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In the Wee Small Hours (original issue: Capitol W-581) is an album by Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an United States singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a solo artist with great success in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers"....
 with arrangements by Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle

Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was a well-known United States bandleader, arrangement and Orchestration whose career spanned from the late 1940s, struggled with the advent of rock n roll, and saw a career revival in the early 1980s....
, released in 1955. It is with this album that Sinatra perfected the concept album
Concept album

In popular music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical". Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being musical improvisation or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing to narrative....
, fully realizing the ideas he had been grappling with in record presentation going all the way back to The Voice
The Voice of Frank Sinatra

The Voice of Frank Sinatra is the first studio album by United States singer Frank Sinatra, released in 1946 in music. It was released on Columbia Records, Set C-112, March 4, 1946....
 from 1946. It remains one of the most celebrated and enduring concept albums that Sinatra put out during the 1950s.

album was his first full 12-inch LP
LP album

Long play record albums are 33? rpm Polyvinyl chloride Gramophone records , generally either 10 or 12 inches in diameter. They were first introduced in 1948, and served as a primary release format for Sound recording and reproduction until the compact disc began to significantly displace them by 1988, and eventually leaving the mainstr...
, and more importantly it contained a set of songs specifically recorded for the album, which had not always been true of his previous 10-inch records; further, albums at the time were generally randomly compiled collections of a performer's hits rather than deliberately sequenced and selected.






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In the Wee Small Hours (original issue: Capitol W-581) is an album by Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an United States singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a solo artist with great success in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers"....
 with arrangements by Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle

Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was a well-known United States bandleader, arrangement and Orchestration whose career spanned from the late 1940s, struggled with the advent of rock n roll, and saw a career revival in the early 1980s....
, released in 1955. It is with this album that Sinatra perfected the concept album
Concept album

In popular music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical". Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being musical improvisation or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing to narrative....
, fully realizing the ideas he had been grappling with in record presentation going all the way back to The Voice
The Voice of Frank Sinatra

The Voice of Frank Sinatra is the first studio album by United States singer Frank Sinatra, released in 1946 in music. It was released on Columbia Records, Set C-112, March 4, 1946....
 from 1946. It remains one of the most celebrated and enduring concept albums that Sinatra put out during the 1950s.

History

The album was his first full 12-inch LP
LP album

Long play record albums are 33? rpm Polyvinyl chloride Gramophone records , generally either 10 or 12 inches in diameter. They were first introduced in 1948, and served as a primary release format for Sound recording and reproduction until the compact disc began to significantly displace them by 1988, and eventually leaving the mainstr...
, and more importantly it contained a set of songs specifically recorded for the album, which had not always been true of his previous 10-inch records; further, albums at the time were generally randomly compiled collections of a performer's hits rather than deliberately sequenced and selected. In the Wee Small Hours used only ballads, organized around a central mood of late-night isolation and aching lost love (supposedly due to his separation from Ava Gardner
Ava Gardner

Ava Lavinia Gardner was an Academy Award-nominated United States actress. She is listed as one of the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years......
). The sequence is triggered by the morose opening title track, which had just been written, and then is followed up by a selection of pop standards, each effectively arranged in a restrained, mellow manner, either for a small ensemble or brooding strings (often highlighted by woodwinds or a celesta
Celesta

The celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard instrument. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box ....
.) The album cover
Album cover

An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially-released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LP records, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing panel of a compact disc Optical disc...
, now considered a classic, directly reinforced the overall theme, featuring a pensive Sinatra set against the backdrop of a deserted and eerie night-time streetscape.

Reception

In 2003, the album was ranked number 100 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
 magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album is also the first album reviewed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a musical reference book edited by Robert Dimery, released in 2006.It consists of a list of albums released between 1950 and 2005, part of a series from Quintessence Editions Ltd....
 by Robert Dimery. In 2007, Time Magazine selected it as one of The All-TIME 100 Albums

Influence

  • The title track, "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning", has been recorded by a number of artists following Sinatra's version, including Johnny Hartman
    Johnny Hartman

    John Maurice "Johnny" Hartman , a baritone jazz singer who is remembered for his smooth performances of jazz ballads, is best known for his work with John Coltrane....
    , Astrud Gilberto
    Astrud Gilberto

    Astrud Gilberto is a Brazilian singer best known for her samba and bossa nova music, most famously as the vocalist on the Grammy Award-winning song "The Girl from Ipanema"....
    , Lou Rawls
    Lou Rawls

    Louis Allen Rawls was an United States soul music, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game"....
    , Carly Simon
    Carly Simon

    Carly Elisabeth Simon is an United States singer-songwriter, actress, writer of children's books and musician. Simon has risen to fame with Hit single that have nominated or won many Grammy Awards for her over a period of several decades....
    , Art Blakey
    Art Blakey

    Arthur Blakey , born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, he was an United States jazz drummer and bandleader....
    , Count Basie and His Orchestra, Andy Williams
    Andy Williams

    Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is a legendary American pop singer. Andy Williams has recorded 18 gold and three platinum certified albums. When Ronald Reagan was president, he declared Andy's voice to be "a national treasure"....
    , Wes Montgomery
    Wes Montgomery

    John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an United States jazz guitarist. He is generally considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including Pat Martino, George Benson, and Pat Metheny....
    , Ruby Braff
    Ruby Braff

    Reuben "Ruby" Braff was an United States of America jazz trumpeter and cornetist.Braff was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was renowned for working in an idiom ultimately derived from the playing of Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke....
    , Jamie Cullum
    Jamie Cullum

    Jamie Cullum is a United Kingdom pop music and jazz singer, songwriter, pianist, guitarist and drummer....
    , and many others.


  • The Heart of Saturday Night
    The Heart of Saturday Night

    The Heart of Saturday Night is the second studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits, released in 1974 on Asylum Records. It is generally considered the peak of his melodic early years, before his voice became gruffer and he embarked on an experimental musical direction....
    , an album by Singer/songwriter Tom Waits
    Tom Waits

    Thomas Alan Waits is an United Statesn singer-songwriter, composer and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of Bourbon whiskey, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car." With this trademark growl, his incorpo...
    , features cover artwork based heavily on that of In the Wee Small Hours.


Track listing


Side one
  1. "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
    In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning

    "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" is a 1955 in music popular music song composed by David Mann , with lyrics by Bob Hilliard. It was introduced as the title track of Frank Sinatra's 1955 album In the Wee Small Hours....
    " (Bob Hilliard
    Bob Hilliard

    Bob Hilliard was an United States lyricist, born in New York City....
    , David Mann
    David Mann (songwriter)

    David Mann was an United States songwriter of popular music songs. His best known song is "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" , sound recording and reproduction most notably by Frank Sinatra, but cover version by many other musician over the decades....
    ) – 3:00
  2. "Mood Indigo
    Mood Indigo

    "Mood Indigo" is a jazz composition and song, with music by Duke Ellington and Barney Bigard with lyrics by Irving Mills.Disputed authorship - In a 1987 interview, Mitchell Parish claimed to have written the lyrics:...
    " (Barney Bigard
    Barney Bigard

    Albany Leon Bigard, aka Barney Bigard, was an United States jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist, though primarily known for the clarinet....
    , Duke Ellington
    Duke Ellington

    Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader.Duke Ellington was recognized during his life as one of the most influential Jazz royalty, if not in all American music and he is of only four jazz musicians ever to have been featured on the cover of Time magazine ....
    , Irving Mills
    Irving Mills

    Irving Mills was a jazz Music publisher , also known by the name of Joe Primrose.Mills was born in New York City. He founded Mills Music with his brother Jack in 1919....
    ) – 3:30
  3. "Glad to Be Unhappy
    Glad to Be Unhappy

    "Glad to Be Unhappy" is a popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart It was introduced in their 1936 musical On Your Toes by Doris Carson and David Morris....
    " (Richard Rodgers
    Richard Rodgers

    Richard Charles Rodgers was an United States Musical compositionr of the music for more than 900 songs and 40 Broadway theatre musicals. He also composed music for films and television....
    , Lorenz Hart
    Lorenz Hart

    Lorenz "Larry" Hart was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway theatre songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include, "Blue Moon ", "Isn't It Romantic?", "Mountain Greenery", "The Lady Is a Tramp", "Manhattan", "Where or When", "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered", "Falling in Love with Love", "I%27ll_Tell_the_M...
    ) – 2:35
  4. "I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)
    I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)

    "I Get Along Without You Very Well" is a popular song composed by Hoagy Carmichael in 1939, with lyrics based on a poem written by Jane Brown Thompson....
    " (Hoagy Carmichael
    Hoagy Carmichael

    Hoagland Howard "Hoagy" Carmichael was an United States composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing "Stardust " , and "Heart and Soul ", two of the most-recorded American songs of all time....
    , Jane Brown Thompson) – 3:42
  5. "Deep in a Dream" (Eddie DeLange
    Eddie DeLange

    Eddie DeLange was an United States bandleader and lyricist. Famous artists who recorded some of DeLange's songs include Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman....
    , Jimmy Van Heusen) – 2:49
  6. "I See Your Face Before Me" (Howard Dietz
    Howard Dietz

    Howard Dietz was an United States publicist, lyricist, and Libretto....
    , Arthur Schwartz
    Arthur Schwartz

    Arthur Schwartz was an United States composer.Schwartz supported his legal studies at New York University and postgraduate studies at Columbia University by playing piano before concentrating his talents on vaudeville, Broadway theatre and Hollywood....
    ) – 3:24
  7. "Can't We Be Friends?" (Paul James
    James Warburg

    James Paul Warburg was an American banker and financial adviser to Franklin D. Roosevelt. His father was the Jewish-German-American banker Paul Warburg....
    , Kay Swift
    Kay Swift

    Kay Swift was an United States composer of popular and classical music, the first woman to score a complete musical theater. Written in 1930, Fine and Dandy includes some of her best known songs; Fine and Dandy has become a jazz standard....
    ) – 2:48
  8. "When Your Lover Has Gone
    When Your Lover Has Gone

    "When Your Lover Has Gone" is a 1931 composition by Einar Aaron Swan which, after being featured in the James Cagney film Blonde Crazy that same year, has become a jazz standard....
    " (Einar Aaron Swan
    Einar Aaron Swan

    Einar Aaron Swan was an American musician, arranger and composer. Born of Swedish-speaking Finns parents who had emigrated to the United States at the turn of the century, he was the second of nine children....
    ) – 3:10


Side two
  1. "What Is This Thing Called Love?
    What Is This Thing Called Love?

    "What Is This Thing Called Love?"is a 1929 popular music song written by Cole Porter, for the musical Wake Up and Dream .The chord progression of the song forms the basis of several jazz compositions, such as:...
    " (Cole Porter
    Cole Porter

    Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter from Peru, Indiana, Indiana.His works include the musical comedies Kiss Me, Kate , Fifty Million Frenchmen, DuBarry Was a Lady and Anything Goes, as well as songs like "Night and Day ", "I Get a Kick out of You", "Well, Did You Evah!", "Two Little Babes In The Wood"...
    ) – 2:35
  2. "Last Night When We Were Young" (Harold Arlen
    Harold Arlen

    Harold Arlen was an United States Jewish composer of popular music.Having written over 400 songs, a number of which have become known the world over, Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the Great American Songbook....
    , Yip Harburg
    Yip Harburg

    Edgar Yipsel Harburg , known as E.Y. Harburg or Yip Harburg, was an United States popular song lyricist who worked with many well-known composers....
    ) – 3:17
  3. "I'll Be Around
    I'll Be Around (1942 song)

    I'll Be Around" is a popular music song written by Alec Wilder and published in 1942 in music. The song has become a well-known standard, recorded by many artists....
    " (Alec Wilder
    Alec Wilder

    Alec Wilder was an United States composer.His family was prominent in Rochester; a downtown building bears the family's name. As a young boy, he travelled to New York City with his mother and stayed at the Algonquin Hotel....
    ) – 2:59
  4. "Ill Wind
    Ill Wind

    "Ill Wind" is a song composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics by Ted Koehler, it was written for their last show at the Cotton Club Parade, in 1934....
    " (Arlen, Ted Koehler
    Ted Koehler

    Ted Koehler was an United States lyricist, born in Washington, DC....
    ) – 3:46
  5. "It Never Entered My Mind
    It Never Entered My Mind

    "It Never Entered My Mind" is a show tune from the 1940 Rodgers and Hart musical Higher and Higher , where it was introduced by Shirley Ross....
    " (Rodgers, Hart) – 2:42
  6. "Dancing on the Ceiling
    Dancing on the Ceiling (song)

    "Dancing on the Ceiling" is a 1930 popular music song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the musical Evergreen ....
    " (Rodgers, Hart) – 2:57
  7. "I'll Never Be the Same" (Gus Kahn
    Gus Kahn

    Gustav Gerson Kahn was a musician, songwriter and lyricist....
    , Matty Malneck
    Matty Malneck

    Matty Malneck was an American jazz violinist, violist and songwriter.Malneck's first professional gigs as a violinist began when he was age 16....
    , Frank Signorelli
    Frank Signorelli

    Frank Signorelli was an United States jazz pianist of the 1920s. He was a founder member of the Original Memphis Five in 1917, then joined the Original Dixieland Jazz Band briefly in 1921....
    ) – 3:05
  8. "This Love of Mine" (Sol Parker, Henry W. Sanicola, Jr., Frank Sinatra
    Frank Sinatra

    Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an United States singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a solo artist with great success in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers"....
    ) – 3:33


External links