The Elocutionist from Hoboken

Sinatra’s elocution, his phrasing, the way he could articulate both words and melody simultaneously was uncanny, immaculate, perfection. No wonder he was my Dad’s favorite singer. On his deathbed with just days left to live, Dad was still studying Frank’s vocal technique and making astute observations, comparing Frank’s voice to a trombone in both range and sliding technique. Under close inspection, even the ubiquitous “Strangers in the Night” contains an arresting example of this phenomenon. Maintaining full force of his delivery from the first syllable to the very last, Frank nails the following three lines in a single breath: “Love was just a glance away

A warm embracing dance away

And ever since that night…”

This is to say nothing of the emotional quality of Frank’s phrasing here as well as the fact that his voice leads the entire orchestra flawlessly through two tempo changes in about 12 seconds.

Sometimes we take things like this for granted. That of course Sinatra was a great singer. But this is astonishing on so many levels.

The segment I’m referring to begins just after the 1:05 mark here: