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There a couple of bonuses hidden here among what appear to be well known holiday tracks by Frank Sinatra and his friends.
First, these aren't Frank's usual Rat Pack friends (Dino and Sammy), who are featured on another excellent Christmas collection. Instead, here you have Tony Bennett, whom Frank called his favorite singer, as well as Mel Torme, Rosemary Clooney, and, in a duet, Ray Charles and Betty Carter, all of whom add some very nice variety to this collection.
The Sinatra cuts are primarily Christmas songs from his post-Capitol career and, while some are not the usual familiar standards (for example, "An Old-Fashioned Christmas"), they are all very, very good performances. But there are a couple of nice surprises that aren't featured on any of his original Christmas albums: from Frank's 1957 holiday TV show, we get renditions of "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" and "Mistletoe and Holly," sung while Frank's voice was in its Capitol-era prime.
The tracks by Mel Torme ("The Christmas Song") and Rosemary Clooney ("White Christmas") are from the very good holiday albums that they made in the 90s for Concord Records, the issuer of this compilation. Tony Bennett performs "A Child Is Born" with virtuoso jazz pianist Bill Evans -- not usually considered a holiday song, but it fits right in here, and is an excellent performance by both artists. Of course, you can't go wrong with Ray Charles and Betty Carter on the winter duet classic, "Baby It's Cold Outside."
The compilers of this album did a very good job of picking some stylistically consistent tracks by Sinatra's peers to spice up what might have been just another reissue of Frank's Christmas music. (Good as it is, most of it is out there already.) Throw in the two surprises from Frank's TV show and you have a very winning holiday collection.
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Mary Cory
CHRISTMAS WITH SINATRA AND FRIENDS
Reviewed in Canada on February 26, 2015
