Some industry people have been saying that iTunes has been putting pressure on labels to pull back on the deals they have been giving Amazon.  ITunes needs to be very careful with any attempt to limit Amazon's ability to discount prices because it begs for an antitrust action. iTunes should be happy with their huge market piece and let Amazon continue to lose money selling CDs below cost. iTunes in my opinion, needs to be very careful not to do anything to slow or block competition because they already control the keys to the online market with their iTunes program that so far no competitor has been able to match.

Even Christmas Standards Can Get A Little Old

While I still believe that "Standards" are songs that never get old,  I have to admit that hearing the same Christmas song being played 50 times within a 30 day period does make me crazy.  Yes, these are the Christmas songs that we all love but enough is enough.  After hearing the great Nat King Cole sing "The Christmas Song" ten times in two days, that was more than enough for me (or anyone else, I suppose).  In order to escape having to hear the same Christmas songs being sung by the same artists over and over again, I decided to pick some artists singing Christmas songs that are great but don't get as much play.  A sort of personal Christmas playlist.  So here are a few of my current favorite Christmas songs that you might want to add to your collection this year. There are lots more that I have missed, so if you have your own favorites, please share them with me.







1.   I'll Be Home For Christmas                                           B.B. King

2.   Please Come Home For Christmas                               Andrea Bocelli &
                                                                                            Natalie Cole
3.   Silent Night                                                                   Boney James

4.   Ave Maria                                                                     Johnny Mathis

5.   Blue Christmas                                                              Elvis Presley

6.   O Tannenbaum                                                             Andrea Bocelli

7.   We Wish You A Merry Christmas                                  The Drifters

8.   Please Come Home For Christmas                               The Eagles

9.   Silent Night                                                                     Chantieleer

10. Let It Snow                                                                     Diana Krall

11. White Christmas                                                            The Drifters

12. It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas                 Dean Martin

13. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas                         Luther Vandross

14. Jingle Bells                                                                     BzK

15. Baby It's Cold Outside                                                    Ray Charles & Betty Carter

16. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer                                 Ray Charles

17. Winter Wonderland                                                         Oscar Peterson

18. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town                                    Dave Brubeck

Coldplay's New Christmas Song, "Christmas Lights"

I really like some of the music being released by the group Coldplay.  So when I recently came across a story on the music blog Guardian.co.uk about their new Christmas single, "Christmas Lights", I  went to iTunes to hear it. The lead singer of Coldplay is Chris Martin and he really is one of the outstanding young singers in the music industry today. I believe Coldplay has the ability to bridge the musical difference today between pop music and the "Great American Songbook".  No easy trick! "Christmas Lights" could have been a contender as a great Christmas song except for a small opening part of the lyric that talks about getting into "Another fight on Christmas night".  I think the rest of the song is wonderful. I would guess that my opinion will not be shared by the millions of Coldplay fans, but for me the group missed the chance for this song to enter my "Christmas Song Hall of Fame" because of what I think was an unnecessary part of the lyric. If anyone has an opinion on this new release, I would love to get some comments.

Marilyn Maye is Magical!

On Saturday, December 4 my wife and I attended the Marilyn Maye show at NJPAC titled: "Mercer...The Maye Way".  As we were leaving the theatre, I knew writing a review would be very difficult.  It is hard to find words to express and capture the talents of such a polished and talented performer. It's not just her voice that captures everyone in the audience. It's her stage presence and understanding of the meaning of the music and lyrics she sang. Sinatra once say that there were three qualities a singer must possess in order to become a major star.  One of the three was that a singer needed to project a personality to the audience that would make them wish they could hang out with the singer. Let me just get it out... I wish I could hang out with Marilyn Maye and gain insight about her life and how she has chooses her music.  She needs to write a  book, and I would offer a possible title: "The Maye Way".

Marilyn's program on Saturday evening was all Johnny Mercer with the exception of the first two songs.  Marilyn hit the ground running with an up tempo version of the great Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II song "The Song is You".  She followed with "Love Being Here With You". Lyrics written by Peggy Lee and music by Bill Schluger. From this point on it was all Johnny Mercer and Marilyn Maye.  Marilyn sang an unbelievable 30 Johnny Mercer songs in an  hour and 15 minutes without coming up for air. I think most of us have an appreciation for the songs and lyrics of Johnny Mercer but once you hear someone as talented as Marilyn Maye sing his songs one after another, you can't help but be in awe of this man's ability to write lyrics that tell stories we can all relate to.  Marilyn spoke of her admiration and love of Mercer's Music and the effort it had on her.  She then added that she never got the chance to meet him but if she did, she most likely would have married him. My take is a little different, if Johnny Mercer ever heard Marilyn Maye sing his songs, he would have wanted to married her!
I would like to list just a few of my personal favorite Johnny Mercer songs that Marilyn sang:
1.   Satin Doll
2.   Summer Wind
3.   Moon River
4.   Come Rain or Come Shine
5.   The Days of Wine & Roses
6.   That Old Black Magic
7.   Goody Goody
8.   I'm Old Fashioned
9.   Day In, Day Out
10. Too Marvelous For Words
11. Emily
12  Drinking Again
13. Laura
No one who loves songs and lyrics from the greatest American composers should miss the chance to hear Marilyn Maye sing live.  Don't take my word for it, listen to Ella Fitzgerald who called Marilyn "The greatest white female singer in the world".
If it was within my power, I would make it a requirement for all young singers to see and listen to Marilyn Maye before they ever perform.  She sets the mark for all American singers both young and old.