LOS ANGELES (Reprise Records) - The yuletide spirit shines bright this season with the October 26 release of "THE FRANK SINATRA CHRISTMAS COLLECTION." The career-spanning album features 18 holiday classics from pop music's preeminent performer, including three previously unavailable tracks -- highlighted by a very special, brand new recording of "Silent Night."
Appearing as the final track on "THE FRANK SINATRA CHRISTMAS COLLECTION," "Silent Night" was built upon Sinatra's last Christmas vocal sessions. The new arrangement was put together by the great Johnny Mandel and was recorded in March of this year with Frank Sinatra Jr. conducting an orchestra featuring a celebrated cast of former Sinatra studio and touring musicians who gathered to accompany Ol' Blue Eyes on one final recording.
Prior to laying down his vocal on "Silent Night" in August 1991, Sinatra had not entered a studio for more than three years. The original vocal track was recorded for his daughter Nancy and Michael Lloyd for a project benefiting children's charities and, as she recalls, "It was an emotional day because he was doing it for the children. It is so sweet and tender that it is just heart-wrenching."
The track lay dormant in the Sinatra archive until earlier this year when Sinatra Enterprises' Charles Pignone enlisted Mandel (who had helmed Sinatra's very first Reprise session) to supply the arrangement. An A-list of former Sinatra touring and/or recording musicians play on the track, including celebrated pianist Bill Miller, guitarists Al Viola and Ron Anthony, bassists Chuck Berghofer and Jim Hughart, and percussionist Larry Bunker.
Other recordings on the CD were culled from such memorable albums as 1964's "The Twelve Songs Of Christmas" and 1969's "The Sinatra Family Wish You A Merry Christmas," as well as the 1963 various artists set "Christmas Album." "THE FRANK SINATRA CHRISTMAS COLLECTION" includes all of Frank's Reprise-era holiday recordings - as well as a pair of new-to-CD duets that any Sinatra fan would be thrilled to find under their Christmas tree.
Two all-time holiday favorites are being released on CD for the first time - "The Christmas Song" and "White Christmas" (both arranged by the legendary Nelson Riddle and performed with Bing Crosby) - in versions taken from the 1957 ABC special "Happy Holidays With Bing & Frank," which aired only once, on December 20th of that year. Crosby and Sinatra also duet on "Go Tell It On The Mountain" and "We Wish You The Merriest," which were first released on "The Twelve Songs Of Christmas."
"THE FRANK SINATRA CHRISTMAS COLLECTION" TRACK LIST:
1. "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm"
2. "The Christmas Waltz"
3. "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"
4. "The Little Drummer Boy" (with Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians)
5. "We Wish You The Merriest" (with Bing Crosby and Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians)
6. "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"
7. "Go Tell It On The Mountain" (with Bing Crosby and Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians)
8. "The Christmas Song" (with Bing Crosby)
9. "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" (with Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians)
10. "I Wouldn't Trade Christmas" (with Tina, Nancy and Frank Jr. and the Jimmy Joyce Singers & Orchestra under the direction of Nelson Riddle)
11. "Christmas Memories"
12. "The Twelve Days Of Christmas" (with Tina, Nancy and Frank Jr. and the Jimmy Joyce Singers & Orchestra under the direction of Nelson Riddle)
13. "The Bells Of Christmas (Greensleeves)" (with Tina, Nancy and Frank Jr. and the Jimmy Joyce Singers & Orchestra under the direction of Nelson Riddle)
14. "An Old Fashioned Christmas" (with Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians)
15. "A Baby Just Like You"
16. "Whatever Happened To Christmas" (with the Jimmy Joyce Singers & Orchestra under the direction of Nelson Riddle)
17. "White Christmas" (with Bing Crosby)
BONUS TRACK
18. "Silent Night"
"THE FRANK SINATRA CHRISTMAS COLLECTION" (Reprise/The Frank Sinatra Collection) will be available at all retail outlets and at www.sinatrasongs.com for a suggested retail price of $19.98. For additional information or artwork, please call Kevin Kennedy/Warner Strategic Marketing Media Relations at 818-238-6246 or [email protected].
